Can LRC v13 HDR files be exported for print?

[judithb55107893]

Can a DNG file edited in LRC v13's new HDR format be exported to be printed (inkjet) by a professional photo lab? Usually the lab requires 8 bit depth,  Adobe RGB profile, 300dpi in a TIFF format. Is the HDR format designed for computer view only? I apologize in advance if this is an obvious or stupid question but I have been unable to find an answer in a tutorial or other usual resourses.  Many thanks for any advice or answers... I'm using Mac OS Ventura 13.5.2 on an iMac.

[JohanElzenga]

No, prints are SDR by definition. HDR renders highlights brighter than paper white, and the whites in a printed image can obviously never be brighter than the paper they are printed on.

[judithb55107893]

Thank you very much, Johan. I suspected as much but needed it verified.
Much appreciated!

[Conrad_C]

Because print will never be able to reproduce an HDR photo, for now the way that would be safest is to edit separate instances for HDR and print.

1. Start from the original you’ve edited, so you don’t have to do things like cropping and noise reduction more than once. It doesn’t matter if you’ve edited the original for HDR yet.

2. Create a virtual copy that you’ll edit specifically for print.

2. Make sure HDR is disabled for the virtual copy, and edit it for the print lab as usual. You can use soft proofing if you have a printing profile from the photo lab.

5. Export from the print-optimized virtual copy to the format the photo lab wants, and in the Export dialog box, make sure HDR Output is disabled.

There might be another method that would involve using Preview for SDR Display and adjusting the SDR Rendition Settings, and if it works, it would in theory let you set up the SDR print rendering in the same HDR original, and again you would export for the print lab with HDR Output disabled when exporting. But I haven’t had time to try this yet so it might not work as expected. If you want to look into this, read about how SDR Rendition Settings work in the Adobe article High Dynamic Range Explained.

[judithb55107893]

Thank you very much, Conrad. I will look into this, but in the meantime will “simulate” the HDR view of the photo using LRC and Photoshop classic editing procedures. I think that the result might be better as it will allow the possibility of including more detail (where and if desired) in the highlights.