Struggling to export HDR images to a Web Gallery in LR Classic 15.0

[davehutch]

Hi all. I have developed images in LR Classic 15.0 and would like to share them with a few people. I'm aware they will need an HDR screen.

It works in both Safari and Chrome if I export as a RAF (Fuji RAW) but the detail is quite poor. Maybe it's using an embedded JPG preview of some sort? So I'm trying to export as another file type.

I've tried AVIF and JPG XL and with each file type I've checked the 'HDR Output' box in the export dialogue.

No joy. Nothing I try shows the HDR image using ether Safari or Chrome.

I saw some of Greg Benz stuff and tried ecpporting as DNG but that didn't work either.

Any ideas? I can do it using Google Photos but it isn't nearly as nice an interface so I'd like to stick to Lightroom Web Gallery if I possibly can.

Thanks in advance.

[Jao vdL]

The max resolution of the web galleries is 2560 pixels on the long edge. That should be more than enough for any web use. How does the low resolution manifest itself for you? Indeed share a link so we can see.

when you export to avif or jxl, how does you 'upload to Adobe' ? 

[john beardsworth]

Thank you, that clarification was important.

So you then copy the synced collection's URL and go to it in Chrome or in the latest version of Safari? Chrome has supported HDR for longer, but only recently was Safari updated to do it. As Jao asks, what version of Mac OS?

I can add RAF files to a collection, sync it, make it public, and share its URL and can see the expected HDR results in Chrome or Safari on Mac 26.0.1. There's no need to think about other file formats.

Also Jao mentions a key detail - in the shared collection gallery, the HDR doesn't show in grid but only when you click the images to enlarge them.

[davehutch · Accepted solution]

So, I've done a set of exports and tested them in Safari (26.0.1), Chrome (142.0.7444.60) and also Quick Look on the Mac.

Here are the results:

'Open File' in Safari shows the AVIF and JPG images correctly but not the JPG XL nor the DNG

'Open File' in Chrome shows them all correctly except for the DNG

Quick Look on Mac shows the AVIF and JPG correctly but not the JPG XL. The DNG loads but shows a full, unedited image

Opening the Adobe Gallery online in Chrome, only the DNG shows correctly

Opening the Adobe Gallery online in Safari, only the DNG shows correctly

So, even thought the two browsers are recognising the HDR images, once they are in Adobe's Gallery, they are no longer recognised as HDR.

I used Lightroom CC to create an Album from my local files and then did an 'Ibvite and Share' to get a shareable link to the Album.

Here is the link to the album - https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/938177760d30453e8d656cdfbb0a1b9f

Regarding the detail level, I've attached a screenshot showing the maximum zoom level for Lightroom Web Gallery and Zonerama which hopefully shows the much better zoom available in Zonerama.

[Jao vdL · Accepted solution]

So you basically reimport the images into Lightroom cloudy by putting them into an album (which imports them and uploads to the cloud) and share that gallery? You're taking far too many steps but my guess is that you have not enabled the import option to automatically enable hdr for images that are hdr capable. The default is to turn it off which by default strips the hdr from images that can be hdr like avif and jxl. Just check in the develop area in Lightroom cloudy and make sure the hdr button is enabled. This doesn't happen to the dng since that is actually a raw image with associated develop settings that will override this preference. I don't know why Adobe by default disables the hdr on imported non-raw images but they do. Just change the setting and you should be good. For already imported images just hit the hdr button and it should sync and update in the web gallery.

[davehutch]

YES!! That was the answer. I re-imported them after enabling the HDR Edit option and now they all show as HDR.

Thank you so much!

[john beardsworth]

Images 6 and 7 look like HDR.

But simplify things. Just leave the raw files in HDR mode, sync them in a collection, and view the shared collection in Chrome or Safari. No need for exporting, no need for other file types.