Gadgetory

hi you're watching the Android authority Channel I'm Kate among the many magical things that my Android handset lets me do mobile photography is one of my top favorites the stock Android camera provides enough features for photography that both amateurs and pros alike can enjoy including HDR photography what is HDR how does the Android cameras HDR feature work how can you effectively use HDR on your Android device in this video I'll talk about the HDR feature on Android and how to maximize its potential HDR stands for high dynamic range this imaging method involves taking three or more pictures of the same subject at different exposure levels an underexposed image and image with normal exposure and an overexposed image professional photographers then use photo editing software to combine these images into one with more detail and equal exposure HDR on android uses the same basic principles but needs less manual intervention in a nutshell HDR on Android fixes exposure and balance especially with photos shot in bright or dark settings this correction produces photos with more detail than usual imaging modes can produce before proceeded let's check first whether your camera supports HDR the best way to find out is to look around in your camera app on most Samsung devices you'd usually find it under the list of shooting modes in the camera settings on certain HTC devices such as the One X and desire X is under the camera scene section on Sony Xperia phones it's usually in the camera settings menu on the Nexus 4 you can quickly activate HDR mode right on the viewfinder screen just long tap on the viewfinder and tap the HDR icon sadly I couldn't find HDR on the Nexus 10 or the Galaxy Nexus at other times the HDR feature comes under a different label on the Samsung Galaxy camera for instance you won't find HDR but you'll find a similar feature that Samsung calls rich tone capturing HDR photos is just like capturing a normal photo just enable HDR mode first before capturing photos since your camera will be taking three or more consecutive shots keep your hands steady while taking a photo if a tripod is available use it point your camera at the subject use tap to focus if needed and if it's supported then capture the image by tapping the shutter voila you have your own HDR image while you most likely get only one image file when using HDR on samsung devices you'd usually get two image files one with HDR and the other with normal exposure check the file names the HDR image file usually looks similar to this capturing HDR images is easy but is it all right to use HDR all the time when is the right time to use HDR high dynamic range mode is best for landscape photography if you go on a trip for example and you want to capture the image of the stunning landscape against a bright sky like this one use HDR that way the details of your landscape photo will have an enhanced background and foreground see the difference HDR also works great with portrait shots especially when the background is bright most of my friends always advised me not to take photos against the light but with HDR I can get away with it most of the time you can even use HDR in a dim environment like this here's the subject in normal mode and this one's the same subject in HDR mode which one's better HDR can also be used to remedy low-light scenes if the place is dark and you don't want to use flash use HDR you'll get improved photos if you do HDR is a handy feature on any Android camera but there are certain limits to its use for instance HDR won't work well with moving subjects because HDR mode takes three or more photos in succession another occasion where you won't want HDR is when you want to capture realistic colors on your images if so disable HDR because it will alter the colors and exposure of your image I showed you earlier how to check for the presence of HDR on your Android device if you can't find HDR anywhere your device most likely doesn't support it but that doesn't mean you can't use HDR you can still capture HDR images in the help of Android apps the HDR camera plus app available on the Google Play Store or is one such app it lets you capture HDR photos and instantly edit your work within the app let me talk a bit about how this app works here I'll use a non HDR phone the Samsung Galaxy Nexus this is how the camera looks like this area is the viewfinder this small thumbnail here is a preview of the last photo that you took this one is the virtual shutter button this cogwheel is the button for the settings menu and this slider is for zooming in or out before shooting an image first set the image size for the photo then go to advanced settings and toggle the option to edit the photo after taking it let's leave the other settings as they are for now now let's take some HDR photos this works just like any other camera app point focus and shoot and here's our HDR image because we've enabled the editing feature the image editor screen will appear you can select preset filters or manually set tone mapping parameters such as exposure color vividness contrast and micro contrast after editing remember to save the photo awesome you now have an HDR image taken by a non HDR phone thanks to the HDR camera plus app mobile photography becomes more fun with camera features such as HDR on your Android device in this video I showed you how HDR works and how to maximize its use on your Android device I hope you find this video helpful for more Android guides news and reviews visit android authority comm and subscribe to our youtube channel I'm Kate thank you for watching and remember the power of Android is yours