(It has been tested in every condition possible, DXO mark ratings are reliable because of how much work they put into trying out the different features in a phone. They even take pictures at a different time of day to effectively test a phone.)
As already explained; HDR stands for "High dynamic range" and is a way of how an image is further processed.
While HDR is on, every photo you take on your iPhone will be optimized automatically and will be balanced with a better exposure setup. This iPhone 12 Pro Max can take advantage of Dolby Vision HDR recording.
Starting with Dolby's vision, it is the first mobile to feature Dolby HDR video recording. It can shoot and edit as well.
On iPhone 12 Pro Max, you can record Dolby Vision 4K at 60 fps, but iPhone 12 is limited to 30 fps. We talked a lot about HDR, So, what is HDR? The answer is as simple as it gets.
A common scenario would be if you want to take a photo of someone in front of a beautiful scene and when doing so may mean that they'll be exposed to overly bright backlighting. Rather than choosing between where to focus; the background or image, or vice-versa. HDR makes it possible so you can get both in one photoshoot.
Utilizing the HDR Mode On iPhone 12 Pro Max
HDR mode consecutively takes pictures at different exposures such as normal light that allows adjustment for the darkest and brightest details, then taking advantage of its A14 Bionic chip that is able to apply advanced computational mathematics to mix the different shots and produce a stunning photographic effect.
For a person who shoots outdoors, the iPhone 12 Pro Max provides a technology that is called ‘‘Smart HDR 3’’. Older HDR software was dreadful, at least when compared with the Smart HDR3, which made images look manipulated.
Technically Defining HDR
HDR 3 uses machine learning (ML) technology of the real-world to train its neural engine, a component on its microprocessor A14 Bionic. When you use your iPhone to consistently take pictures of a particular type of scene, after a while it starts to recognize specific scenes and then automatically create the right exposure for each one. So, when you go on your travels, those of mountains, clouds, snow become recognized easily with the help of HDR3.
Putting it in another way, you can shoot something which you have shot before, and it will know by itself what exposure would be better without the need for toning.
There is something called ‘Deep Fusion’ also, which means instead of just combining images and providing final output. It selects the best pixels for the colors, sharpness, highlights, and shadows before telling the engine to combine those pixels into the final photograph.