True HDR editing

I’m back here after more than a year, hoping that something has improved in HDR editing during that time—especially after seeing that message in the recent LrC release notes.

I decided to play around with a moderate approach: first, edit the SDR version to my liking, the way I normally do. Then enable the HDR toggle on a virtual copy of my CR3 file. No other slider adjustments were made after that.

My conclusion is that LrC’s HDR editing feature still pisses me off.

When I export an HDR-enabled photo as AVIF P3 with a gain map and then disable Ultra HDR mode, my SDR image looks better—and different—from the crappy SDR version of the HDR image.

WHY???

I didn’t edit my image anymore. Why does the SDR version look worse?

I also tried adjusting the SDR version back using similar slider values to those in the regular non-HDR version, but I got an even crappier result.

Is it really so hard for Adobe to implement a clear and understandable processing approach where you make all your color and tone adjustments first, and then HDR simply affects the luminosity range?

Instead, we have this bizarre workflow: “Edit SDR → enable HDR → watch your hands to avoid oversaturation in highlights → don’t touch global sliders (so what am I supposed to touch instead to improve luminousity?) → try to fix the SDR version again.”

Why does it have to be this complicated?

Hi @miric, Thank you for reaching out! We're here to help!

Your gain map has colors because pushing Exposure/Lights/Whites too far for HDR in Lightroom Classic can introduce color shifts and clip colors, which then get recorded as colored adjustments in the gain map. Ideal gain maps are monochrome (grayscale) as they primarily describe luminance changes for clean HDR.

My suggestion is to avoid over-pushing global sliders. Use local adjustments for targeted luminance boosts, and be ready to desaturate highlights if they become oversaturated.

Also, HDR files with gain maps contain SDR and HDR data, sharing a base image. Global edits affect both. It'd be better to finalize your SDR edit first, then make HDR adjustments, and finally use the SDR Rendition Settings to fine-tune how the SDR version looks without altering the HDR data. This lets you maintain your original SDR look while providing full HDR luminance.

Hope this helps!