Lightroom on Android is adding the ability to shoot, edit, and export HDR photos, and it’s exclusive to Google’s latest Pixel phones on Android 14.
With Android 14, a new photo format will become available to users on certain devices. That format is Ultra HDR, and it brings some really impressive range to photos captured on Pixel phones. Combined with Google’s top-tier post-processing, Ultra HDR photos in Android 14 are one of the best implementations of the format on the Google OS.
With that, Lightroom has expanded support for HDR photos to the Pixel 7 series on Android 14. We expect that the Pixel 8 series will see support as soon as it becomes publicly available, which means the latest two generations of Google’s phones will be able to take and edit HDR photos right from the Lightroom mobile app.
There are two ways to get HDR photos into the Android Lightroom app, as mentioned. You can either capture them directly from the app or import them from your phone once captured with the camera app. Once they’re in Lightroom, you’ll be able to edit them through something called “HDR Mode.” This needs to be enabled by heading into the Edit panel and selecting the Light tool. From there, find and hit Edit in HDR Mode.
The mode triggers an HDR histogram and allows you to make adjustments to your photos. After you’ve made your edits, you can export the image as an AVIF or JPG file.
The addition of Ultra HDR in Android 14 brings a third-party outlet for mobile photographers to bring their images to life. While the Camera app on Pixel is good for simple editing, Adobe brings a lot of expertise that should make way for extensive editing tools and options.
HDR editing and capture comes with Lightroom 9.0.0 on Android and will only be available on the Pixel 7 series and presumably the Pixel 8 lineup in time. There’s no word on expansion to other devices as of yet.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments