35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
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.
Davi
March 10th, 2008 1:39 amthanks a lot!
Ced
March 10th, 2008 1:52 amSo kitsch :p
Dav
March 10th, 2008 1:53 amNice pics!
dani
March 10th, 2008 1:57 amNiiice…
readywpthemes
March 10th, 2008 2:24 amWouwww, these are really gorgeous!!!
kuldeep
March 10th, 2008 2:44 amI can safely say that, these aren’t the one the best HDR pics. I am great fan of HDR pics and have seen really great of them. I am not blaming though, as you have already explained that in your disclosure. Some are really great, though. Keep it up!!
Henrik
March 10th, 2008 2:46 amthis hdr trend is really annoying. it’s just pimping boring photos that lack of content. i wouldn’t even call it photography at all, sorry.
Stan
March 10th, 2008 3:01 amSebastian
March 10th, 2008 3:03 am@Henrik
Sorry but some of those pictures are really good. They have good motives, moods and perspective and would still be good shots if they where B&W. And to “not even call it photography at all” is kind of stupid. A photo doesnt always have to tell a heartbreaking to be good. At least show us something that you would call good photography.
nickpan
March 10th, 2008 3:28 amBeing Singaporean, its nice to see 3 photos of Singapore in the collection. :)
Will
March 10th, 2008 3:48 amI am starting to really get into HDR photography and this post has given me such inspiration – what an absolutely fantastic post – thanks!
dharma
March 10th, 2008 4:08 amThe pics are lovely… but what is the equipment you need to shoot them? Is this an expensive technique?
Amarjeet Rai
March 10th, 2008 4:36 amFor the last link, use this for the photo page: http://flickr.com/photos/ariffin/2083692789/in/set-72157594411342600/
mee
March 10th, 2008 4:50 amWow, what a collection …
Shane
March 10th, 2008 4:50 amWould be good to see a ‘(Really) Stunning Desktop HDR Wallpapers’. These are stunning, but I want ‘em bigger!
Igor Jovic
March 10th, 2008 4:57 amGorgeous pictures, thank you!
ak
March 10th, 2008 5:11 amAmazing collection!
kuldeep, please post the links to better images, I’d love to see them!
shasta
March 10th, 2008 5:33 amsome good pics here, but i’m afraid HDR is one of the techniques that you can screw up most… and i promise to those of you who are stunned by all of the pictures up here cause it’s the first time you see hdr-pictures: it won’t be long, and you’ll start to hate these unnaturally overstructured skies on the photos of e.g. the golden gate bridge or that greek temple. these are some better examples of how NOT to apply the HDR-technique. golden rule as always: keep it natural…
and btw: there are some “fake” HDRs on this list. a real HDR is composed of several pictures with different exposure time, and i guess it might be difficult to get these birds to stay in the same position for several shots… not that anyone cared, just wanted to be the smart-ass…:P
Linda N
March 10th, 2008 5:37 amFantastical and fun. I would love to publish a poetry book with such pics…..
Dave
March 10th, 2008 5:49 amAnd another Photoshop filter becomes trendy. The HDR “look” to images (#2, #3, #5, #8) will come and go, and the faster this look goes, that better.
There is good reason to use HDR photography techniques: to capture a wider dynamic range. See #1, #13, #18, and maybe #35 – wide dynamic range, no Photoshop filter look (oh, sorry – I suppose you think these images have “style”? You don’t get style out of a Photoshop filter).
@dharma: no equipment except for a $69 Photoshop filter. Just take a bracketed exposure (+/- 2 stops, generally) and let Photoshop do the work. You will need a camera that you can control manually, though.
Jessica
March 10th, 2008 6:09 amThese are so beautiful. I’m in love.
Steve
March 10th, 2008 6:15 amVery very nice, it looks so amazing
Joe
March 10th, 2008 6:19 amI like the disclaimer you posted for all the elitist ass hats.
João Cunha
March 10th, 2008 6:38 amAnother HDR post. As im a image passionate this techniques are just a wonderfull way to improve may pictures.
SE7EN
March 10th, 2008 6:55 amWow! and 2 pics are my country :)
Adam
March 10th, 2008 6:55 amyou claim the intention (of hdr-technique) is to “accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes”, then you post 30-odd tone-mapped-to-hell examples of hdr photography at its absolute worst. nice one!
Joe
March 10th, 2008 7:00 amThis stuff is so incredible. True HDR or not, it’s a great looking effect and these images really “pop”. I’m glad this effect is not something easily obtainable otherwise you’d start seeing it all over.
superxtian
March 10th, 2008 7:18 amdamn it, its really fantastic!
Rich
March 10th, 2008 7:42 amNice.
Al
March 10th, 2008 8:00 amI second shasta, chus and others who comment on the “unreality” of many of these photos. Some of them look like they belong on the cover of cheesy fantasy novels. And I will second Chus’ link to cambridgeincolour.com. THAT is some beautiful HDR work!
Jaggermyster
March 10th, 2008 8:02 amterrible! Nuff said, these all are tone mapped way beyond….
If this was digg I would give you -1
Alain
March 10th, 2008 8:10 amPictures are quite nice but they also suffer from to much contrast. The eye is naturally attracted by contrast and this is the main reason for the appreciation these images get.
They are from a pictorial point of view different but
after a few pictures I seem to look at something that is all the same.
hokic
March 10th, 2008 8:41 amNo doubt. Hallucination – maybe. Nice photos – definitely not.
Stanley
March 10th, 2008 8:50 amBeautiful pictures, very crisp and clean!
Zach
March 10th, 2008 9:04 am$69 dollar filter? Some of the best HDR software is free. Just started using it this weekend. Equipment needed/recommended would be a camera that allows either Auto Bracketing or manual control and a nice, stable tripod. Another good item to have is a cable release, but not needed. And the most important thing, is an eye for photography. Doesn’t matter how much PP you do, with out the initial vision, you still get garbage.
Benni
March 10th, 2008 9:11 amHard to believe that everyone of these pictures was originally a photograph.
Braintrove.com
March 10th, 2008 9:43 amAwesome eye candy!
Allen
March 10th, 2008 10:15 amUnfortunately a lot of these are over the top with the HDR, which I personally dont like. but too each his own… if it’s the photographers/artists intent to create a surreal, and sometimes ugly (hahah personal opinion sneeking in again) image… then more power to you.
Lukas
March 10th, 2008 10:34 amWow, these are beautiful – although some of them look unreal and almost like computer generated like the SF bridge.
Nice collection.
Cheekygeek
March 10th, 2008 11:08 amYou have a LOT to learn about HDR. These all look like Photomatix jobs with the dial set to “11″ (Spinal Tap reference). If it no longer LOOKS like a photograph, then the HDR has not been done correctly. If it still looks like a photograph, but somehow better (like Ansel Adams zone system shots did for B&W), then you’ve got a well done HDR job.
If you want to see HDR done right, check out this guy’s work: BackingWinds. He’s a professional photoshopper and also a budding pro photographer and I think you’ll see some stuff that doesn’t look like such an obvious CGI.
Ryan McGinnis
March 10th, 2008 11:19 amSomeone of these look incredible — I especially like the upward shot of the skyscrapers. However, it should be noted that these all more or less have the same look and feel: overprocessed and unreal. You can, however, create much more realistic results using Photoshop CS2 or CS3′s built in HDR function. I have a Photoshop HDR Tutorial on my blog; Photoshop can lead to some stunning results.
Paulo
March 10th, 2008 11:28 amTerrible.
Reminds me of a new photoshop user – uses every gimmicky filter he can get his hands on to create …err *cough* …’art’
The original use of HDR photography was to accurately light computer generated 3d scenes…why don’t we let it stay that way.
This a fad that will date, die and decay just as quickly as snow washed jeans!
Duncan Philpott
March 10th, 2008 11:57 amVery nice collection, however, i hate black clouds in the sky, they just aren’t natural
webguygary
March 10th, 2008 1:44 pmWhatever happened to just taking a really well composed and properly exposed photograph? For example, Ansel Adams achieved dramatic effects without Photomatix.
Reminds me of when the Matrix came out, and everywhere you looked, even Subaru commercials, they all used that same freeze/surround effect. This is just another one of those gimicks.
Sander Wapstra
March 10th, 2008 2:51 pmWow! New background :).
rich
March 10th, 2008 3:35 pmI’m shootin’ RAW from now on!
Georger Karl
March 10th, 2008 4:09 pmHere is also an amazing HDR of rockafeller center that i found check it out
http://www.wallpaperstop.com/desktop-wallpapers/nature-wallpaper/view-wallpaper/rockefeller-center-new-york-city-wallpaper-2948.jpg.html
Tristan
March 10th, 2008 5:43 pmOnly maybe 4 or 5 that are actually done tastefully, the rest are pretty standard garish HDR… but some are pretty stunning, decent collection all in all.
John
March 10th, 2008 5:51 pmMost of these are way over done for my taste. You say they look fake (they do) but “they are not.” Well, the Golden Gate photograph is clearly looking south, from the north side of the Gate, yet on the south side hills, WHERE IS THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO? All I see are tree covered hills and maybe a few houses. I call it fake when something so obvious, which in reality is there, is missing.
Anonon
March 23rd, 2013 12:17 amIt’s not fake, the city is cut out of the picture (it is to the left of the hills). I don’t live in SF but I’ve been there several times and I assure you, that is what it looks like facing south (you can see the fort to the left under the bridge as well as the electric tower). If you don’t believe me, use Google Maps.
heretic
March 10th, 2008 6:37 pmmore HDR pictures here
http://www.techamok.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7002
DogBreath
March 10th, 2008 6:41 pmAnother potentially useful Photoshop technique embarrassingly abused.
Jerry
March 10th, 2008 6:49 pmThat is really cool…
Can I put this article to my own blog,too ?
I will translate this article to Chinese and will link back to your site.
Scott
March 10th, 2008 8:19 pmVery cool pictures.
Matt Radel
March 10th, 2008 9:15 pmHDR photography is amazing. I hope this “trend” sticks around for awhile. :)
Dian
March 10th, 2008 9:34 pmGrat..so beautiful & dramatic!
cool guy
March 10th, 2008 9:36 pmwow some of you are douchebags. SM tends to post extreme examples IMO for the idea to come across clearly. if they have to explain what HDR stands for in the description, why the hell are you looking at it if you are an ‘expert’ in the field?? and why would you waste your time posting negative comments about a clearly obvious attempt to inspire people in a positive way? i think this list is great for people who don’t understand what HDR is or are new to the idea. stop spreading your jaded views and go get laid losers.
JnJn
March 10th, 2008 11:32 pm@ John. While the SF bridge pic is certainly a fake HDR, the “fake” trees and hill? Its called the Presidio, look it up on google maps or something….
M a d . P h o t o . W o r l d
March 11th, 2008 12:55 amIts really funny how people always seems to be amazed by the “painterly” HDR style, to me they a really (mostly) boring. I like images that makes you stop and say: “Im looking at an ordinary photography and yet there’s something different” – and occasionally i do a “painterly” style.
karl
March 11th, 2008 1:23 am@JnJn: You sure?
IT News Blog
March 11th, 2008 3:17 amthese photos are absolutely amazing. i’m so gonna try doing one… i just need a subject…… hmmmm
me
March 11th, 2008 3:50 amMost of these are over processed rubbish :( I hate it when people over process HDR images. Dont get me wrong there were a few nice ones there.
Ben Jacob
March 11th, 2008 3:56 amThis is really fantastic ! I love all of them Thank you smashing magazine for sharing them
V1
March 11th, 2008 4:11 am“Another potentially useful Photoshop technique embarrassingly abused.”
U take words right out of my mouth.
Giuseppe Raso
March 11th, 2008 4:37 amAmazing!
Marc (aka LoffeeCover)
March 11th, 2008 8:53 amHDR = High Digg Rate
i_bruno
March 11th, 2008 11:14 amPeople can use anything they can,
photo never ever was something that shows reality,
but I agree that some of them have crossed the line
buts its ok, always great photographers used special fx in their compositions, including Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Sebastiao Salgado,
whats matter its the message.
Reginald
March 11th, 2008 11:35 amThese are some absolutely amazing photos.
How user friendly or beginner friendly is this approach?
subcorpus
March 11th, 2008 12:51 pmsimply amazing …
beautiful pictures …
Joe Philipson
March 11th, 2008 6:51 pmWow, These are spectacular… I know people rail on HDR as not real photography but I think they’re two different arts… When the camera came out did people complain that pictures weren’t really paintings?
Meh. Whatever. I love them, they beat mine :-)
Imagequest
March 11th, 2008 7:10 pmMost pics seem polluted, skies full of air you can’t breathe. Don’t like it much…
pixelcore
March 11th, 2008 9:13 pmAll I can say is wow! Very inspirational images.
thanks
eblawler
March 11th, 2008 9:55 pmI absolutely love HDR…. I have not been so inspired since the early 90s days of learning Photoshop then experimenting with Kai’s Power Tools… But the fact this process is just the three exposures mapped together is really incredible.
About time it was featured here :) Nice job on this blog btw, this is my first post.
koko
March 12th, 2008 2:12 am非常漂亮!
risemeagain
March 12th, 2008 6:16 amsee my friends’ photos in Flickr~
CurtisS
March 12th, 2008 7:12 amHDR is a nice techinique to enhance an already great scene (revive contrast in a wash-out sky, etc…). Great scenes are not created by using HDR. In fact this techinique has been in use for many years in various forms i.e. multiple exposures like this image.
bmx
March 12th, 2008 3:08 pmsuper cool pics
Rani Sowmya
March 12th, 2008 10:05 pmWow!
AT
March 13th, 2008 1:59 amthese pictures are aweful… :/
kristarella
March 13th, 2008 2:47 amI’m glad there’s a range of comments here:
At first I thought “Wow, awesome.” Then I thought “Some of these look like composites rather than HDR.”
It’s true that a lot don’t really represent reality and some are fake HDR, but I kinda love the unrealistic dramatism in a lot of these (including the Golden Gate Bridge) nice round up.
p.s. why does it welcome me as a Stumble Upon user every time I come here? I always link through from my RSS reader.
Prasanth
March 13th, 2008 2:50 amWow! This is an amazing collection. Out of curiosity, are these all edited photographs or are there pure 3ds stuff?
Danny
March 13th, 2008 3:24 amI’m no a huge fan of HDR photography, but all the fake calls are a bit unfounded, I’m guessing most HDR photos are relatively unedited (in terms of altering the pixels) compared to the airbrushed, cut, smoothed, smudged, healed, painted, reduced, replaced and whatnot photos that you find on the cover of what seems like 80 percent of magazines, I got a serious shock the other day watching a photographer prepare some images for a fashion spread, there were a whole lotta layers going on there.
photoshop is not photography, I think we all realise that.
Jai
March 13th, 2008 6:04 am35 Perfectly executed HDR-pictures ….
Sorry to break your bubble but man I think you don’t know what HDR stands for. A lot of these are not.
By the way this is an abuse of Photoshop from a photographer’s point of view. This is not even digital photography.. but digital art. I’m quite sick of people mistaking this as photography.
The impression on the Golden Bridge is the superlative horrendous.
I wonder if National Geographic would even think of using any of these photos in their publication.
Claude
March 13th, 2008 6:12 amClaude of Belgium.
C’est tout simplement magnifique, je ne peu pas mieux dire.
Merci.
Rudy
March 13th, 2008 10:34 amI have mixed feelings about HDR, and this selection is a pretty good example of why. When done in moderation, the HDR effect enhances an already well-done photo (in terms of subject, lighting, composition, etc). The cathedral photo is a good example – with just one exposure, architectural and other detail would be lost. This photo doesn’t have the unnatural HDR “look” that the unfortunate Golden Gate photo has.
Sadly, for every decent HDR there are dozens of photos that have the look of the Golden Gate – overprocessed, unnatural, with dark skies, and that obviously look heavily edited in PS.
Ty
March 13th, 2008 4:05 pmyou know they are really cool photo’s but this HDR shouldn’t be called real untampered photos because they are tampered with looks like photoshop
HerrK
March 13th, 2008 5:02 pmSooooo amazing pictures!
ricardo
March 14th, 2008 9:28 amApplied carefully… yeah, but these are not very good examples. Unpleasant images, too sharp. too much contrast, artifacts and dark glow everywhere. Thats horrible. Maybe 2 or 3 images could be saved from there, and one of them (the bird) is not HDR – you can’t make real HDR images with moving subjects! That’s more of a “simulated” HDR.
Mike Cookson
March 14th, 2008 9:48 amTo make an hdr image all you need is a digital camera, and some way to merge the photos together. You bracket at least three phots, one two stops over, one two stops under, and one normal exposure. Then their is a website called photomatix that you download their program (its free, but leaves a watermark), and this merges the three photos together. You then have to make some adjustments giving you the picture that yuou want. I hope this helps
nick
March 15th, 2008 8:39 pmHah. I’ve hated HDR since i started seeing it applied to photographs. it’s disgusting, why not just put your damn photos in a microwave.
Please, amateurs, GET OVER THIS FAD AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
DrAW!
March 16th, 2008 5:40 amok now i’m confused
what makes an hdri real
is it the fact that the measured dynamic range is high or the fact that it’s a composite from many images?
also what if i use images in which only one has a bird (or better still i add the bird after i’m done)…does that make it fake?
besides bracketing or taking different exposures is not the only way to get a wide range of exposure values…simply shooting an image in raw can do something close to this
granted some shots were probably done using some shadow/highlight tool or ‘cheap’ filter, but can’t those still increase the dynamic range somewhat?
i’m a fan of fantasy cos the real world can get really boring
i appreciate even the over-the-top renditions of the clouds
i don’t think photoshop was made for only realistic depictions
in fact i don’t think anyone exists who’s ever used up photoshop’s potential
Mustafa
March 16th, 2008 2:20 pmWow Perfectly pictures thanks…
ferd randa
March 17th, 2008 12:11 amwow very nice…….
Bert Lee
March 17th, 2008 7:48 amwonderful pictures , I like them.
Nurn
March 17th, 2008 1:02 pmThey are photographs, but they’re not representative of the real world. Neither is an impressionist painting, though. You like them, or you don’t, depending on your point of view. We expect photographs to depict reality, but mostly they don’t – even the realistic-seeming ones.
div^
March 18th, 2008 3:50 amThese are awesome pictures . Haven´t seen such beautiful images in a while now.
Cay
March 18th, 2008 5:37 amOK or no OK
Bobby Gabriel
March 18th, 2008 8:49 pmWow, those were some of the most breath taking snaps i have ever scene. A fantastic Collection. Thank you,
octavio
March 18th, 2008 9:15 pmsooo soooo nice it’s so beautifull,fantastic
Kento
March 20th, 2008 6:17 amMost of the time when I look at HDR I just think “this is how Thomas Kinkade would take photographs.” :\
Life with HDRi
March 20th, 2008 11:16 pmThat’s fantastic. drives me more creative HDR way…