HDR
(High dynamic range)

Summary

HDR is allowed in TTG photographs—

— but all of the exposures being combined in an HDR photograph must meet all of TTG’s requirements for combining exposures, including the “one-second” rule in P5.

It is impossible to make a TTG-qualified photograph in which there is more than one second between the start of the first exposure and the start of the last exposure.

Definition

On this website the term “HDR” refers to combining multiple exposures of different brightness ranges to compensate for cameras’ limited dynamic range compared to the human eye.

Many smartphones do HDR by default in certain lighting conditions.

Notes

• HDR is never necessary for a photograph to qualify as TTG.

Combining exposures to increase dynamic range is never necessary to meet the Trust Test. Any normal, functioning camera or device can capture a wide enough dynamic range to meet the requirements of P7.

• Excessive HDR effects and/or tone-mapping can keep a photograph from meeting P7 if the photograph would not meet rinairs for not misrepresenting brightness relationships.

The old saying that “Anytime the viewer can detect that HDR was used, it means it is being used to excess” isn’t a bad rule of thumb for TTG photographers.