'DNA' digital: Use your smart phone for HDR photos

Smart phone cameras seem to be closer to the performance of dedicated point-and-shoot cameras. Now, it’s possible to capture High Dynamic Range pictures very easily from phone.

What exactly is HDR photography?
An HDR photo gives you a higher dynamic range of a subject or a scene by capturing detail in both the bright as well as dark areas of an image. This means areas which would have otherwise been too dark to see anything or too bright due to over exposure are all compensated, resulting in a more vivid and artistic looking photograph.

How does it work?
The process involves capturing multiple images (usually two) at different exposure levels and then merging them into one image. This way, the underexposed image lets you capture good detail of bright sections of the image like the sky, streetlights, etc while the overexposed image gives you much better detail when it comes to darker sections with lots of shadows. When combined, you are left with an image which gives you the best detail in dark areas without any bloom effect in the bright areas.

While HDR photography is best achieved with a DSLR as the quality of the image is unrivalled and you have full control over the exposure, smartphone apps have also evolved over the years and do a pretty decent job with the snapper in your pocket. OEMs have now started including this option as standard in most of their high-end handsets. In case you don’t have this or simple want to try more options, here are some of the top HDR apps for Android and iOS.

Camera 360 – Android, iOS
Camera 360 is a very popular app for both Android and iOS and is a powerful replacement for your stock camera interface. Besides being great for HDR shots, it also lets you add frames, extra scenery to photos, apply filters and lots more.

HDR Camera – Android
This is one of the best HDR apps for Android and lets you customise various parameters like colour, contrast, micro contrast, exposure, noise reduction and the like.

Pro HDR – iOS
Pro HDR is one of the first apps to have an Auto mode for HDR photography. It also features a manual mode, should you choose to adjust the different exposure values yourself.

Dynamic Light – iOS
The unique feature about this app is that you only need to capture one image for an HDR effect. You can even load photos from your gallery that you may have shot before and give it an HDR twist.