One of the amazing things Apple has made available to the masses is HDR photos. (Not the old definition of HDR where multiple photos are combined into one garish photo).
The HDR photos is super high dynamic range and gets close to reality. Highlights can be blinding with blacker blacks and deeper colors.
In order to share and experience these wonderful HDR images, you need an HDR display, either on the supported iPhones/iPads or an HDR monitor for your Macintosh. (If not built into your laptop)
With the Apple iPhone ecosystem, you shoot an HDR photo(or video) and if you want to share it, send it via iMessage. If the recepient also has a newer iPhone or Mac, they get to experience the full dynamic range. Nice and easy.
If you send it to someone that doesn't have HDR compatibility, they won't get the full experience. Just a regular photo.
If you post the photo on Flickr, it will be converted to SDR. Flickr like most photo sharing sites doesn't support HDR as of this writing. (It would require web browsers/apps that support it also).
Adobe Lightroom has incredible photo editing features. (I wanted to move to Apple Photos but it couldn't handle the150,000 photos/pics in my library.)
One of the features of Lightroom is HDR editing.
It can edit Apple HEIC/HEIF HDR and other HDR photo formats.
(Lightroom also beautifully unlocks the RAW photos from my old Canon 5Dmk2 and my Panasonic Lumix cameras when edited for the HDR format. There is a lot of dynamic range that can be unlocked in HDR formats. It gives photos so much room to breathe. IT'S AMAZING!)
To share the edited HDR image, you have to export to JPEG XL or AVIF. I prefer JPEG XL, as you can iMessage the photo directly and it works---as long as the recipient has a compatible device. (My iPhone 15 Pro works. My son's iPhone 12 Pro works and my Mac Studio with a economy $199 27" 4K monitor works).
AVIF format didn't work via iMessage. It just appears as a file that the recipient will hate you for sending. AVIF works when added to Apple Photos though and viewed locally on the Macintosh.
When exporting your finished HDR photo in Lightroom, choose JPEG XL, HDR Rec 2020 and turn off "maximize compatibility."
The files have .jxl as the file extension.
The JPEG XL HDR photos can be added to Apple Photos Shared Albums.
The photos can be viewed in HDR on the Macintosh desktop.
The JPEG XL photo works correctly when sent via iMessage. (It may appear flat until user clicks it to view)
As of 3/10/2025, the edited JPEG XL files does not show in HDR within the mobile Apple Photos albums on iPhones. Apple's native photos works in HDR though. (Go figure)
As a workaround, it works when sent as a shared photo link from the Apple Photos Shared Album to the iPhone.
Another option for Mac Users:
You can create a public website of the shared album Apple Photos.
The user opens the link and sees the photo album in the web browser in SDR.
If they download the Photo and open with Preview, they can enjoy the HDR.
