HDR creates very sharp image

[Lemie]

Hello everyone,

This is less of a problem and more a confusion that I'm having:
When I create an HDR-Image (by using "Photo-Merge"), the resulting image is a lot sharper than the sum of it's parts; even when "Auto-Edit" is disabled.
The image on the left is the sharpest one out of my bracket and the one of the right the unedited HDR-Image. Notice how much more zoomed in it is (both are at 100%) but also how much more detail is maintained.
I don't know enough about the algorithm and software-scaling to explain this myself. If the pictues are actually that much sharper, woudln't it make sense to do brackets of everything (unless ofc it is moving very fast)?

Thanks in advance for explaining this to me and helping out,

Leonard

[JohanElzenga]

You didn’t include any images.

[Todd Shaner · Accepted solution]

lemie  wrote

When I create an HDR-Image (by using "Photo-Merge"), the resulting image is a lot sharper than the sum of it's parts; even when "Auto-Edit" is disabled.

This is a normal attribute of HDR image processing and is due to an increase in micro-contrast. You can see a similar increase in apparent sharpness when using large Highlights and Shadows values (-100 Highlights and +100 Shadows) with normal images, which also increases the dynamic range.

Using micro contrast | Howgreenisyourgarden