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HDR‑Infused Emoji

(sharpletters.net)
274 points tabletcorry | 1 comments | 17 Apr 25 14:42 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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donohoe ◴[17 Apr 25 16:17 UTC] No.43718958[source]▶
I used (abused) HDR in an editorial project last year. We were working with an amazing illustrator doing a take on series of stories exploring the intersection of faith, storytelling, and technology.

As the early versions of the images emerged we thought we could used HDR to provide more or a aura to some elements. We tried to make it subtle and not overwhelm.

This example is my favorite:

https://restofworld.org/2024/divinity-altered-reality-muslim...

I think it worked well - and this technique would have been useful. We tried something similar but could not get it to work.

Our method was to use a stretched HDR video in the background.

Here are the steps I used:

In Photoshop create white image to proportions required. Save as MP4:

  File > Export > Render Video
Save as "sample.mp4"

With the MP4, generate a HDR version in WEBM:

  ffmpeg -i sample.mp4 -pix_fmt yuv420p10le -color_primaries 9 -color_trc 16 -colorspace 9 -color_range 1 -profile:v 2 -vcodec libvpx-vp9 sample.webm
With the plain MP4, generate the HDR version:

  ffmpeg -i sample.mp4 -pix_fmt yuv420p10le -color_primaries 9 -color_trc 16 -colorspace 9 -color_range 1 -profile:v high10 -vcodec libx264 sample.mp4
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ValveFan6969 ◴[17 Apr 25 21:11 UTC] No.43722257[source]▶
This is a lot of technical mumbo jumbo for a simple thing like brightness. HDR is a gimmick like 3D TVs. The best image quality is not the one with the most colors, which is entirely pointless, but instead a simple image, with no fancy features that only serve to distract the eye.

Like in the famous case of the Apple logo in the 1990s. Steve Jobs, when asked why he uses a black and white Apple logo instead of a color one, said - "color will only distract the eye from what's important".

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throawayonthe ◴[17 Apr 25 21:52 UTC] No.43722634[source]▶
calling HDR a gimmick is somewhat silly considering it's already in widespread use for media, and it's great
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recursive ◴[17 Apr 25 22:35 UTC] No.43722969[source]▶
There are plenty of gimmicks in widespread use. I'd wager >99% of "surround sound" deployments would take more than a year to notice if they were transparently "downgraded" to stereo, for instance.
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pests ◴[18 Apr 25 06:13 UTC] No.43725492[source]▶
> I'd wager >99% of "surround sound" deployments would take more than a year to notice if they were transparently "downgraded" to stereo

I can immediately tell if anyone has messed with any knobs or buttons on my receiver or if any of the speakers seem off / wrong sounding. Maybe I'm that 1% but I can remember many multiple times people have been over for movies / TV and someone asks out loud "does the sound seem off?" and sure enough a kid or a clueless friend was messing with the knobs.

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1. recursive ◴[18 Apr 25 20:24 UTC] No.43731557{3}[source]▶
I'm not talking about EQ settings or dynamic range or anything. I'm talking about 'surround' specifically. I've also had a track record of noticing messed up audio settings quickly. But I probably wouldn't notice if my 5.1 started getting down mixed to stereo. At least for music.