The Cover-Up
“Steve Yedlin’s masterclass ‘Debunking HDR’ reshaped my mental model […] It showed me […] the struggles we’ve faced weren’t personal failures. They were expected outcomes of a system oversold as a revolution. We’ve been told HDR is the future […] But what if much of that is just marketing dressed as innovation? According to Yedlin: Higher data rate ≠ better image; wider gamut is not HDR-exclusive; a standard that’s not standardized is chaos; format ≠ creative intent; The irony? SDR is often the more faithful and reliable format to preserve creative intent.” – Cristóbal Bolaños López
The Confession
“What you mention is completely true. I was in a feature films in which everything was done on SDR until the grading. The camera test was SDR, the LUT created was SDR, the dailies were SDR, the offline was SDR. Then the DP came and said I want the movie to look like the offline IN SDR. So it was impossible to convince him other way. And the LUT created from the colorist for SDR obviously it wasn’t working for HDR. So the solution was to create the SDR dailies exactly but within the HDR container.
Until everything in the pipeline is HDR based, I highly doubt there will be good implemented HDR as you mentioned” – Cristóbal Bolaños López
The Workflow Crime Scene
1. The Crime:
- SDR camera tests
- SDR dailies
- SDR offline edit
→ DP demands: “Make HDR match SDR!”
2. The Cover-Up:
- Grade SDR first → Stuff into HDR container
→ “Good implemented HDR” sacrificed
The Daejeon Chronicles 