Pro HDR App Review

HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography is all the rage these days, and it’s even built into the latest iOS releases. You’d be forgiven for wondering if you really need to pay $1.99 / £1.29 for a separate app.

So what does it do? The principal behind HDR is quite simple; take two or more photos of the same scene, taken at different exposures, then combine them in a way that retains maximum detail. Take a photo of window from a dimly lit room, and HDR will let you keep all the detail of the room without overexposing what’s outside the window (and vice versa).

Pro HDR has two modes, manual and automatic. In manual mode, the camera fires up and you tap on the screen – first in a bright area of the picture, then a dark. The app then takes two photos, exposing for the two different regions you tapped.

Automatic mode works the same way, except the app works out the light and dark areas automatically. The trade-off is that it takes a little bit more time to work out the correct exposure.

Once you have your two pictures, the app combines them into a single image, then gives you the chance to tweak your HDR photo by adjusting the brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth and tint.

The results can be spectacular and a marked improvement over the iPhone’s built-in HDR functionality (as the examples I took in the photo gallery below show). They aren’t perfect though, with a “halo” effect appearing around areas of high contrast.

The app does a remarkable job of merging the two images though, even if you haven’t kept the camera 100% still. Interesting “ghosting” effects can also be achieved with moving objects in the photos too, although that can be a bit hit-and-miss.

Overall, this is a must-have app if you’re into iPhone photography.