HDR image technology with a gain map is a revolution when taking and showing photographs on compatible devices. Until now, the problem of HDR photography is that techniques such as the mapping of tones were used to be able to have high dynamic images that could be visualized on SDR screens. With gain maps, it is possible to have a photograph that will be displayed with all its dynamic range on HDR compatible screens, and will not lose quality or will be modified on SDR screens.
To do this, it is based on combining a conventional SDR image, with another image that contains the information of the different levels of brightness. In this way, a pantalla HDR (The vast majority of current smartphones screens, and more and more on PC on TVs), will show the image with a greater dynamic range and areas with different glitters, while SDR screens will show the SDR version as is.
The implementation of the gain maps that Google has made is called Ultrahdr, and carries on Android from version 14.
To have an ultrahdr photograph, a smartphone or compatible camera is needed that can take the photo already with its profit map. There are ways of edit photos without ultrahdr to get this feature with programs like Lightroom for example, but now Google has added the possibility of doing it directly to Google photos.
Through a slider we can apply greater or lower level of brightness to the brightest areas of the image for devices with HDR screen. This function replaces what was previously called “HDR effect” that was nothing more than an SDR edition to highlight shadows and obscure brightness.
The company has been investigating ways to maintain the Ultra Hdr to now to make complex editions, even with AI, and has now taken that technology to its editor, allowing to highlight the clear areas with several steps of brightness above the one that can be visualized on SDR screens.
Here are several more examples with some editions, first the original without Ultra HDR (Profit Map) and then the photograph edited with Ultra HDR. Naturally, you can only see the difference if you visualize the images from a smartphone or PC compatible with HDR and a browser compatible with earning maps (Chrome for example). Otherwise, you will see the same photo twice.
Without a doubt, an excellent option that will allow us to improve how our old photos are visualized. However, to create a photograph with Ultrahdr of the best quality, the ideal is to start from a raw capture, format that Google photos does not support directly (converts JPG before).
At the moment, the function is only available in the Google Smartphones application, since the Old Slider continues to appear on the PC. To access, we must edit a photograph, go to the “Adjust” menu and look for the “Ultra HDR” option.
If we do it to a native photograph with Ultra HDR, it will allow us to reduce the intensity of the profit map or disable it.
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