HDR photos display properly in Lightroom on Mac but appear too dim once exported

Report · Nov 08, 2023

I'm editing on both an M1 MacBook Air and an M1 iMac. Both display HDR properly in the Lightroom app, but once exported, the lighting is not as intense--highlights are dimmed.

I've tried exporting in AVIF and JPEG XL, with all available color spaces, with no result. I've tried viewing the images in Preview, Safari, Chrome, and Photos, but they all look identical, i.e. a little too dim.

HDR Output is selected while exporting. A notice displays while exporting that "HDR is not visible in this preview," and the preview looks VERY dim, even dimmer than the final exported photos.

I've attached a screenshot here. Obviously the colors don't look like they do in real view, but you can see there's a difference. Left is the Lightroom app, right is the exported photo.

Everything I've read online leads me to believe that MacOS Sonoma should be able to display HDR properly. Does anyone know why they are not exporting properly?

Report · Jun 11, 2024

And don't forget to click the HDR-Button (Camera RAW), when you import it to Photoshop.

Report · Sep 10, 2024

I'm having the same issues as OP. I tried your method above and this was the closest I feel like I've almost gotten. I saved as AVIF and opened it in Photoshop. Got the RAW preview window before going all the way into photoshop and it looked great there, but then when it opened fully in photoshop it looked terrible again. And I did make sure to select the HDR button while in the Camera Raw preview. Any further suggestions? I'm also using a Mac.

Report · Sep 11, 2024

Photoshop cannot directly open avif. It has to go through camera raw. It will open as a tiff basically. Inside photoshop to get correct display, you have to enable the preference for precise color management for HDR display in the technology preview section in settings in order to get HDR display to look correct. Otherwise it will not work right.

Report · Sep 11, 2024

Amazing! That was so helpful. Now I have my beautiful HDR image open in photoshop and everything looks right. Now, is there a way to save this as a jpeg that will retain that quality from here without needing an HDR viewer? Or is this even an option? Trying to save these to be able to use in multiple applications- web use and potential printing in the future. Thank you again for your help!! Photoshop (and especilly Lightroom) changed so much in the past few years when I wasn't really using it that I almost feel like a beginner again these days.

Report · Sep 11, 2024

Amazing! That was so helpful. Now I have my beautiful HDR image open in photoshop and everything looks right. Now, is there a way to save this as a jpeg that will retain that quality from here without needing an HDR viewer? Or is this even an option? I was able to save it as a Radience file, so it looks pretty decent just in preview on my computer, but I need a jpeg to be able to upload to web. Thank you again for your help!! Photoshop (and especilly Lightroom) changed so much in the past few years when I wasn't really using it that I almost feel like a beginner again these days.

Report · Sep 11, 2024

It is possible to save a HDR capable jpeg from camera raw of Lightroom. Not from Photoshop itself as far as I know but I could be wrong. However those jpegs only work in Chrome and only if the webserver supports it correctly. Many websites will strip away the jpeg gain map that is used for the HDR info when making scaled copies of the jpeg for display and the jpeg will look terrible - worse than a standard SDR jpeg. Also, very few image viewers support these jpegs. You need to be very careful with HDR images for now whether they are AVIF or JPEG with gain map. There is very little that supports these fully. Only when you completely control the imaging chain from webserver to viewer can you be sure the viewer sees what you want.

Report · Jun 26, 2024

I'm using Lightroom on a MacBook Pro M1 to edit raw photos from a Sony α6400 camera. I wanted to create HDR images that could go into a Photos album for viewing on the laptop or on an iPhone.

I found a solution which might also answer the original question. This probably depends on recent updates to Lightroom, Photos (MacOS) and Photos (iOS).

After editing in Lightroom (HDR mode) I export photos as JPEG XL (.JXL) files using the P3 HDR color space. Next, I import the image files into Photos on the MacBook. (Other apps on the MacBook don't show the .JXL images properly, but Photos does.) I could add these files to a Photos album, but after synchronizing with the iPhone it turns out they are not viewable on the iPhone. However, I can export them from Photos as HEIC files, and then import the HEIC versions back to Photos on the MacBook. These images (having been converted to HEIC by Photos) can be added to an album and they do show up as HDR with nice highlights on the MacBook and iPhone.

Report · Jul 02, 2024

Thank you, that's what I was looking for to display photos from my other cameras in the apple photos albums in HDR. Although it's completly ridicioulous that we have to use such a workflow and it isn't working right out of the box.

Report · Jul 03, 2024

Well, turned out I had some settings to choose to make it work... So if you want to import working HDR images to your iPhone from any camera, this might be the workflow to follow - for me, it didn't work with P3 and jxl.

Develop your image as HDR image in Adobe Lightroom.
Export your image as AVIF in the colorspace HDR-Rec. 2020

Import the image on your Mac into Apple Photos by drag&drop
The image will show up as HDR in Photos on your Mac - and sometimes even on your iPhone, but not always.
If it doesn’t show up as HDR on your iPhone, or if the HDR is lost when zooming into the picture (strange effect) you need a trick:
Export the image from Photos on your Mac:
Expand the export setting and choose HEIC, Colorprofile Original and Size Original size:

Import the new HEIC File on your Mac into Photos again
This new HEIC image will consistently be on the iPhone (as least for me) - iOS 17.5, macOS Sonoma 12.5.

All in all, this whole process seems really buggy to me.

Report · Jul 03, 2024

That's really Apple's problem. They should get with the program and support AVIF and JXL everywhere. It's embarassing that only Photos supports it and not preview and not safari. For me AVIF imported into either Photos on the iPhone or into Photos on the Mac translates correctly to the Photos app on iOS every time, so I am surprised you need the HEIC step for that. I just export directly from the Lightroom app on my phone using a synced smart preview from Classic using avif in HDR on the phone Lightroom app exporting directly to the photo roll and it works just fine. If I do it on my Mac, it takes a while before the HDR shows up on the phone if I am not on my very fast home network so this might be a slow syncing effect where it first syncs a non-HDR preview to Apple's cloud servers before it syncs the actual HDR data.

Report · Jul 18, 2024

THANK YOU for this! I was having similiar issues and basically just resorting to trying every combo of file type and colorspace. Hope Apple fixes this soon as it is super annoying to go through all these steps and export so differently for HDR than SDR.

Report · Oct 15, 2024

Dear all,

Also I am exploring a photography workflow that includes preparing and viewing XDR content. And considering purchasing the Apple XDR Pro display.

Using my MacBook Pro M1MAX (which has an XDR display), my observations are similar to that of the posters above: with Lightroom in edit mode, I can create and preview HDR content (simply gorgeous, the way bright areas come off the screen). In Lightroom full screen view, XDR turns off. For simple viewing, only the Google Chrome browser shows XDR content - Apple Preview and other programs or browsers do not.

But…. Today, I tested the same content on an Apple XDR Pro Display (connected to a Mac Pro), and…. I could see the XDR content directly in Preview!!! Furthermore: when I activate another window (say, Pages), the screen leaves XDR mode, and once I click the Preview window again, it turns XDR back on. This is different from the MacBook XDR, where XDR display (in Lightroom or Google) stays active even if I activate another window. So, I observe different behaviours between the MBP and the XDR Pro display...

I am excited that the XDR Pro was able to show XDR directly from Preview!! But it makes me wonder… is it really the XDR display that is different from the MacBook Pro behaviour? Or perhaps it’s something related to the Mac Pro hard- or software? In the latter case, if I’d buy the XDR Pro and connect it to my MacBook Pro, I’d still have no XDR 🫤

I hope I soon have the opportunity to connect my own MBP to an XDR Pro display and see for sure whether it shows XDR content right off Preview....

Best, Rudi

Report · Oct 15, 2024

It's purely the software. Apple added some extra support to preview and to photos to display hdr content in Sequioa but it is still very partial. Preview for example still does not do tiff with HdR right. The difference between displays you see also is a software issue. Also Apple still does not support hdr images in their own browser. Lightroom doesn't display the hDr in every view context also. You have to enable the HDR in zoom view in library in preferences to get it outside of develop. Also you won't get it consistently on dual displays. Purely a software issue.

There is no such thing as XDR content. That is just a Apple marketing term for the specific technology they use in their displays for HDR displays.

so situation is slowly getting a bit better but still a long way to go. The display technology is amazing but software hasn't kept up..

Report · Oct 17, 2024

Thank you Jao vdL, very useful info! Will install Sequioa when I have the opportunity and then hope that also on my MBP, I can see HDR from Preview. Best, Rudi

Report · Nov 07, 2024

In all honesty, if what I see on the screen in Lightroom classic is not viewable on Facebook etc, then it's a waste of time.

Report · Nov 07, 2024

Yes exactly why I would recommend most people to hold off on it except if you have complete control over the imaging chain. It's fun to experiment with it but there is zero guarantee your viewers will see anything close to what you see. Much worse even then lacking color management or calibrated scereens which already is a big problem, it won't even look close in many (most) cases.