HDR on my iPhone 5s looks more blurry than on iOS7

[Siderz]

When the 5s came out, I remember reading about how the HDR pic somehow removes some of the motion blur, but it seems like it's the opposite in iOS8.

Anyone else get this? See my example pics, the HDR version has more colour around the signs, but the non-HDR version is evidently much sharper.

I've been on iOS8 since release and noticed it pretty quickly but only now decided to make a post about it.

 

[calyanjaele]

Yes. I've definitely noticed this. Thought it was odd. Seems to have gotten worse with updates. HDR also tends to overly smooth my photos

 

[Winona Northdakota]

When the 5s came out, I remember reading about how the HDR pic somehow removes some of the motion blur, but it seems like it's the opposite in iOS8.

Anyone else get this? See my example pics, the HDR version has more colour around the signs, but the non-HDR version is evidently much sharper.

I've been on iOS8 since release and noticed it pretty quickly but only now decided to make a post about it.

The HDR photo looks like you bumped your camera while taking the pic, which explains the blurry. Camera tripods were invented for a reason.

 

[I7guy]

I am not noticing this on my 5s. HDR comes out crystal clear as long as the phone is held steady.

 

[Siderz]

Camera tripods were invented for a reason.

I can't tell if that's genuine advice; you're suggesting I take a tripod with me everywhere, specifically made for the iPhone, just so that I can take non-blurry iPhone photos, because a feature that used to work flawlessly before now doesn't work quite as well?

The point here is that the HDR mode used to help prevent motion blur...I'm not asking how to keep a camera steady.

 

[MEJHarrison]

When the 5s came out, I remember reading about how the HDR pic somehow removes some of the motion blur...

The purpose of HDR is to give your pictures High Dynamic Range. Meaning the bright sky should look great as well as everything in shadows. It has absolutely nothing to do with removing motion blur. In fact, HDR photos can be more sensitive to motion blur because they're typically created by combining multiple shots, one exposed for bright and one exposed for dark. Some higher end HDR apps / cameras use more than 2 photos. Some simply take a single picture and tweak it (not real HDR).

I'm don't recall how Apple does HDR. But I do know that you're way off thinking its purpose is to reduce motion blur. That's also why you received advice to use a tripod. They're even more helpful when doing HDR and that was very helpful advice. If you don't want to carry a tri-pod everywhere, learn to hold your phone more steady. Especially when taking HDR photos.

Of course reading a little bit about the iPhone camera might also be helpful as you seem to have no clue what the various options are or what they're to be used for. It's kind of like complaining that your pear isn't pounding the nail in. That's because a pear was never meant to be used as a hammer. If you learn the real purpose of the pear, you might find things a bit easier going.

 

[Tiptizzle]

The purpose of HDR is to give your pictures High Dynamic Range. Meaning the bright sky should look great as well as everything in shadows. It has absolutely nothing to do with removing motion blur. In fact, HDR photos can be more sensitive to motion blur because they're typically created by combining multiple shots, one exposed for bright and one exposed for dark. Some higher end HDR apps / cameras use more than 2 photos. Some simply take a single picture and tweak it (not real HDR).

I'm don't recall how Apple does HDR. But I do know that you're way off thinking its purpose is to reduce motion blur. That's also why you received advice to use a tripod. They're even more helpful when doing HDR and that was very helpful advice. If you don't want to carry a tri-pod everywhere, learn to hold your phone more steady. Especially when taking HDR photos.

Of course reading a little bit about the iPhone camera might also be helpful as you seem to have no clue what the various options are or what they're to be used for. It's kind of like complaining that your pear isn't pounding the nail in. That's because a pear was never meant to be used as a hammer. If you learn the real purpose of the pear, you might find things a bit easier going.

A little harsh, but this is true. HDR is to improve the dynamic range, not for reducing motion blur.

 

[azhava]

The purpose of HDR is to give your pictures High Dynamic Range. Meaning the bright sky should look great as well as everything in shadows. It has absolutely nothing to do with removing motion blur. In fact, HDR photos can be more sensitive to motion blur because they're typically created by combining multiple shots, one exposed for bright and one exposed for dark. Some higher end HDR apps / cameras use more than 2 photos. Some simply take a single picture and tweak it (not real HDR).

I'm don't recall how Apple does HDR. But I do know that you're way off thinking its purpose is to reduce motion blur. That's also why you received advice to use a tripod. They're even more helpful when doing HDR and that was very helpful advice...

^ This. HDR will worsen motion blur because it takes three shots - one underexposed, one overexposed and one at the proper exposure, then blends them. If there's any motion, the blur will be worsened because of the three images taken microseconds apart being composited.

 

[dannyyankou]

It's always been like this. HDR kicks in when it detects certain conditions. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong. That's why it keeps both copies of the image...

 

[azhava]

It's always been like this. HDR kicks in when it detects certain conditions. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong. That's why it keeps both copies of the image...

It only "kicks in" if you have it set to Auto. I leave it off unless I need it. Also, you can go into settings and define whether it keeps the original image or not. I do because sometimes the original image turns out better than the HDR.

 

[Siderz]

I know what HDR is, I'm not gonna bother with this site again. Previously the HDR photo would reduce motion blur, now it doesn't.

 

[Merkie]

I know what HDR is, I'm not gonna bother with this site again. Previously the HDR photo would reduce motion blur, now it doesn't.

That must've been a coincedence.

 

[Winona Northdakota]

HDR on my iPhone 5s looks more blurry than on iOS7

I can't tell if that's genuine advice; you're suggesting I take a tripod with me everywhere, specifically made for the iPhone, just so that I can take non-blurry iPhone photos, because a feature that used to work flawlessly before now doesn't work quite as well?

The point here is that the HDR mode used to help prevent motion blur...I'm not asking how to keep a camera steady.

If you are going to take side by side comparison photos and you want them to be as close to exactly the same as possible, it is good advice to use a tripod. It's what pros use. Since you know so much, why are you posting here? What's your point?

Here's some help regarding what HIgh Dynamic Range photography is:

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-hdr-photography/

HDR is not designed to prevent motion blur. In fact, motion blur is a significant artifact with HDR photos, especially when a tripod is not used.

 

[azhava]

I know what HDR is, I'm not gonna bother with this site again. Previously the HDR photo would reduce motion blur, now it doesn't.

Incorrect. It never reduced motion blur. I tossed many HDR photos on my iPhone 5 / iOS 7 because of motion blur and made a habit of zooming in to check them because I'd experienced it so many times when something was moving in the photo. Even a stiff breeze blowing tree branches would cause 'ghosting' in the image, let alone somebody walking through the frame, etc. Same with even very slight movement of the camera in your hand.

This is a case where you're blaming something on iOS8 which has absolutely nothing to do with iOS8. It has to do with simple physics. Find something from Apple where they ever claimed that using HDR reduced motion blur and maybe people will believe you. Otherwise, those of us who have used HDR and understand how it works will tell you that there's no way physically possible that it would reduce motion blur. It would be like claiming that going from 1/1000s to 1/15s on your shutter speed would eliminate the blur. If you've ever taken photos with a real camera and experienced the blurriness from camera shake and subject movement at long shutter speeds, it would make perfect sense to you.

Just think about it for a second - you're taking three photos and combining them. During the time you took those three photos, you had camera shake in your hand and things were moving in the frame, so they were in a very slightly different position in each frame. What kind of wizardry would it take for that to be sharper or less blurred than ONE photo?

 

[gordon1234]

I know what HDR is, I'm not gonna bother with this site again. Previously the HDR photo would reduce motion blur, now it doesn't.

Taking three photos instead of one will always magnify blur, not decrease it. The shutter has to be open for three times as long, so you need to hold the phone very steady if you want them to come out sharp. This is the main reason two copies of the photo are stored by default. This is pretty inherent to how the feature works. I'm not sure why you think it would decrease blur.

 

[calyanjaele]

This is what HDR had done to me recently

 

[azhava]

This is what HDR had done to me recently

Bet I can guess which one is the HDR image.

 

[MEJHarrison]

This is what HDR had done to me recently ImageImage

All that tells me is that using HDR from a moving car is an absolutely fantastic way to magnify motion blur. I'm not sure if that was your point or not.

 

[mizxco]

Don't take HDR photos in low light situations, HDR is used best at bright situations, eg sunset with details of the foreground.

Taking dim pictures is hard for the slow iPhone shutter, let alone 3 and stacking them together. The 'reduce motion/blur' feature you have confused with was indeed mentioned in keynotes, but it was for taking panorama pictures, when iOS would reduce motion blur eg people moving.

Judging by your photo, OP, you seem to be those kind of ppl that wipe out their phones, take a snapshot within the second (without allowing it to focus/adjust) and somehow expect a DSLR quality photo.
Using a tripod, is not a crazy advice as it seems, if you want a great photo.
Selfie-sticks can be used as mini tripods too.

 

[rickbrown2]

Re: HDR on my iPhone 5s looks more blurry than on iOS7

Even I am having iPhone 5S, but never got such blurry images. I don't undertand the issue, but not only you instead most of my other friends have also told me the same who are having iPhone 5S.

 

[Fzang]

Maybe they're using a different algorithm that favors the image stabilization features in 6 and 6 plus (AFAIK even the 6 has a lesser degree of stabilization, just not OIS)?

 

[azhava]

Maybe they're using a different algorithm that favors the image stabilization features in 6 and 6 plus (AFAIK even the 6 has a lesser degree of stabilization, just not OIS)?

The point is that HDR behaves in iOS 8 just as it did in iOS 7. It's not, nor was it ever, intended to reduce motion blur, nor is there any way for it to do so by the very nature of how HDR works.

Image stabilization is irrelevant to HDR. Stabilization is designed to compensate for movement/shake of the camera as the shot is taken - it can't compensate for movement of objects/persons within the image itself. If something is moving within the frame and the shutter speed is too slow to freeze the motion, some degree of blur will be evident. If you use a DSLR equipped with OIS to take a handheld photograph of a person standing still using 1/16 second as the shutter speed, the OIS will kick in and reduce blurring caused by camera shake. If you take a handheld photograph of a person walking using a shutter speed of 1/16 second, you're going to have motion blur in the image from the person's movement. OIS will still stabilize the camera and compensate for any movement of your hand, but it can't compensate for the fact that the person was moving within the frame at a speed which 1/16 second is physically not possible of "freezing".

It isn't a software/hardware thing, it's a physics thing.

 

[calyanjaele]

All that tells me is that using HDR from a moving car is an absolutely fantastic way to magnify motion blur. I'm not sure if that was your point or not.

I wasn't concerned about the "blurry" image. It was the crazy gray blobs it put in the sky. The software over corrected the photo. Not a big deal. At the time I Thought it was funny. It doesn't happen all the time. In this instance I prefer the non HDR image. Only posted to show that occasionally HDR goes wacko.

 

[dk001]

I know what HDR is, I'm not gonna bother with this site again. Previously the HDR photo would reduce motion blur, now it doesn't.

HDR doesn't really account for motion blur though at times it may seem like it. I will say that the 5S under iOS7 did have better fine detail pictures than under iOS8. I suspect this is a result of the compression and/or correction algorithm used in iOS8. It could also be the way the color gradiant is handled as a result of the compression.

btw: it (blur) affects the iPhone 6/6+ too. One of my major complaints with my 6+ camera.

 

[MEJHarrison]

I wasn't concerned about the "blurry" image. It was the crazy gray blobs it put in the sky. The software over corrected the photo. Not a big deal. At the time I Thought it was funny. It doesn't happen all the time. In this instance I prefer the non HDR image. Only posted to show that occasionally HDR goes wacko.

I'm not surprised it went wacko. If you read this thread it should become obvious why it's going wacko. Probably the images it needed to combine were just too dissimilar and it did the best it could.

Personally, I only switch on HDR when the situation calls for it. My criteria for using HDR is something like this:

1. Something with a high dynamic range (which rules out most indoor situations) that the camera can't capture properly. If a normal photo gets the picture I want, why complicate it with multiple photos that then must be merged? Plus I think non-HDR photos are quicker since you're taking only one and not combining any.

2. I can make my camera stable. A tri-pod is best (my GorillaPod fits nicely in a pocket). Otherwise I look for something to brace the phone against. Hand-held is a last resort.

3. I'm trying to take a picture of something static. I do my best to avoid HDR when there are people in the photo. Having everything still will produce better results. People, especially when there are multiple people involved, have a hard time staying perfectly still. Still, sometimes the situation calls for it. So then I'll do multiple HDR photos and a couple non-HDR photos as a backup.

4. If there is other movement in the background that I can't control such as a windy day causing lots of tree movement, traffic in the background, other people in the picture, etc., I either move my position to eliminate those things or turn off HDR.

I honestly don't understand people who just turn it on and leave it on. To me that's as crazy as always having the flash on regardless of circumstances. HDR is a fantastic tool under the right conditions. If you're using it outside those particular circumstances, you're just making things harder on yourself and won't get as good of pictures overall.

Use the right tool for the job!