Applied carefully, High Dynamic Range-technique (HDR) can create incredibly beautiful pictures which blur our sense of the difference between reality and illusion. In graphics HDR imaging is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows. This is usually achieved by modifying photos with image processing software for tone-mapping. And the results can be really incredible; in fact, many artists and designers come up with some pretty fancy results.
This post covers 35 extremely beautiful and perfectly executed HDR-pictures. Some of them might look surreal, too colorful, even magic or fake, but they are not — keep in mind that they've all been developed out of usual photos, and not a single image is an illustration.
Please notice:
- the selection isn’t supposed to be complete which is why we encourage you to post links to further excellent HDR images in the comments to this post;
- there is no ranking, all pictures have been selected due to their outstanding quality and excellent execution;
- you can explore further works of the designers and photographers we’ve featured below by browsing through their sets on Flickr;
- all screenshots are clickable and lead to the pages from which they’ve been taken;
- you might want to take a look at the article (Really) Stunning Desktop Wallpapers we’ve published earlier.
Fantastic HDR Pictures
Sources and Further Resources
- New York City in HDR
- 20 Beautiful HDR Pictures
- HDRCreme.com
A growing collection of HDR-photos. - HDR Tutorial Round-Up
- Flickr: The Biggest Building in HDR
- HDR Japan
- HDR Video Tutorial
- High Dynamic Range Workshop
- HDR Flickr Pools: *atrium09 Flickr Set, The HDR No Holds Barred Pool, Best Of HDR Pictures Pool, The Pure HDR Pool, The Biggest Building in HDR Pool, Quality HDR Pool, Stuckincostoms’ HDR Setse.