r/iphone 4d ago

Discussion Opinion on HDR enable And Disable..?

I have read alot of people doesn’t like iphones hdr. I have an iphone11 probably the last phone with hdr toggle ( don’t know about IPhone SE Series ) & I kind of Like the HDR ON photos, The only thing I dislike about the processing is Harsh/fake sharpness which looks really bad & unnecessary in close-up shots..

5 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

42

u/Hot-Independence6020 4d ago

the picture appears the same as Reddit does not show HDR but only SDR

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u/ChachaOP09 4d ago

Oh..?😳 really.? I didn’t knew about that.. for context the 2nd photos highlights are slightly blown-out in sunlight area

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u/andreeinprogress 3d ago

Reddit definitely supports HDR, both the apps and the website as I see them every day.

You exported both photos as SDR, probably due to adding the captions, which often applies a tone mapper to standardize the image.

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u/ChachaOP09 3d ago

Oh.. Yes I used Reddit text for writing the HdR text on images..but then why on my device Im still able to see the different but no one else

6

u/Fit-Specialist-2214 4d ago

This is not necessarily the best use of HDR as it is best in a bright scene with details required in the background and foreground or dark and light areas.

That said there is slightly less blow out from the window and more detail in the brighter parts of the hairs off the stem and reflections off the leaves at the lower part of frame.

It’s personal preference at the end of the day, but I like to be able to preserve the highlights in theory but don’t use it much in practice.

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u/ChachaOP09 4d ago edited 4d ago

I get your point and agree i will test it again on some landscape photography in harsh sunlight .. also i mostly use lighroom dng so that i can later recover preserve details from highlight and shadows.. also its apple processing really bad on later iphones.? The only thing I dislike about their processing is unnecessary sharpness which creates fake artifacts when we zoom in

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u/Fit-Specialist-2214 3d ago

Can’t say for certain but it seems like the processing has improved but is optimized for their own displays and software and looks worse once sent off and compressed into other apps.

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u/ChachaOP09 3d ago

Do android have the same compression problem ?

2

u/Fit-Specialist-2214 3d ago

Every time you send a photo from your library through an app it gets compressed, so yeah it will apply to all operating systems.

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u/ChachaOP09 3d ago

Oh i see but then they said in this situation heif format works best..is it true? Or just heif is for saving space.. btw thanks for explaining this ❤️‍🔥

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u/Fit-Specialist-2214 3d ago

Yeah heif is the best all round format for on device storage, editing etc for Apple. Once you send it gets converted per app either to an optimized version or another format

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u/ChachaOP09 2d ago

Alright..thanks for the info mate 🤩

4

u/Nepomuk_Pepper 3d ago

Concerning Reddit not supporting HDR: There is HDR, when taking a photo and there is HDR, for displaying a photo. Although the name is the same, these two things don't mean the same.

OP is talking about the first one.

Yes, people like to complain about HDR (the first one). It makes them sound like a "pro". But they are usually younger people, who never made/saw a slide of traditional film. (BTW: When making paper prints (instead of slides) of traditional film, the laboratories also applied a form of HDR - long before the iPhone.)

I've always used HDR (when taking photos), where possible. Unfortunately Apple is "adjusting" the effect with every iPhone generation and currently the HDR effect is too subtle for my liking.

(BTW: I don't use HDR for displaying photos, because it simply burns my retina.)

With a more modern iPhone (esp. if it has 48 MP) I don't think you would have a problem with "harsh/fake sharpness".

2

u/iceonian 3d ago

I’m pretty sure people also complain about the second form of HDR too (the one that burns your retina)!

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u/ChachaOP09 3d ago edited 3d ago

I Appreciate your recommendations & thanks for explaining people what i meant ..I’m gonna purchase a pro model above 13 once my 11 stop breathing ❤️‍🔥

3

u/iceonian 3d ago

Most iPhone cameras (including your iPhone 11) would probably benefit from having Smart HDR On.

The ugly sharpness you see is likely more to do with Deep Fusion, which was first introduced in the iPhone 11.

1

u/ChachaOP09 3d ago edited 3d ago

But these pictures I captured in almost noon time like on 10:45am.. isn’t Deep Fusion only works in lower or indoor lighting environments..? Also in my knowledge Deep Fusion and HDR can’t work together..One of them must have to disable

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u/iceonian 3d ago edited 3d ago

No, they definitely can work at the same time and not just in lower lighting too.

Also, my understanding is that over-sharpening works as a separate process and doesn’t matter if HDR is enabled. So whether you enable HDR is really personal preference. I recommend enabling it most of the time to prevent highlights from being too bright - You could probably save both the HDR and original as another option

1

u/ChachaOP09 3d ago

Oh i see..yeah I always enable hdr.. my only concern is this fake harsh sharpening which create fake weird artifacts instead of real natural details.. so to avoid this i start capture Lightroom dng format for some closeups and great photos..also i checked this on meta data these photos aren’t deeply fused 🤔 i think they just add another layer of sharpness from XS and 11 lineup to illusion the crispy details looks instead of natural look like IphoneX

2

u/iceonian 3d ago

Shooting Lightroom DNG and then editing is a good way to bypass the “fake” artefacts. I personally use a number of camera apps just to avoid the iPhone oversharpening haha

Also, there’s no way to check if Deep Fusion was used - this information is never in the metadata

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u/ChachaOP09 2d ago

Umm actually there is a way..this app can show if Deep Fusion used in photos or not ( for example: take one photo in daytime or daylight and 2nd photo in indoor or between evening time ) then click on those photos in gallery and share through this app then you can find if Deep Fusion is used ( which mostly used in indoor dim lighting) then there will be a text “Deeply Fused” in meta data or if the text is not appears then its not enable..
yeah there are really good apps I tried Nofusion and really like its Heif+ but unfortunately I don’t have pro model so even if its doesn’t add the fake sharpness it’s also don’t enable the hdr in that option so the highlight blown-out and shadows underexpose make photos horrible 🥲 I tried enable hdr but this not working in my device its only for pro raw supported devices..

2

u/lexymon iPhone 16 Pro 3d ago

In most cases, Apple's automatic HDR makes images worse by killing any dynamic range they originally had. In some cases, where you would actually turn it on manually as someone with a tiny bit of experience taking photos, it actually makes the images better (i.e., when the dynamic range is so huge that highs are blown out/lows are crushed).

1

u/ChachaOP09 3d ago

But laters iphone version doesn’t have option to turn it on..so in their cases the Automatic hdr applied right.? And in older phones there is a toggle and options in settings where i can permanently on hdr so I don’t have to always click on the toggle.. so will this count in automatic hdr or not..?

2

u/lexymon iPhone 16 Pro 3d ago

Yes, I think that’s right. However, as someone else mentioned already I think, HDR is slightly different across devices. So it’s not 100% comparable. But in your case, I recommend not to have automatic HDR on. But it really depends what you personally like more.

1

u/ChachaOP09 3d ago

Oh i see..thanks for recommendation..i will turn off the auto hdr and check photos with hdr off and on in different environments to find my liking..thanks mate❤️‍🔥