Google Photos’ advanced editing tools will now play better with HDR photos. They preserve both the dynamic range and HDR metadata after edits.
The photo backup tool is also gaining a new “Ultra HDR” tool. It will enable you to control the brightness of HDR images.
Google Photos now seamlessly works with HDR images
Apple introduced HDR image capture on the iPhone with the iPhone 13 lineup in 2021. Android phones also jumped on the bandwagon with UltraHDR capture support a few years later.
Despite growing HDR image adoption, many advanced editing tools in Google Photos failed to preserve the HDR gainmap during edits. The company is now solving this problem for good.
The Google Photos team announced that HDR photos will now retain their dynamic range and HDR metadata even after using ML-powered editing tools. This includes features like Photo Unblur, Magic Eraser, and Portrait Light. Previously, using such tools meant you could only save the edited image in SDR format, losing the additional contrast and highlights.
HDR images store additional metadata, boosting the brightness and contrast when viewed on HDR displays. This makes them pop more compared to regular SDR pictures.
New ‘Ultra HDR’ tool for tweaking HDR images
That’s not the only improvement Google announced for Photos for handling HDR images. It also introduced a new “Ultra HDR” tool, which lets you edit the brightness of HDR images. So, if you find a picture too bright, you can tone it down now.
As part of this, Google has renamed the previous “HDR” tool to “Tone.”
Even better, you can now use Google Photos to “enhance” your SDR pictures to HDR, adding more highlights and contrast to them.
You can easily transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos. So, if you have not already, consider making the switch to Google’s superior photo-backup tool.
