Weekly photo contest: HDR

[Sam Sabri]

​
​

HDR! It's the category in photography that everyone loves to hate. There probably isn't a subject more polarizing in photography than HDR. Which is why it's going to be our theme for the weekly photo contest. Think you have an eye to capture a scene where HDR works? Then you best be entering!

HDR

HDR (High-dynamic-range) is a technique in photography where you produce a greater dynamic range than possible with normal photography methods. It often works by capturing and then combining different exposures of the same subject matter into one photo. When done right HDR can produce beautiful, realistic images. But more often than not, HDR goes terribly wrong.

Which is why I thought it would be fun to have as our theme this week. I want to see what you can do with HDR on Windows Phone. Will you go overboard? Will your HDR be tasteful? We're going to find out.

We've covered a handful of HDR apps on Windows Phone in the past, but feel free to use whichever you want. Don't forget to recommend your favorite below.
​

• Fhotolens for Windows Phone
  
• 4Blend for Windows Phone
  
• HDR Photo Camera
  

The above photo doesn't come from me, but from Daniel. He took the photo recently in NYC while testing our the new built-in HDR features in the HTC One (M8) camera. Check out the rest of the photos and read why he really likes the Duo Ultrapixel camera.


Rules

Rules are going to be just like last week. Here they are:

• Picture must be taken with a Windows Phone
• Picture must be uploaded to the contest thread (linked below)
• You have to tell us what device you used to take the picture, and any special software or apps you might have used. Editing your pictures is fine, this is art
• Feel free to add a little back story, we want to know how the picture came to be
• You must have used a valid email address to register here at Windows Phone Central, so I know how to contact the winner
• Only ONE entry per week per person

Social

We're going to continue our social experiment from last week. Share any pictures you take for the contest on Instagram and Twitter using the following hashtags. It's a fun way to at a glance check out your competition and get inspiration. Plus we're building a community of Windows Phone mobile photographers!
Here's how it looks this week.

• #WPCpc
• #HDRWPC

This doesn't count as your entry; it's just a fun way to track the photos on social media. Your entry still needs to be in the forums!

Prize

One winner will get a $25 gift card to the Windows Phone Store. You can use it to buy apps and games in the Windows Phone Store, Windows Store or Xbox Store.

We'll pick a winner Tuesday night (September 23) at 11:59 PM ET. Winners will be announced in a blog post for the contest next week.
Quick PSA: We've set up dedicated sub-forum in the Windows Phone Central forums to keep the photo contests in one location going forward.

You should bookmark this page, so you never miss a contest.

• Windows Phone Central ? Photo Contests
• Weekly photo contest: Nightlife

Good luck and have fun!

 

[nilchak]

The Princeton architechture - HDR composition shot on a Lumia 1020



Note : Taken on a Lumia 1020 - three shots with 3 aperture settings on full manual. HDR compositing on a PC using PhotoMatix.
This was on a trip to Princeton to meetup an old friend - and as we walked the grounds with the sun going down - the Princeton University buildings fascinated me - this town had a character and a lot of the character emanated from the architectural grandeur of the university itself and its heritage.

Lucky I had a small stnad with me and I though the only way to capture the fine detauls and character of this building was to take a HDR composition - so that the foreground and stained window work as well as the sky all showed up in a photo worth doing justice.

A big thanks to my rich friend for studying at Princeton - the whole reason I visited it.

 

[aaa6112]

omg HDR! You're absolutely right, Sam. HDR is extremely tricky. When not done right, it produces an image that can look very unreal, with neon-like colors that look unpleasant (to me at least). I do not have a lot of HDR photos, so it is easy for me to choose a pic for this contest. I was out at Scripps Pier, La Jolla, taking some sunset shots when I thought to myself, hey let's try HDR...and this was even before bracketing was available with the Nokia Camera app. As you might have imagined, I used the awesome ProShot camera app, set it to take photos with three different exposure settings, and blended them to obtain this amazing view of the sunset. Shooting into the sun can be tricky - trying to retain the brilliant sky colors requires a low EV. However, this darkens the subject in the foreground, resulting in a silhouette (perfectly fine if that's what you're looking for). Increasing the brightness of the subject requires higher EV, but this results in a washed out sky. But thanks to the HDR technology, I was able to obtain a photo with a dynamic range greater than what a single-exposure shot would have, hence retaining the brilliant sky colors, having sufficient color and brightness in the pier structure AND obtaining that lovely silky water effect.
Device: Lumia 920
App: Fotor (online)

 

[50ShadesOfDJWS]

Lumia 520 with 4blend

 

[mattdistro]

Taken with a Lumia 1520 using HDR Photo Camera. Nothing special, I had just gotten the 1520 and wanted to try out the HDR app. I had remembered it being awesome on my 920.

Cloudy day before it stormed, just walked outside the entrance and snapped a pic. I did use the "Extreme" setting, so it's a little over the top.

 

[steven altanie]

Taken with Lumia 820, using 360 Camera, edited on Lumia Creative Studio

This was on a trip to Puncak, West Java, Indonesia.
I was stopped by Sundanese Restaurant on my way to Cibodas Village. It was around magic hour and the sun is ready to set, best time to grab my Lumia and take some nasty picture. The view is quite stunning out there on the Restaurant side. Hope you like it

 

[Penny_1]

Here's an HDR. Photo of the sunset from Santa Monica near the pier. Used the HDR Photo Camera app with my Lumia 928. Did a little bit of editing in Lightroom to give it more contrast. What's interesting is that the photo has all kinds of artifacts, but that gave it an overall more interesting effect in my opinion.

 

[abausch]

Downtown Portland, Oregon, as seen from the Steel Bridge. Taken with my Lumia Icon, and HDR'd with the Fantasia Painter app. The camera on this phone is the reason I switched from Android to WP. So happy I made that decision.

 

[Torontonian22]

Taken with my lumia 920. I actually used action shot and edited the pic in fantasia painter

 

[wpftw]

Lumia 1020 at Vista House near Portland - taken using HDR Photo Camera.

Just out on a hike, stopped by this nice lookout spot on the way home - you have to look way up from the highway to see it, this is the view at the top.

 

[cjloyola]

Taken outside our office while waiting.

Camera 360 - HDR Mode
Lumia 720
No Edit

 

[raycpl]

Bergosong Besar jetty, Sebatik Island - Its early in the morning, I'm sipping coffee and waiting for a boat to take me home

A simple straight auto-shot on my 920's default camera and HDR-ed on Fantasia Painter. I went for a low 25% to keep it as natural looking as possible without the garish overkill

 

[deanmu]

Temple of heaven at kenjeran beach surabaya. Taken from Nokia Lumia 720 and edited with fantasia painter HDR.

 

[Willyman]

Sunset. View from my appartment in Hong Kong. Enjoy!

Lumia 1020
HDR Photo Camera app

 

[Alexander McCain]

Big Ben view in HDR taken from Lumia 630 using Microsoft Cam and edited by Fantasia Painter. I took this picture in the morning 3 months ago in London where I live.

 

[R0VIN]

I took this shot right after I got off a boat, the water knee deep, just after finishing hopping onto different islands last summer in the province of Zambales, Philippines. Taken using my HTC Radar, edited by Fantasia (for HDR), Fhotoroom (for some other filters) and Lomogram (for framing).

 

[Absar Mohammed]

I took this with my handsome Lumia 1520. I used Fotor App for the HDR effect. Was coming back from my office. The bridge and the walkway looked nice to me. So thought of clicking it.

 

[hari pavan]

clicked from my lumia 720 with 4Blend app and edited in creative studio.
location: MGM, chennai- India

 

[msirapian]

Unlike others, I do use RAW for HDR with my mighty 1020. I used to shot 3 pictures with the 808 and had great HDRs with it, but RAW allows more to my eyes. One shot, so no blur motion nor ghosts.

I underexposed this when shooting this lake by my parents-in-law house in Finland. I didn't see the boats to be honests. Then, I amplified the dynamic of the shot by postprocessing the RAW, allowing both the setting sun AND the shadows to be visible.

I have to mention that even when shooting 3 or 5 shots HDR, I prefer photorealistic renders over surrealistic ones ^^

 

[Aadya]

Captured from Lumia 925
Used App Called Fhotolens

Had Bunked the college to enjoy the coming monsoon. Traveled Almost 5 stations to reach and sit on place called Bandra Fort. That's the amazing view on Bandra worli sealink from the fort corner end and the most awaited shower clouds. Captured this shot just to have memories of those days.
Bandra Fort :- Mumbai.