Photography has already become a fundamental aspect when choosing a new smartphone, and that is where Google has advantage; Smartphones such as the Google Pixel 9 do not have the best cameras, but their leading algorithms compensate it, resulting in the best photographs we have seen on a mobile. But what if our photos have not been taken with a pixel?
Now, Google Photos is able to improve our photographs, even if they were taken with an old mobile or with an unavailable configuration. It’s about A new functionality called Ultra HDRwhich is already reaching the first users and that is able to apply HDR even to photographs that were taken as SDR.
Recall that HDR refers to “high dynamic range”, and it is a way of saying that the image captures A higher light range And color, which is usually noticed in a greater contrast and a photo not so ‘flat’. HDR is not precisely new, but it requires’ hardware ‘and’ specific software to take advantage.
Therefore and other shortcomings, last year Google announced Ultra HDR, a new photography format that brings advantages as a 10 -bit color depth. Another striking detail of Ultra HDR is that it allows save HDR and SDR versions (the ‘normal’) of a photo in the same file; The photo will be shown in HDR if it is captured in cameras and compatible smartphones, and will be shown in HDR on compatible screens. Google supports Ultra HDR from Android 14, and the latest processors, from Snapdragon 888, offer compatibility with this format.
And this is where Google photos enters and the function called the same as the format, Ultra Hdr. From now on, Google photos has the ability to convert conventional photos to ultra hdr even after being captured. In other words, it doesn’t matter if we have taken a photo on our old mobile, we can now create an HDR version that will be stored along with the original image and will be shown with better quality on HDR screens.
Ultra Hdr’s function replace the “HDR” function which is found in the “Adjust” section in the Google Pictures Image Edition; “HDR effect” already tried to do something similar, creating a version of our photo with a sensation similar to whether it had been taken with HDR. But Ultra HDR goes one step further, thanks to the new image format.
In addition, the images modified with Ultra HDR They occupy less space in storagebecause in reality two images are not stored separately as until now; To the conventional SDR image, a gain map with the luminosity information that the compatible screens can use to show a greater brightness in the areas that need it is added.
As usual, Google has begun to activate the new function progressively; Therefore, initially only a few users can find it in Google photos, but over time, it should appear on more devices.
