With High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, you can capture photos that look closer to what the human eye perceives in the real world. HDR photography involves capturing multiple photos at different brightness levels and blending them together into one photo. The resulting greater contrast and level of detail may not be possible to save in Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) image formats.
While HDR photography allows you to capture more details in light and shadow, HDR displays allow you to view these details more faithfully for added realism.
You can best view your HDR photo on a compatible device with more than 1,000 nits of brightness. These HDR-capable screens show more contrast, color depth, and brightness than standard displays. You can check your device specifications for compatibility.
Tip: You can view images captured with HDR photography techniques as Google Photos supports the Ultra HDR image format.
Display your photos in HDR
Important: If your featured memories are available in HDR, they'll be displayed in HDR in the featured memories carousel at the top of your screen. Learn more about featured memories.
In the main photos grid, all photos and videos show as thumbnails in SDR. To display photos taken with HDR in full detail:
- On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Photos app
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- Tap the photo you want.
.Tip: Some photos will still display in SDR. Understand why some images don’t display in HDR.
Learn more about HDR photos
Understand why some images don’t display in HDR- Photos taken in SDR always display in SDR.
- If your device and screen don’t support HDR, these images will display in SDR.
From your iPhone or iPad, you can back up HDR photos. Backed up photos preserve HDR settings for all types of backup quality. Learn how to back up photos and videos.
Google Photos has improved how it handles HDR photos. You can now use complex edits on your photos without compromising the image quality and dynamic range. You can now edit your photos and keep its quality and HDR properties with advanced editing tools like:
- Unblur
- Magic Eraser
- Portrait Light
When you edit an HDR photo, Google Photos will preserve its full quality and dynamic range for HDR-capable screens.
Tips:
- In some cases, while Google Photos aims to retain HDR for most edits, the photo may be saved as an SDR photo if:
- The device or software doesn’t support HDR.
- You apply certain filters.
- You export in incompatible formats.
- HDR output settings are turned off on your device or in the software.
- You apply Markup edits using pen or highlighter tools.
- To keep the HDR quality of your edited photos, edit within the Google Photos app and view them on HDR-compatible devices.
If you select a mix of HDR and SDR photos or videos:
- The highlight video editor displays and uses your selections as SDR.
- The highlight video saves as SDR.
Tip: Some creations aren’t available in HDR. Learn more about creations.