Weird issues with hdr

[Lostless]

So far the HDR editing looks amazing. The issue I’m having is when the images are scaled down to SDR they look washed out with blotches of muted color and contrast. Unlike when I use apples photo editor which look fine when converted to sdr. The overall feel and contrast of the sdr mostly matches what the HDR was, just without the pop. Maybe the scale is different when tone mapping to see compared to what Apple is doing. Maybe add an add a sdr preview button so we can preview what an image will look like when converted to sdr. Also the previews look bad in the photos app, same washed out issue. Doesn’t happen if I export a hdr jpeg.

[Martin Chalifoux]

I don't think the thumbnails are ever rendered in HDR in Photos. However if you open the picture by double-clicking it the HDR version should show instead of the low quality JPEG used as thumbnail.

[Lostless]

I don't think the thumbnails are ever rendered in HDR in Photos. However if you open the picture by double-clicking it the HDR version should show instead of the low quality JPEG used as thumbnail.

I see that the regular image looks fine when opened, just the previews are washed out if saved as the default, or as HDR Heif. But if i export to HDR, jpeg, they look fine. just an observation

[fabdub]

I have the same issue.
Even if I open an HDR modified (from Photomator) file in Photos, the full effect doesn't show until I zoom in a bit then it seems to activate?

[Warren]

Is there a fix to this? The photos look substantially better in Pixelmator Pro and not in Preview. Zooming in and out in preview flashes the full effect for a second.

[Martin Chalifoux]

Is there a fix to this? The photos look substantially better in Pixelmator Pro and not in Preview. Zooming in and out in preview flashes the full effect for a second.

As far as I know Apple Preview app does not support HDR at all, so it renders it poorly. Apple should add HDR to that app but has not. To view the photo in HDR you must use the Photos app.

[Lostless]

Is there a fix to this? The photos look substantially better in Pixelmator Pro and not in Preview. Zooming in and out in preview flashes the full effect for a second.

Looking into this by looking at the meta data of the images, I think the reason is the way Pixelmator is handling hdr. Apple uses a regular sdr photo and overlays a hdr glow brightness map layer on top that. Which is like a black and white image that tells photos and whatnot to “glow” in certain areas.. But when displayed on a sdr display, they just ignore the hdr layer map and shows the sdr image.
What pixelmater is doing is more akin to hdr video. The whole image is tone mapped to hdr. There is no sdr layer. So when displayed on a sdr display, or convert to sdr, it takes anything above sdr brightness and just overexposes. It doesn’t even try to properly tone map it.

[adamjd]

What pixelmater is doing is more akin to hdr video. The whole image is tone mapped to hdr. There is no sdr layer. So when displayed on a sdr display, or convert to sdr, it takes anything above sdr brightness and just overexposes. It doesn’t even try to properly tone map it.

I just ran into this today. When I look at an HDR photo with Preview and/or Photos, it looks great on my U2879VF 28" AOC monitor. It's washed out in Pixelmator Pro 3.6.1. The HDR button results in "HDR Not Available." @Lostless's explanation sounds very plausible.

If accurate, is there not a workaround in Pixelmator Pro? How could there NOT be? Can't we create a black and white layer

that tells photos and whatnot to “glow” in certain areas

???

[Lostless]

I’ve looked further into this. Basically even if you save as a HDRJPEG, which adds that black-and-white layer, it adds extreme changes of contrast to the HDR tone map to make up for the extreme contrast added to the SDR version. So the picture only looks good in HDR. The same problem exist in Pixelmator Pro. Basically what needs to happen is do more of what Apple does and not touch the HDR “glow” layer. Any adjustments you do only affect the SDR version in Apple photos. Or maybe add the ability to edit the photo like Apples photos and not touch the HDR tone but maybe go up beyond apple and give us the ability to switch into HDR tone mode and then adjust brightness areas. Kind of a toggle to see your photo with HDR on an HDR off would be a nice addition.

I think the problem lies is that there’s no industry standard on HDR photos. HDR photos Don’t function the same as an HDR movie. So Photomator is treating HDR photos like HDR movies.

[mauro.delromano]

I think the problem lies is that there’s no industry standard on HDR photos. HDR photos Don’t function the same as an HDR movie. So Photomator is treating HDR photos like HDR movies.

Replying to my email, some time ago they said that for now they cannot do anything about this issue due to Apple code limitation. Unfortunately for iPhone HDR photos...