{"id":15661,"date":"2025-11-21T07:42:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T07:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/?p=15661"},"modified":"2025-11-21T15:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T15:14:25","slug":"ettr-vs-hdr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/ettr-vs-hdr\/","title":{"rendered":"ETTR vs. HDR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ETTR vs. HDR<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf you\u2019ve ever taken photos at the begin\u00adning or end of the day, you\u2019ll be fami\u00adliar with the situa\u00adtion. Magical light or intense colours in the sky. You take a few shots, look at the display and think, great, that\u2019s perfect. Then you get home to your computer and see the dilemma. Your photos are too dark. The image is quite muddy in the shadows, appears blurry and is also comple\u00adtely noisy. And that\u2019s at ISO 100, why is that? In this BLOG \/ VLOG, I\u2019ll intro\u00adduce you to two rela\u00adtively simple shoo\u00adting tech\u00adni\u00adques that will imme\u00addia\u00adtely improve the quality of your land\u00adscape photos. Simple because they are rela\u00adtively quick to imple\u00adment and easy to learn. You just have to take the time and pay atten\u00adtion to a few small things. <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Gear:<\/span><\/p>

Sony a7IV
<\/span>Sony FE 4\/24\u2013105 mm G
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You can see the VLOG to the BLOG at the bottom of the page or you can reach it via this button:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDirectly to the video<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The diffe\u00adrence between ETTR and HDR<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The two shoo\u00adting tech\u00adni\u00adques discussed in this article are ETTR (Expose to the Right) and HDR (High Dynamic Range).<\/p>

With ETTR, or expo\u00adsure towards the right, you over\u00adex\u00adpose as much as possible without getting areas of maximum white. This allows you to use the maximum possible dynamic range of the camera sensor. With HDR, I extend this dynamic range of the camera sensor even further by inclu\u00adding addi\u00adtional over\u00adex\u00adposed and under\u00adex\u00adposed images. Many cameras do this semi-auto\u00adma\u00adti\u00adcally with HDR bracke\u00adting at the touch of a button. <\/p>

Why all this?<\/h4>

Dark areas of an image have the charac\u00adte\u00adristic that they contain all the infor\u00adma\u00adtion, but if they emit too little light and only a small amount of light \u2018falls\u2019 on the sensor, then this amount of light is not suffi\u00adcient to mask the elec\u00adtronic noise of the photo\u00adsensor. If I brighten these dark areas signi\u00adfi\u00adcantly in post-proces\u00adsing, I also amplify the noise in these areas of the image. Yes, even at ISO 100. <\/p>

With ETTR, I expose as brightly as possible. (However, I must avoid crea\u00adting maximum white, as this would result in a loss of image infor\u00adma\u00adtion at that point!) This allows more light to hit the sensor in the dark areas of the photo, which in turn better masks the noise. When brigh\u00adtening the image in image editing, I still have less noise. The overall image quality improves. <\/p>

With HDR, I use the infor\u00adma\u00adtion from the over\u00adex\u00adposed image in the dark areas and the infor\u00adma\u00adtion in the bright areas from the under\u00adex\u00adposed image. The result is a higher dynamic range than the camera sensor can provide and less noise, resul\u00adting in higher image quality. <\/p>

Expo\u00adsure compen\u00adsa\u00adtion and histogram<\/h4>

For both shoo\u00adting tech\u00adni\u00adques, it is advi\u00adsable to use the camera\u2019s expo\u00adsure compen\u00adsa\u00adtion to achieve the best results. The built-in histo\u00adgram of modern digital cameras allows you to reliably check the expo\u00adsure while shoo\u00adting. If you want to use the ETTR tech\u00adnique, I turn the expo\u00adsure compen\u00adsa\u00adtion to the posi\u00adtive until the histo\u00adgram shows a steep rise on the right-hand side. This signals over\u00adex\u00adpo\u00adsure and a possible maximum white that cannot be saved in image editing. I demons\u00adtrate the proce\u00addure in the video below. The histo\u00adgram also clearly shows whether all the infor\u00adma\u00adtion in the image can be captured or whether you need to switch from ETTR to HDR tech\u00adnique. If the histo\u00adgram peaks at the bottom and top, the dynamic range of the camera sensor is not suffi\u00adcient and HDR tech\u00adnique must (should) be used.<\/p>

Possible sources of error<\/h4>

The histo\u00adgram during shoo\u00adting shows the entire channel and thus an average of the indi\u00advi\u00addual colour chan\u00adnels. In this case, it may happen that the expo\u00adsure looks good and has not been over\u00adex\u00adposed too far to the right in ETTR. However, in the case of such an intense sunrise, for example, the red colour channel may clip, meaning that colour infor\u00adma\u00adtion is lost. It is ther\u00ade\u00adfore advi\u00adsable to check the histo\u00adgrams of the indi\u00advi\u00addual colour chan\u00adnels after shoo\u00adting and take correc\u00adtive action if neces\u00adsary. Even small, very bright but over\u00adex\u00adposed areas in the image can prevent the histo\u00adgram from showing an accu\u00admu\u00adla\u00adtion on the right-hand side, as the area is simply too small in compa\u00adrison to the overall image. The over\u00adex\u00adpo\u00adsure warning helps here.<\/p>

When crea\u00adting HDR bracke\u00adting shots, do not allow too much time to pass between shots. Other\u00adwise, moving elements may cause ghos\u00adting, i.e. ghost effects in the image. You should also pay atten\u00adtion to colour breaks during inten\u00adsive image processing!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sunrise over Malsch | Sony a7 IV + Sony FE 4\/24\u2013105 mm G<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Conclu\u00adsion<\/h4>

Both tech\u00adni\u00adques require a little prac\u00adtice, but are rela\u00adtively quick to learn. Espe\u00adci\u00adally at the begin\u00adning, you should take the time to review the images you have just taken and look at the histo\u00adgrams of the indi\u00advi\u00addual chan\u00adnels. If the histo\u00adgram is very spread out, it always makes sense to create an HDR, even if the images may not be needed in the end. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tSave 10% on<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tLuminar Neo<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If you would like to try or buy Luminar Neo yourself, you can use the code \u2018Sphoto10\u00b4<\/strong> to save an addi\u00adtional 10% on Luminar Neo!<\/p>

Click here for Luminar Neo<\/a><\/span> (*)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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VLOG to the BLOG<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For those who can\u2019t quite picture ever\u00ady\u00adthing while reading, I have illus\u00adtrated the process during recor\u00adding, the tricks to keep in mind and the diffe\u00adrences using RAW recor\u00addings in the video. So be sure to take a look!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Feel free to share:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Wenn ihr schon das ein oder andere Mal an den Rand\u00adzeiten des Tages foto\u00adgra\u00adfiert habt, dann werdet ihr die Situa\u00adtion sicher kennen. Magi\u00adsches Licht oder inten\u00adsive Farben im Himmel. Ihr nehmt ein paar Aufnahmen auf, schaut auf das Display, und denkt, klasse das passt. Zuhause am Rechner seht ihr dann das Dilemma. Ihr habt zu dunkel foto\u00adgra\u00adfiert. In den Schatten sumpft das Bild ziem\u00adlich ab, wirkt unscharf und noch dazu v\u00f6llig verrauscht. Und das bei ISO 100, wieso denn das?
\nIn diesem BLOG \/ VLOG stelle ich euch zwei relativ einfache Aufnah\u00adme\u00adtech\u00adniken vor, die sofort zu besserer Qualit\u00e4t eurer Land\u00adschafts\u00adfo\u00adto\u00adgra\u00adfien f\u00fchren. Einfach deshalb, weil sie relativ schnell umzu\u00adsetzen sind und leicht zu erlernen sind. Man muss sich eben nur die Zeit nehmen und ein paar kleine Dinge beachten. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,260],"tags":[82,81,253,26],"class_list":["post-15661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-fotografie-tipps","category-how-to","tag-ettr","tag-hdr","tag-landschaftsfotografie","tag-tipps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15661"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15695,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15661\/revisions\/15695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simonschoenhoff.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}