HDR can not be fully appreciated or understood without comparing the before and after photographs. This post shows 20 examples, some perfectly illustrating how HDR should be used, and others illustrating how badly a photo can look. All photographs, images and materials are copyright to their respective owners.
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Gary (aka Frog) is the co-founder of The Floating Frog and has written in excess of 200+ articles on all things design and web related. If you'd like to guest post on The Floating Frog on a subject you are really passionate about then please get in touch. For more information head over to our write for us page.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
This shows that HDR is completely awesome for clouds. I also love the ‘outside the window’ effects in the shots with the girls – it’s like they’re in a room with fairyland just outside
September 5th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Piggynap is absolutely right. The clouds are really impressive after HDR processing. The interiour shots are awesome, too. Thanks for this nice collection.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:39 am
the motorcycle one is so perfect and not extreme
and clouds are awesome
September 7th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I honestly do not see why everyone is in love with HDR. It is just as annoying as the gamers who go on and on about lens flair. There are a few that looked really really good in your list, but many of them are just so fake and their originals are more beautiful and natural. It is like any technique, overuse just makes it bland.
September 8th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Nice, very nice!
September 8th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
What Kris said: It just looks cartoony after a time. Alright on occasion but repetition gets annoying.
September 13th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Quite a few of them aren’t HDR images, just images with contrast & other filters cranked way to far open.
I don’t understand people who hype those shots. HDR is about getting all the detail in one photo, So every bit on the photograph is properly exposed. Shadows ARE part of properly exposed images, otherwise the ideal HDR image would simply be a grey matte.
Other than those, you have terribly looking shots which have been HDR-ed on auto, creating a light halo around the shapes in the air.
The motorcycle, church and tower on a square are properly done. Rest of them is rubbish
September 13th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Hi Tiemen.
I can’t agree more. These are a collection of examples that I found that illustrates the vast degree that people use HDR on their photographs.
HDR is overly used, as are filters in photoshop, but you’ll find the main culprits are those will little experience, knowledge and sometimes respect for the tools they re handed. Taking a perfectly exposed image and attempting HDR is a clear sign of experimentation of a novice, which sometimes should be excused.
I agree with you about those HDR photos you picked out being the best, the rest certainly aren’t the work of a seasoned pro.
Thanks for the comment, HDR certainly has a mixed reaction.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:56 am
I think that HDR has a great way of carrying color. I must say that when it used to blow a picture out of believability it really sucks. Sometimes it is cool for the effect like was said earlier about the “Fairytale Effect”. The rest of the time it is just too much.
Love the cat photo, the graveyard and the Utopia photos for exactly what I was talking about.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:49 am
HDR could be used to create truly awesome beauty of expanded versions of what digital cameras are able to capture, but as you have seen here the photos were distorted into childish overdone illustrations with garish coloring. This is unfortionatly the rule. Its like giving a child in first grade a new set of 36 crayons. Every damn crayon will be used to excess whether appropriate or not.
December 14th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
[...] for all to follow. You would be hard pressed to find a more accomplished portfolio on professional HDR, B&W and wide angled photography. Enjoy this small collection from Jeff’s meteoric [...]
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Overall I think those are all very good examples of HDR. The one with the very green water is a bit much IMO but that could have been toned down easily. The indoor scenes really look great – the HDR conversion brings out a lot of detail.
December 24th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
So if an artist using oils or water colours paints something that looks ‘unnatural’ or ‘unreal’ its wrong is it?
Van Gogh is turning in his grave.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:03 am
While getting in as many details as possible, it’s easy to forget that in real life shadows, etc., as in the trees by the downward roadway, do darken and sometimes obscure details. Not everything can nor should receive the same amount of light. If it does, it does not look authentic.
April 12th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I think that hdr if used corectly can make amazing work as a few of these are but as it has been said before shadows highlights and midtones are all equaly important but saying that I am a big fan of hdr I use it for architechture A LOT and I find it fantastic when saturation is decreased.
Good collection none the less..
Thanks mate.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:43 am
HDR when used by the bottom feeders is disgusting, and when used with discretion and thought can be beatiful.
September 3rd, 2010 at 6:05 am
There is a time and a place for HDR. Sadly I am seeing way too many people take just about anything and HDR the heck out of it. None of these images much stand out to me except for the fact that HDR can make clouds look really awesome. I’m not against HDR as a whole, but I think most folks need to be more selective with it.
September 22nd, 2010 at 7:05 am
[...] no denying HDR pictures are more amazing than regular pictures. But there’s that small issue of making them–it requires either [...]
November 11th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
IMO hdr is mostly used because the ppl dont manage to take correctly exposed pictures or the pictures are just boring and shallow or uncreative. so its a kind of rescue program.
hdr is a advanced thing that should be used by ppl who know what they do
btw: pic#13 (tree/sky) is better in non hdr
December 31st, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I think its funny, the professional photographers hate the HDR with excessive tone mapping. I am just starting out in photography, and learning how to do HDR myself. I can tell you one thing, after showing alot of people my HDR photos, that if one of these professionals on here, took the same picture as me, and I use HDR and the tone mapping with the same picture, most people common people who arent photgraphers would buy my HDR picture over the professionals. People like different, something unique, that jumps out at you. Ive looked at alot of professional pictures on the internet, and alot of them are quite boring.
January 26th, 2011 at 1:31 am
These photos are so ugly that I was considering suicide just to get the images out of my mind.
Whoever took these ‘photos’ should be banned from using a camera for life and also have their index finger removed.
February 21st, 2011 at 8:48 am
@Scott:
“after showing alot of people my HDR photos, that if one of these professionals on here, took the same picture as me, and I use HDR and the tone mapping with the same picture, most people common people who arent photgraphers would buy my HDR picture over the professionals.”
More people buy Justin Bieber posters than prints of Monet.
May 24th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
[...] Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is all the rage. Here are some examples of before and after HDR photography. But you don’t need an expensive SLR do [...]
July 7th, 2011 at 4:40 am
I see both sides of the coin. My art director loves the way it makes people look twice at a magazine cover… but not EVERY month.
I like the “glow” around the trees & the sky.. it’s different & people want different. I know it’s not real but it does make you look.
The right subject makes a difference.. I seem to think it works best on an “older looking” shot.. wood..old floors..old buildings..weathered structures..weathered people.
We photogs have to realize that everyone thinks they can do this & anyone can f**k up your bid for work, especially if the client is uneducated.
We still have the instinct, instant composition & timing that everyone else has to “luck into” for their good shot. That’s about all we have though, lol…
To all the HDR haters out there-
It’s a big pool…there’s enough room for everyone.
Lighten up, Francis
*I did however, enjoy the Bieber / Monet comment* – but the guy has a point.. Common people- They like those pre fab racing stripes on cars, too.
August 3rd, 2011 at 1:06 am
If everyone liked the same thing, there would be no need for different forms of art.