High Dynamic Range (HDR) for cell phone pics. Yes/No?

[JEDI]

I have an Alcatel Elevate.
it has a HDR option. by default, it's off.

I have no clue what it does.
pics look brighter w/hdr on but it also takes longer to snap a pic.

when to take pics with hdr on?

 

[CuriousMike]

Use HDR when you have extreme differences in light.

For example, if you are in a forest and the forest floor is dark, but the sky is very bright.

HDR mode will take 2 or 3 photos and blend them together.

The first image takes a photo to make the dark forest floor look correct... but then the sky will look too bright.
The second image will take a photo to make the sky look correct... but then the forest floor will look too dark.

It then blends those two images to have the forest floor and the sky both look "correct."

 

[CuriousMike]

Not the best example, but if you look at the photos where the waterfall is clear, you don't see the sky.
If you look at the photo where the waterfall is black, you can see blue sky and maybe even the clouds.

Imagine taking the best of both bits - thats what HDR does.

 

[CuriousMike]

Your eyeballs have a better "dynamic range" than a camera does.
"Dynamic range" = the differences you can perceive from light to dark.
Your eyes might be able to finely discern 20-25 "steps" in light.
A top of the line camera can see maybe 12 steps.

If you were looking at the above waterfall, you would be able to clearly see the waterfall and the clouds in the sky while standing there.

The camera could not.

So, "HDR" (high dynamic range) in camera terms means helping the camera see more extremes in lighting in a single photo than it ordinarily could.

 

[luv2liv]

very good explanation CuriousMike. now i know, thanks!

 

[guachi]

Also, unless you can stabilize the camera, I wouldn't take an HDR shot unless I had fast shutter speeds as the the camera is taking multiple shots at different exposures (probably three - one underexposed, one normal exposure, and one overexposed) and combining them together.

 

[CuriousMike]

Also, unless you can stabilize the camera, I wouldn't take an HDR shot unless I had fast shutter speeds as the the camera is taking multiple shots at different exposures

The OP is talking about his cell phone - realistically, you're not carrying a tripod around.

My Nexus 5X smartphone has HDR on by default - the process of taking the exposures and alignment is pretty fast nowadays for smartphones. Most smartphone users won't notice slight alignment inconsistencies, but they will appreciate lack of blown out or underexposed areas.

For a DSLR, yes, you want to do HDR on a tripod. (However, LR's deghost does a pretty good job of fixing minor alignment (cloud/water) issues)