Lightroom Mobile reducing photo contrast

[darrenc30795597]

I'm having issues with Lightroom Mobile. When I shoot in ProRAW on my iPhone 12 Pro, the result is usually crisp contrast and bright whites. However, when I open that image in Lightroom Mobile (using the Apple ProRAW profile) and export it back to the iPhone's camera roll having made no changes, the image is dull and has lost its contrast. I also tried it with Apple HEIC and JPG files, and the same thing happens. It's maddening. I first discovered this when I opened a ProRAW image in Lightroom Mobile to make no changes other than to use the Healing tool to remove a mark. When I exported it back to the camera roll, the image lacked the contrast of the original. Please advise, and thank you for your time.

[Sameer K]

Hi Darren,

Thanks for reaching out. We are sorry about the trouble with Adobe Lightroom(iOS). We are here to help!

Could you please share the exact version of Lightroom along with the version of iOS on your iPhone? Have you tried exporting in any other color space?

Adobe Lightroom is color-managed with ProPhoto RGB color space. You can try the various export options in Adobe Lightroom (iOS) and export in color spaces closest to the ProRGB photo.

Please check here for the steps: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/using/save-share-export-mobile-ios.html

Also, please check here to understand more about color management in Lightroom: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/color-space-use/

Please let us know if this helps!
Regards,
Sameer K

[darrenc30795597]

Hi Sameer,

Thank you for the quick reply. After experimenting further with Lightroom Mobile's color space and other settings, I'm learning that none of that matters. This seems to be an issue with how the iPhone displays photos in the Photos app. An original photo with bright whites, such as sun through an open window, will display as very bright white with plenty of contrast in the Photos app. If I send that photo to another app, such as Lightroom Mobile or Snapshot, the whites appear dimmer. If I export the photo from Lightroom Mobile back to the camera roll (Photos app), the whites appear much dimmer in the exported photo compared with the original. Even if I take a screen capture of the original bright photo, the whites in the screen capture appear much dimmer than the original photo. I can't even send you an example, because if that photo goes anywhere else, the whites are dimmer and the photo has less contrast than the way the original looks in the Photos app. For example, I transfered the original photo and the dimmer Lightroom Mobile export photo both to my MacBook, and side-by-side in Photoshop they are absolutely identical. The same is happening on my wife's iPhone 13. The Photos app seems to be displaying out-of-camera photos with more brightness and contrast than they actually have. This can't be an isolated incident, so I'll search Google for an answer. Thank you again.

[darrenc30795597]

Hi Sameer,

I've discovered the problem:

In Settings>Photos, there’s a toggle to turn on “View Full HDR.” It’s on by default. Having this turned on makes photos look different in your Photos app than ANYWHERE ELSE you put them! This applies to all photos -- not just HDR photos. And it's most noticeable with photos that are contrasty with bright whites.

It’s a misrepresentation of your photo, so if you post to Instagram, for example, the photo will look different there. If you transfer the photo to your computer for processing, it’ll look different there. Even if you send the photo to a friend who has an iPhone, it’ll look different there. EVEN IF THAT FRIEND HAS “VIEW FULL HDR” TURNED ON!

With “View Full HDR” turned on in your settings, photos in your Photos app look brighter with more contrast than they actually are. And the effect is only applied to photos in the app that you originally took with your camera. If you process the photo in another app (such as Lightroom Mobile) and return it to the Photos app, you’ll see the duller (more accurate) version.

So with this setting turned on, your photos will look more dull and less contrasty on Instagram and to your friends than what you think you are posting/sending.

I've Googled this, and am surprised there isn't more about it. For serious photographers, it's trouble.

Thank you again for your quick response.

[jjc97158674]

Darren, wow crazy that i am having the same issues you did.. I edit on my Macbook and use lightroom CC on my phone to save directly to my Iphone Photos. Noticing that when i saved on some of my ocean images the colors are truly very off and have no contrast. I just want to confirm, that turning off the HDR setting in photos allows us now to keep that same image from Lightroom -> Photos without the loss of detail. This is inherintly non intuitive by apple . thanks

[darrenc30795597]

Go to Settings>Photos, and turn OFF "View Full HDR."

[jjc97158674]

Did this completely fix the discrepency between your images? I'm still having issues with color and contrast matching exactly.

[darrenc30795597]

When "View Full HDR" is turned on in the settings, it simply means that the out-of-camera photos in your Photos app will look different in the Photos app than they will anywhere else that you view them. It's altering the way they look in the Photos app only. Turning off "View Full HDR" will allow you to see photos in the Photos app as they would look in other apps, such as in Lightroom Mobile or even in Instagram. If the photos that you take on your iPhone are going to be viewed anywhere other than YOUR iPhone -- like in Instagram, or texted to friends, or sent to your MacBook, or printed, than you'd be wise to turn off "View Full HDR."

[Giancarlo30520300p2rw]

Just for clarification, enabling "Full HDR" does not process the photos to make them more contrasty, it actually shows the (already existing) extended dynamic range in the photo in a similar way HDR movies are displayed in an HDR capable tv. That means the brightness of the image is not bounded from 0 to 1 (0 to 255), but can go beyond that.

The fact Instagram (or any other "consumer" platform doesn't show the full dynamic range of the image it's because they only accept srgb images (instagram actually allows to upload HDR videos tho in stories i believe and those are shown in full dynamic range).

(Same story if you transfer those images to a desktop computer, most monitors are still not hdr capable and even if they are depending on the software you may not see the full hdr image. Affinity photo allows you to see the full hdr image with a compatible monitor)

by the way other apps (like photomator) allow you to edit in full hdr.

[darrenc30795597]

Giancarlo, thanks for replying. I can't think of any reason someone would want to have this turned on. It's giving them a false representation of their photos in the sense that their photos will look different viewed on any other screen -- including social media sites and/or other people's phones (including iPhones). So the user (with Full HDR turned on) edits a photo to make it beautiful, then posts it to Instagram or Facebook, or texts it to a friend where it looks totally different. How is that helpful? It's ridiculous. Any user would want to see their photos as others will see them so that they can make proper edits if needed.

[Giancarlo30520300p2rw]

Tech evolves, for many years the main media to view photos was prints, nowadays it's smartphones and computers with screens that are actually capable of displaying much higher brightness values.

It's not that since it's not supported at the moment that it won't be in some years.

If you print your photos sure you won't get an emissive paper and the brightest pixels of the image will be paper white, but since modern screens are capable of that it's just a matter of time and support.

New Canon cameras can actually shoot HEICs with this extended brightness levels https://cam.start.canon/it/C004/manual/html/UG-03_Shooting-1_0270.html

Also, if you shoot RAW with a decent camera the RAW file itself already has a larger dynamic range than a standard JPEG (brightness is linear and can go above 1) and you could in theory make an HDR photo with that. The problem is software support, both by editing software and viewing apps.

And something is already moving: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10181/

[Giancarlo30520300p2rw]

see also: https://gregbenzphotography.com/hdr/

[peakfreak]

Thanks for the info.

I've just upgraded from an iphone 6S to 15 pro max and could see something funny was going on; the 'iphone' photos look amazing - until you import them into LR mobile.

Also, I had turned off video HDR (which is under camera settings), and you could see the difference between the photos and videos in the iphone photo library. Now I have turned off HDR in photo settings, and things are much more consistent [especially when I import to my desktop!]

So, some new info: In LR mobile under app settings > Import, there is an 'HDR edit mode for new photos'. This processes HEIF/HEIC and JPEG images in real time as you open them - with an RGB histogram showing this happening. Doesn't work for DNG's.

For the time being, I'm turning it all off until I have read up on it all.

[Another thing: Make sure you have your colour space warnings turned on so you can keep track of things when using Bridge / ACR / LR / PS etc. iphone jpegs and HEIC/F's seem to come with the P3 space].

[bermzies]

Thank you!  I couldn't figure out what was happening. I toggled that off.  I'd rather have consistency and loose the brightness. There is one app that seems to support that setting.  It's called Retouch.  That software also supports HEIF. 

[Giancarlo30520300p2rw]

Fyi the latest version of lightroom added full HDR support, you can now export pictures in .avif mantaining the full dynamic range