> The compression you talk about is called tone-mapping and is used to make it possible to view HDR images on a non-HDR display.
Yes, and it's exactly how audio compression works. You have a fixed dynamic range and in input signal that doesn't fit in that range. So you attenuate the values near the endpoints (shadows and highlights in the case of imagery) to fit within the range while still leaving values in the midrange with their original spread.
> Now, viewing HDR material on an actual HDR display, that is something different and can look absolutely stunning.
> Yes, and it's exactly how audio compression works. You have a fixed dynamic range and in input signal that doesn't fit in that range.
Not exactly. Audio compression is usually used to compress to a much smaller dynamic range than the output format or playback equipment can support. Some recordings compress to within just a few dB. With HDR pictures it's usually because the display is physically incapable of reproducing the image without compression.
Yes, and it's exactly how audio compression works. You have a fixed dynamic range and in input signal that doesn't fit in that range. So you attenuate the values near the endpoints (shadows and highlights in the case of imagery) to fit within the range while still leaving values in the midrange with their original spread.
> Now, viewing HDR material on an actual HDR display, that is something different and can look absolutely stunning.
Yes, but that's not what I'm talking about.