35 Fantastic HDR Images

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Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing, he’s most probably running front-end & UX … More about Vitaly ↬

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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.

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.

Further Reading on SmashingMag:

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.

Fantastic HDR Pictures

HDR images
HDR images - Dranesville Tavern
HDR Photos - untitled
HDR Photos - A postcard for the Margarita island
HDR Photos - One Night in Bangkok
HDR Photos - Caracara takes off
HDR Photos - Los Tres Magia
HDR Photos - 871 @ Sattahip Naval Base (Thailand)
HDR Photos - Golden Gate HDR
HDR Photos - Inverted Vertigo
HDR Photos - Helix Nebula Over Paris DRI
HDR Photos - From above...
HDR Photos - Catedral de Malaga 2 (HDR)
HDR Photos - Sparkle in Her Eye - HDR
HDR Photos - The Solitude of the Fisherman
HDR Photos - Greece is the word...
HDR Photos - My own peace of mind - HDR by *equinoxe7 on deviantART
HDR Photos - Devil Hotel
HDR Photos - Home_is_where_the_cello_is
HDR Photos - The Veins of Bangkok
HDR Photos - captured emotion
HDR Photos - Heart of Satan - What it looks like when fireworks explode inside of a storm cloud over a river
HDR Photos - Bridge
HDR Photos - foggy wood (Published in March 08 National Geographic)
HDR Photos - City at 60 degrees North / Icebreaker Krasin
HDR Photos - Mistral Action
HDR Photos - Breakwater @ Pirita
HDR Photos - : Photo by Photographer Maciek Duczynski
HDR Photos - A Mushroom with a view
HDR Photos - ECO Lake
HDR Photos - Icy Landscape
HDR Photos - A cokin sunset
HDR Photos - Clark Quay Reflected
HDR Photos - I have sailed the seven seas ...
HDR Photos - The Aliens Have Landed
HDR Photos - City of lights
HDR Photos - Flickr: Discussing Your Best HDR Sunrise or Sunset in HDR Unlimited

Sources and Further Resources