The SDR-First Workflow Crime

Nearly all misconceptions about high dynamic range (HDR) video stem from SDR misconceptions, chief among them being that BT.1886 is a color space.

From this fallacy, an entire ecosystem of bad practices takes root.

If you believe BT.1886 is a color space, you’ve got no framework to understand PQ or HLG.

You’ll design invalid tests that force PQ into an 8-bit container.

You’ll claim Rec.2020 = “BT.1886 + wider gamut.”

You’ll dismiss HDR as nothing but a “grading style.”

You’ll criticize PQ for hours while confessing you don’t know who developed it or why.

You’ll accuse standards of being elusive and manufacturers of being misleading.

You’ll see HDR as nothing but a container for your 200-nit SDR.

You’ll call HDR “marketing” while ignoring the $185 million marketing budget of The Last Jedi.

You’ll misread graphs, misinterpret standards, confuse feelings for facts, and conclude HDR is “broken.”

This misinformation doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it corrupts the craft and has tangible consequences. As we explored in a previous article, Debunking the Myth: HDR Not Responsible for Flat Picture, this core fallacy leads to blaming HDR for problems it didn’t create. Markus Förderer’s work is a prime example.

We’re about to peer into the mind of a cinematographer convinced that shooting for HDR is no different from SDR:

“I’ve learned how to expose for this scenario. If you light and expose your scene so it looks rich in SDR, it will translate beautifully into HDR.” — Markus Förderer, ASC

This is the mantra of someone fully absorbed by Yedlin’s worldview. It’s illogical—a total rejection of HDR’s potential and a commitment to the “SDR-first” workflow crime.

Let’s break down that mindset:

[Workflow Crime Scene]

│

└───▶ [THE CRIME]

      │

      ├── ‼️ SDR Lighting Ratios (Conservative ratios = crippled potential; HDR thrives on contrast)

      │    🎬  “Jusqu’ici tout va bien…”

      ├── SDR Monitoring (Result: an unprecedented number of distracting, blown-out windows)

      │    👁️  “Jusqu’ici tout va bien…”

      ├── SDR Dailies (Stakeholders grow accustomed to LDR look)

      │    📽️  “Jusqu’ici tout va bien…”

      ├── SDR Offline Edit (Clipped highlights = broken HDR; destructive lens flare baked in)

      │    🍃  “Jusqu’ici tout va bien…”

      │

      └───▶ DP Demand: “Make HDR Match SDR!”

            │

            ▼

┌───▶ [THE COVER-UP]

│     │

│     ├── ⚠️ Grade SDR First

│     │ (Lifted shadows, excessive diffusion, flat, desaturated grade, uncomfortably bright windows)

│     │

│     └───▶ Stuff into HDR Container

│           │

│           ▼

└─────❌ [IMPACT: GOOD HDR COMPROMISED]

      “It’s not the fall that kills you…”

“Jusqu’ici tout va bien…” (“So far, so good…”)—a refrain from the French film La Haine—epitomizes the denial. Each one brings you closer to the inevitable impact.

It’s hard to look at this diagram and believe the result could possibly be optimal HDR.

It never is.

The ultimate shock isn’t an accident. It’s the direct consequence of every step that preceded it.

The impact is profound audience disappointment.

Yedlin did more than get the math wrong; he built a philosophical framework that gives filmmakers permission to remain complacent, convincing them that “their struggles were not personal failures, but the expected outcome of a revolution that was oversold.”

This is where the tribalism and gaslighting take over.

The false conclusion—“HDR is broken”—is framed not as an error, but as a rebellion against “corporate” standards (SMPTE, ITU). This creates an in-group (“rebels”) and an out-group (“sheep”).

When confronted with facts like ITU-R BT.2390, Figure 14, they’re dismissed as “matters of opinion.”

When gaslighting fails, authority is deployed. Credentials are wielded to intimidate.

The corruption is complete: a technical error, wrapped in tribal identity, defended by gaslighting, and shielded by authority.

The SDR-first pipeline is a direct path to artistic bankruptcy. The filmmakers behind La Haine, who chose a stark black-and-white aesthetic, understood the visceral power of contrast. Today, with technology that’s superior in so many ways, we’re using it to tell stories with incomparably less visual power.