New iPhone Photo App: TrueHDR
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 7:41PM | Glyn Evans *** Create high dynamic range pictures on your iPhone ***
Description from the AppStore: Use TrueHDR to unleash the potential of your iPhone or iPod Touch and create beautiful high dynamic range (HDR) pictures!
Have you taken pictures, only to find out that the beautiful clouds were washed out, making the sky look like a white haze? Or how about pictures where everything in the shadows looked like a dark blob with no details?
The problem with taking only one photo of a scene that has a large range from bright to dark is that you have to choose whether you want to capture the brighter or the darker areas.
With TrueHDR, you can get the best of both worlds - capturing the details of bright and dark areas and then merging them into a single photo.
TrueHDR allows you to take HDR pictures with your iPhone 3GS autofocus camera, or to create HDR pictures from images in your iPhone/iPod Touch photo library that were taken with an iPhone 3GS or another handheld camera with variable exposure settings.
TrueHDR guides you to either take or select two photos, each capturing a different range of brightness in a scene, and then generates one resulting photo that combines the best of both original images into a realistic-looking picture that is much closer to what your eyes originally saw.
Features:
- In-app camera: capture your starting images with the iPhone 3GS autofocus camera without ever leaving the app (NOTE: only applies for iPhone 3GS)
- Photo albums integration: use saved images, taken with the iPhone 3GS or another camera, as your starting images for creating an HDR photo
- No tripod necessary: as long as you make an effort to keep the camera pointing in the same direction, it's OK for your hand to move a bit between shots. We'll align the images and match up the details.
- Sophisticated computational photography algorithms: we use state of the art techniques behind the scenes, resulting in what you see as the final HDR photo
- Inspect your results: pinch, zoom and pan around in portrait or landscape to check out the resulting HDR photo
- Share your results: the results screen lets you directly compose and send an email with your photo
- Detailed instructions page with videos: accessible within the app
Tips:
- For optimal results, try to keep the camera pointing in pretty much the same direction between shots. We can handle the normal small movements of your hands, but camera rotation and large movements make the images more difficult to align.
- The TrueHDR web site (see below) gives further ideas for getting the best results, and has an extensive gallery showing 'before' images along with the resulting images so that you can see lots of examples. All 'before' gallery images were taken with an iPhone 3GS and all result images were created with TrueHDR.
- Camera functionality requires minimum iPhone OS 3.1 and iPhone 3GS. Merging functionality with saved images may be used on iPhone or iPod Touch.
NOTE: iPhone 3GS ONLY
AppStore Link: TrueHDR - Price £1.19/$1.99
Editors comments: I don't have an iPhone 3GS so I can not test this app, but it looks like HDR has finally come to the world of iPhone photography. If any one does try this app, then please let us know what you think of it.
TrueHDR in New iPhone Photo Apps
Reader Comments (13)
Although I haven't purchased the app yet, the developer has told me that the max output size at the moment is 960x960but they are looking to increases this. Excellent support!
Has bought the app because the gallery pics look impressive. Will report once I have a chance to try it. Didn't know about the output size; probably would have held back!
"but it looks like HDR has finally come to the world of iPhone photography"?
How about HDR for Free? I've used that for quit some time now...
My two 3GS (1536x2048) images saved at 671x897. Impressive looking app & approach to getting the effect but not perfect. Plus the output sizing is so far a disappointment.
But on a side not... If you have seen my Flickr or Twitter posts you know I am Beta Testing a new HDRCam app that is very nice & saves at FULL RESOLUTION. This app will be released shortly.
SCW
Someguy: HDR for Free just makes images look like HDR by boosting the colours. True HDRs are created from merging two exposures together as this app does.
SCW: Whats your twitter account? Do you have sample pics on there from the new app?
@Robin .... thescw
@Robin Edwards: Thanks for clearing that up. Didn't know that.
@scw: Does that new app also do true HDR, that is, does it merge multiple exposures?
I have tried TrueHDR and the results are impressive. Using the click to focus feature of the 3GS to take multiple exposures works great.
Take a look at this gallery of examples to get an idea of what kind of results you can expect from the app.
@hendrikNo it is a very well done effects app recreating "natural light" HDR effects not true or artistic HDR.
OK. First of all I tend to be a NON-fan of full size HDR images. I really do not like the cartoonish colors and the "Grunge" look. I do however like the idea of combining exposures to record more usable information.
For HDR on the iPhone this app is a start. The colors seem to be good and they do a good job combining the exposures. No phony baloney colors and no grunge skies. The developer claims they can "...handle the normal small movements..." Nope; in my opinion they can't. Also it's another app that won't save in full size. I do wish developers would just mark their products if they won't save full size...like cancer warnings on cigarettes. A little more work on those two issues and it's a winner though.
@Charles. Thanks for the feedback on this app.
I find the colors come out too blue, grey things turn blue.
I am also very cynical on the app store reviews, such raves for it, yet there are no manual controls in the app, merge the 2 pics together and your option is save or delete, that is it, there is no artistic control, the software says you will like it, or you won't. How can an app that could have potential and a drawback of image size along with no control get 5 stars?
This is no Photomatix by a long shot and certainly not deserving of it's app store rating.
It will add a little pop to your images and retrieve some detail lost in shadow, but I am cynical if it is actually capturing multiple images and merging them.
I had a look at Hendriks gallery and I'm sorry, I don't buy those results, the borders of the photos in the sets are identical, I cannot believe a person can take 2 seperate shots with the borders of the 2 shots being identical...I think it's one photo that is photoshopped etc, sorry to be a party pooper but those photo borders are identical in seperate shots, impossible!