LrC Edit In > Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop - images now look flat

[John MacLean]

https://creativecloud.adobe.com/learn/photoshop/web/photoshop-merge-to-hdr

I'm revisiting some older images in LrC v13.5 that I created with this technique 11 years ago. Up until recently they looked as they used to. Now they're flat looking and I need to add about 25-30 points of Contrast to liven them back up. And it doesn't matter if I change the Process Version to v6 or leave it where they were last on v5. Any suggestions?

MacOS Sonoma 14.5

[Conrad_C]

Do they look different in Lightroom Classic compared to if they’re opened in Photoshop?

I don’t have a good answer for the actual question, so maybe what I write below isn’t what you want at all, but…

Do you still have the originals, so that you can instead try re-merging them with current technology? Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop is the oldest of the HDR technologies in Adobe photo apps.

Several years later, Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw added their own Merge to HDR feature, which is not only different and newer code, but instead of merging to a Photoshop document, they merge to a DNG (“almost raw”) file which provides a lot more editing flexibility. And you can edit the resulting merged HDR with the raw editing controls in Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw, which can be more effective than using the Merge to HDR Pro controls.

Today, if you have a supported HDR display (such as any Apple desktop or mobile display with XDR in the name) you can edit and accurately preview an HDR image in Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw using the new HDR edit mode, which takes full advantage of an HDR display.

So today I would try that: Merge originals in Lightroom Classic to get a DNG, edit that with HDR mode enabled in Lightroom Classic. (Or Camera Raw.)

[John MacLean]

Hi Conrad,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm viewing the 32-bit TIFs in LrC, with my LrC adjustments, just as they've been in my catalog for the last 11 years. I'm aware of the newer Photo Merge HDR, which I started using as soon as it became available. I do have all the raw bracketed exposures. I just don't want to reprocess them, or alter the older merged images as they're being used in multiple places. I'd just prefer them to match the original processing I have.

I don't have an HDR dispaly, and that's more than I want to delve into at this point.

Best,

John