Photography today has become very popular. Almost anyone with a good camera phone or camera can take photos of similar quality to a good studied photographer.
In addition to this, there is the edition. It is useless to take professional photos with the camera of an Android cell phone for example, but you can make certain adjustments, apply filters and even stickers to make the photo really perfect for our style and preference.
Today there are many photography apps, to change the format and to increase the quality giving it the appearance of professional photos. In this article you will learn what an HDR file is and how to open it easily, since this format has become very popular, and you will learn how to apply it to your normal quality or JPG photos.
What is HDR and what is it for?
HDR (High Dynamic Range) or HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) photography is a technique used to cover the greatest number of exposure levels. That is to say, in very dark images, the HDR or High Dynamic Range format is responsible for correcting them.
In other words, when there are areas of the photo that look very light and others very dark, HDR makes sure that the entire image looks uniform and thus all areas are perfectly exposed.
You should know that many high-end smartphones have this option included. The HDR mode takes three photos instead of one in order to highlight different light exposures, and then, using software, bring out the best of each one and result in a perfect photograph.
This technology allows images to look so realistic that it is compared to what our eye sees rather than what our cell phone usually captures.
However, like any program, you have to know when it is convenient to use it and when it is not. For example, it is preferable not to use it in photos with a lot of contrast since these types of photos look better with intense colors between dark and light areas.
It should also be avoided in moving images or images with very vivid colors because this option will end up dulling them. However, it is perfect for landscape photography, bright images, bright sunlight portraits, or indoor photography.
How to convert a low quality photo to one in HDR format?
As already mentioned, you can take photos in HDR format from almost any phone , but if you want to convert a photo that has already been taken in the common format to HDR, you will have to use an external application.
There are several apps to do it manually. You can use Lightroom, Photoshop, or other phone apps like Snapseed that allow you to create a pretty similar effect.
In this post you will learn how to do it with Photoshop. And if you want to know how to lighten a dark photo in Photoshop, you can read this article.
Let’s see a step by step to convert them to HDR
Step 1
The first thing you should do is choose the photograph you want to edit. To do this, after opening Photoshop, go to ” File ” and then ” Open .”
Step 2
Press ” Ctrl + 0 ” to adjust the image on the screen and then press the “Image” tab, “Adjustments”, “Shadows and highlights”.
Step 3
Although the amount of shadow and lighting is up to you, depending on the image, you can use 50% in both categories to get a good result. Press ” Ctrl + j ” to duplicate the layer and double click on it in addition to “OK” to unlock it.
Step 4
In layer 1, you go to “Image”, “Adjustments”, “Desaturate”. Then, in the category located just above the layers, in the “Normal” section, choose the ” Overlay ” option . Duplicate layer 0 and place the new layer called “ Layer 0 copy ” on top of the rest of the layers.
Step 5
Once in that layer, press “Filters”, “Other”, ” High pass “. Although the radius value is up to you, you can use 66. In the same tab where you overlaid the layers, choose the “Soft light” option. And voila, you will have an image with an HDR look.
If you want to Download Photoshop to start editing your photos, you can do it from the program’s official website.