iPhone App Review: Pro HDR by Robert Barr

On December 22 2009 eyeApps LLC released ProHDR for the iPhone 3GS.  The application allows you to combine two photos into one High Dynamic Range image.  Currently on the App store there is only one other program that I know of that allows you to actually make “real” HDR photographs and that is TrueHDR.  I was a big fan of the TrueHDR program but it always bugged me that it saved at a reduced resolution.  This made the photos too low of a resolution to print out larger then 4x6 inches. 

When I saw that ProHDR had been released and it did indeed save as full resolution I simply had to download a copy.  My senior thesis at college was a series of HDR images taken at night in downtown Seattle.  I also take a fair amount of HDR real estate images because of my photography business.  So any program on the iPhone that does real HDR is something I am very interested in.  After spending a few days running images through the program I thought I would compile a little review of how the program stacks up to it’s competition.    As far as I know this program will only work on the 3GS like it says and there is currently no work around to make the application work on the older versions of the iPhone so keep that in mind before you download it.

The interface of ProHDR is very clean.  My biggest complaint (aside from the lack of full resolution) in TrueHDR was the childish home screen that the program featured.  ProHDR on the other hand is much more “professional” looking.  I would not be nearly as embarrassed to open up and show the application to a client as I would with TrueHDR.  I must say thank you ProHDR for staying away from the cartoon elephants and trees. 

In terms of image processing the program has the ability to import images from your camera roll or take photos directly in the application.  I usually end up taking photos with the main camera application and importing them into the program.  I find that if I do it this way I can take my time to get the under exposed and over exposed image just the way I want.  Then once I have the two images I take them into the program to edit them.

On the other hand if you can choose to take the images in the program.  The program will start up your camera and prompt you “Tap somewhere Dark” then you can tap the “Take Picture #1” button.  After that it will prompt you to “Tap somewhere dark” and then you then you can tap the “Tape Picture #2” button.

It does not show the focusing square that you normally get when you tap to focus/change exposure.  I actually liked that it hid the focusing square but that could bug some people.  Also I find that when you tap take the photo the program will wait till it is done focusing to capture the image.  TrueHDR on the other hand would take the image the second you hit capture and this could result in out-of-focus exposures. 

After you take your images the program will start to process them for you.  The only draw back of this is if you have a good dark exposure but you mess up the light exposure you have to go back and through the prompts to try again.  For this reason alone I always end up taking the photos from the camera roll.  

When you are processing the photos from the camera roll it asks you to select the dark image first and then select the light image second.  You really need to do it in that order.  I found that when I was selecting the light image first then the dark image the second the images were coming out muddy and very low contrast looking. So be sure you pick the dark picture first and the light picture second. 

Once you select your images the program will start processing them and stitching them together to create the HDR image.  In general I found the processing to be a tad bit quicker then the TruHDR program, taking between ten and twenty seconds to create most HDRs.  After the image processes it loads up the editing screen.

The editing screen is a feature that TrueHDR was lacking.  Once the image is processed ProHDR allows you to tweak the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Warmth.  I find that I usually end up having to bump up the contrast quite a bit to remove the grey cast that most of the images tend to acquire.  Actually, I find that I usually end up increasing the contrast on most the HDR images I process from my Nikon D300, also, so  this was not something that really bothered me. 

Below is an example image of what ProHDR can produce.  I included the two source images, the image the program produced with out editing, and the final image after I tweaked the settings in the program.

Above: Picture #1Above: Picture #2Above: Default Pro HDR imageAbove: Tweaked Pro HDR imageThe bottom line is I am in love with this application.  I found that it does a much better job of lining up the images than TrueHDR does.  Sometimes if you have movement in the images it will tend to look double exposed or blurred.  One of the things I have noticed about ProHDR is that it will do a much better job at removing the blur that you get from moving objects in the frame. 

Being able to post process the image inside the program is a big plus.  You are not stuck with one final result like you are with some other programs and you can easily fine tune your photograph to make it turn out just the way you would like it.  Even if you do not tweak the settings inside the program you can save the image and then bring it in to an editor like PhotoGene to tweak the histogram to remove any of that grey cast you might end up with.

The program also does a pretty good job of processing images taken in low light.  You get some grain in the dark areas but overall it does a much better job in low light situations at producing photographs than a single exposure will grant you.

Make sure you change the settings in the program options to output at the maximum size when saving it to the phone.  Also I would suggest turning on the ability to save the original source images in the phone memory also.  This will give you the option to go back and edit them or combine them in to an HDR again.  Otherwise if you take the images in the program and do not turn this option on you will only be left with a final product and no way to go back and work with your images later on.  Trust me you will want to at some point in time and you will be kicking yourself if you don’t have the original images. 

The only thing I would recommend to the developers is the ability to zoom in on your photograph before you save it.  It shows you a thumbnail image on the editing screen and if you tap the expand button in the lower right corner of the image it will expand to the full screen size but you can not zoom in any more than that.  I end up saving the photograph and going to my camera roll so I can zoom in to see the fine detail of the photograph

For $1.99 I would say everyone that has any interest whatsoever should download this Application.  If you already have TrueHDR and were not sure if you should buy this program I would also highly recommend this program.  The interface, increased resolution, and the algorithm it uses to align the photographs are all superior to its competition.

Below is a comparison shot taken in with the default camera app and processed through both ProHDR and TrueHDR.  ProHDR is on the left and TrueHDR is on the right.

If you download the application and post your photos to Flickr please join the ProHDR photo group and post your images!

Robert Barr is a professional photographer in Seattle Washington.  Check out his flickr photo stream here, or his personal website here.

AppStore Link: Pro HDR - Price £1.19/$1.99

Comments

[doug]

Awesome examples, thanks! But how did you get the two different exposures in the first place?

[John Meadows]

I read the review, and decided to try it out, and I love the results!!! Here's my first effort, through my hotel room in Banff

[rfbarr]

@doug You can either use the program to take the photo or use the main camera app. You have to have a 3GS. Simply tap to focus on a light area and take a shot and tap to focus on a dark area and take a shot. When you tell the camera what you want to focus on it will adjust the exposure to make that area turn out properly exposed. Must have the 3GS though!!!!

Thanks Glyn for posting the review I am super excited to see it live. I hope this helps people make up their mind if they want to buy the app or not. I would love to see everyone come and join the flickr group I made.

[=M=]

Great review, Robert! Now, I really want to use this app. Unfortunately, it only works with the iPhone 3GS. You can't use it in Library Mode on an older iPhone. If you buy it in iTunes and try to copy it to your older iPhone, it won't transfer. The developer has no current plans to support older iPhones at this time.

Apps like these will accelerate my urgency to upgrade my phone. And although I like TrueHDR (because of my phone), I agree with you regarding the splash screen....

=M=

[rfbarr]

@=M= Thanks for letting me know about that. I wondered if you could use the work around you can use for TrueHDR but since you can't even access the library mode in the app I guess that would rule that out.