Ayup! This is really quite messed up. Today, I opened a can of worms that any iPhone photographer should be wary of: HDR. More specifically, the frankly bizarre way in which Apple handles HDR.
All of my recent iPhone shots look completely different when I open them in Affinity. In Apple Photos (or Preview), they’re bright (often too bright) and lively. Then, when you go ahead and open the image in your editing app, it’s dull, flat and lifeless.
Basically, the HDR settings that are applied when you capture a shot are only visible in certain Apple apps. So in Apple Photos, what you’re seeing isn’t what your images actually look like.
You used to be able to switch the iPhone’s HDR mode off, right? I remember when you had the option to use HDR or not, or even save a non-HDR version of the photo as well. So I went looking for that option on my iPhone and it’s gone. It’s not just moved to a different place, it’s gone altogether.
Related: In Search of Natural-Looking iPhone Photos
Two versions of each image
You see one version, but what does the person you just shared your image with see? They might see the HDR version, or they might see the standard version. This depends on how you share it and what they’re viewing it on.
Update: I just sent a photo over to a friend using a Samsung Galaxy via RCS messaging. As we compared the two images, she had the duller, standard version, while my phone displayed the full HDR version.
Sharing it on social media? What will folks there get? All I know so far is that I uploaded an HDR iPhone photo to Unsplash before I realised what was going on. Having checked it, the non-HDR version was used. I downloaded it and compared the two side-by-side. The original is way brighter.
This, to me, is absolutely insane. As a photographer, you want to know your photo will look the same to everyone, surely?
HDR is the default behaviour and can’t be turned off. All you can do is turn off viewing HDR images but this doesn’t impact photos shared via AirDrop/iMessage, so others will still see it in HDR.
How to test it out
Want to see for yourself? The quickest and easiest ways are either:
- On your Mac, open some of your iPhone photos in Affinity and compare the difference with how they look in Apple Photos. The only issue with doing it this way is that Apple Photos doesn’t indicate whether your image is HDR. Generally speaking, most are.
- Also on your Mac, open Photomator (you can use the free version before subscribing to anything). When you double-click an image, you’ll see an HDR button at the top right. If it’s highlighted, turn it off to see the difference.
As you’ll see, the HDR settings are often pretty solid. However, they’re also completely pointless if not everyone is going to see that version of the image.
HDR (high dynamic range) helps you get great shots in high-contrast situations. The iPhone camera takes several photos in rapid succession at different exposures and blends them together to bring more highlight and shadow detail to your photos.
By default, iPhone takes photos in HDR (for the rear camera and the front camera) when it’s most effective.
How to turn it off (when you can’t)
As of the iPhone 12, you can no longer turn off HDR in your camera settings. Well, there’s still a toggle for video, but not for photos.
What you can do is turn off View Full HDR in the settings of Apple Photos. This works on both your iPhone and desktop/laptop. Nice! Except this only means you can’t see it. There’s still the potential for different versions to be shown to different people. Sigh.
Additionally, on a Mac, even with this turned off, if you open a file in Preview, it displays the HDR version. From initial experiments, using ProRAW addresses this issue. It flashes up with HDR included, then reverts to the standard version.
I recently noticed that the HDR setting does different things on iOS than on Android.
While on Android it makes the Shadows really bright and the highlights a bit darker, on iOS it gives the image that HDR Image Look which boosts brightness on HDR Displays to make the photo look more true to life.
I kinda prefer the option on iOS/iPad OS but sadly it’s not available on Android in Google photos.
What version will you see?
These are the different versions you’ll see of an HDR JPG shot on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. This was tested on a 2023 M2 MacBook Pro.
- Apple Photos – HDR (unless switched off)
- Apple Preview – HDR
- Affinity – Standard
- Photomator – HDR (with an HDR switch to turn it off)
- Darkroom – Standard
Furthermore, some social media platforms will use the HDR version (in very specific upload conditions), but most won’t.
To view HDR images, one must have an HDR capable monitor set to HDR mode, an App, browser or image viewer that “understands” and can display HDR images, and an HDR image in a file format that the App, browser or image viewer can read and display properly. I’m currently using a MacBook Pro, M4, which has a Retina display that offers approximately +4 f-stops of HDR ‘headroom’, which is huge (i.e., capable of displaying about 4 f-stops of brightness above and beyond “paper white”).
The solution
With View Full HDR turned off in Apple Photos, your image will look the same as when you open the file in your editing software. The key step here is to edit the non-HDR version. This means using Apple Photos is now out of the question.
Once you’ve edited and exported your photo with an app such as Affinity, all of this craziness goes away. One version of your photo, no matter what you open it with or how you share it. Phew!
Alternatively, shooting RAW (not ProRAW) completely removes any processing whatsoever. Apps like Reeflex allow you to do this.
Update: Shooting in ProRAW, then opening the file in Affinity seems to remove all processing. I’ve also found a camera app called No Fusion. With the paid version, you can completely disable HDR at the time of shooting.
Pure madness
This is a real crazy one to get your head around. Further testing and experiments are underway. Until everyone is seeing the same thing, there’s no way I’m leaving it to chance.
If I’ve got any of the above wrong, or you have further insights, feel free to fire over an email. As it stands, while HDR often provides favourable results, I see little point if the effect is lost as soon as you upload or share it.