Working with HDR content in Photomator and Pixelmator Pro
What are HDR photos and videos?
HDR (or high dynamic range) technology enhances the visual quality of your photos and videos by retrieving more detail in bright and dark areas and expanding the color range. As a result, your visuals feature exceptional contrast, brighter whites, and more vibrant colors, bringing them closer to real life. When compared to Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), HDR content appears more vivid and lively, while SDR content may seem dull and flat.
What are the requirements for working with HDR content in Photomator and Pixelmator Pro?
To work with HDR content in Photomator or Pixelmator Pro, you’ll need a compatible HDR display, and the latest macOS and iOS versions. On non-HDR displays or displays not manufactured by Apple, the results may not be as striking, or HDR editing may not be available at all.
Supported displays:
Full XDR displays. For the most striking results with HDR photos, use the latest Apple devices with full XDR displays. This includes iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Mac and iPad devices with XDR displays, and Pro Display XDR. HDR content will be loaded automatically on these displays.
Limited support HDR displays. MacBook Air, iMac, iMac Pro, Studio Display, and older MacBook Pro models not equipped with XDR displays provide limited HDR support with peak brightness ranging between 300 and 600 nits. When working on such displays, you can select whether you want to load the HDR data or not in Photomator or Pixelmator Pro settings. See the section How can I turn HDR on and off in Photomator or Pixelmator Pro? to learn how.
Non-Apple HDR Displays. These displays are supported but offer a slightly less streamlined editing experience. For example, when editing images in HDR, the entire screen, including the app interface, will be displayed in HDR instead of just the photo itself. Additionally, after syncing edits to Photos, only SDR thumbnails of photos will be visible in the Photos library. This limitation also applies to limited support HDR displays.
Check out this article on recommended HDR monitors for photography to get a more in-depth overview of HDR displays.
Operating systems:
Photomator supports HDR editing on iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 on iPhone and iPad. On Mac, Photomator and Pixelmator Pro support HDR editing on macOS 14 Sonoma.
What HDR file formats are supported in Photomator and Pixelmator Pro?
Photomator and Pixelmator Pro both support opening and exporting HDR images in multiple different formats, including photos taken using an iPhone. This applies to all iPhone photos taken in 2020 and later (after the release of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14). Here’s a full list of supported HDR image formats for import and export in Photomator and Pixelmator Pro.
HDR formats supported in Photomator
| Import | Export |
|---|---|
HDR photos captured with iPhone | HDR HEIC (for sharing HDR photos in Apple apps, such as Motion and Final Cut Pro) |
RAW and ProRAW | HDR JPEG (for photos viewed in both SDR and HDR) |
HEIC (10-bit) | HDR PNG (for archiving HDR photos) |
AVIF (10-bit) | HDR Still Image Video (for uploading HDR photos on the web) |
JPEG XL (10-bit) | OpenEXR (for exporting HDR photos to other video and image editing apps) |
PNG (16-bit) | HDR AVIF Photomator |
TIFF (32-bit from Photoshop) | |
OpenEXR | |
Radiance HDR | |
HDR HEIC (for sharing HDR photos in Apple apps, such as Motion and Final Cut Pro) | |
HDR JPEG (for photos viewed in both SDR and HDR) | |
HDR PNG (for archiving HDR photos) | |
HDR Still Image Video (for uploading HDR photos on the web) | |
OpenEXR (for exporting HDR photos to other video and image editing apps) | |
HDR AVIF | |
Photomator |
HDR formats supported in Pixelmator Pro
| Import | Export |
|---|---|
HDR photos captured with iPhone | HDR HEIC (for sharing HDR photos in Apple apps, such as Motion and Final Cut Pro) |
RAW and ProRAW | HDR JPEG (for photos viewed in both SDR and HDR) |
HEIC (10-bit) | HDR PNG (for archiving HDR photos) |
AVIF (10-bit) | OpenEXR (for exporting HDR photos to other video and image editing apps) |
JPEG XL (10-bit) | HDR AVIF |
PNG (16-bit) | |
TIFF (32-bit from Photoshop) | |
OpenEXR | |
Radiance HDR | |
Photomator | |
Pixelmator Pro | |
HDR HEIC (for sharing HDR photos in Apple apps, such as Motion and Final Cut Pro) | |
HDR JPEG (for photos viewed in both SDR and HDR) | |
HDR PNG (for archiving HDR photos) | |
OpenEXR (for exporting HDR photos to other video and image editing apps) | |
HDR AVIF | |
Pixelmator Pro | Pixelmator Pro |
MP4 | MP4 |
QuickTime Movie | QuickTime Movie (HEVC, Apple ProRes 422 LT, Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 HQ, Apple ProRes 422 Proxy, Apple ProRes 4444) |
HDR Still Image Video | HDR Still Image Video |
What other Mac apps are compatible with HDR?
While HDR videos are often used on many different apps and platforms, HDR image previews and editing are still relatively new. Currently, Apple apps don't fully support HDR images. Below is a table of the common HDR image formats and their compatibility with Apple apps.
| HEIC | AVIF | RAW | Apple ProRAW | JPEG XL | OpenEXR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pixelmator Pro & Photomator | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Photos | ✅ (only XDR displays) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Preview | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Quick Look | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Finder | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Safari | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
iWork Apps | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Motion & Final Cut Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
How can I turn HDR on and off in Photomator and Pixelmator Pro?
You can easily switch between HDR and SDR editing at any point by clicking the HDR button in the toolbar, but you can also choose how Photomator or Pixelmator Pro load image content by default — as HDR or SDR — in the app settings.
Turn HDR on and off in Photomator
On Mac, choose Photomator > Settings in the menu bar at the top of your screen. On iPhone or iPad, tap Settings (the gear icon) in the photo or file browser.
Then, in the General tab, select or deselect “Load HDR content”. On iPhone or iPad, choose “Load HDR Content” in Photomator App Settings.
Turn HDR on and off in Pixelmator Pro
Choose Pixelmator Pro > Settings in the menu bar at the top of your screen.
Then, in the General tab, select or deselect “Load HDR content”.
If your display has limited HDR support, you will see a note indicating this below the "Load HDR content" setting, or a notification will show up if your display is not supported.
Some third-party displays may have a separate setting for turning the HDR mode on and off. If HDR mode is turned off, Photomator may not recognize your display as compatible with HDR content. To turn on HDR mode, go to System Settings > Displays, and select your display there.
Troubleshooting: If HDR content is not displaying or displaying incorrectly
If you're experiencing issues with HDR content not displaying or displaying incorrectly, find some common reasons and solutions below:
HDR Setting is Turned Off. Make sure the "Load HDR content" option is turned on in the app settings. If the display has limited HDR support or is not manufactured by Apple, the "Load HDR content" option is turned off by default. This also hides the HDR button in the toolbar.
Incompatible Display. Make sure your display supports HDR content. See the list of supported displays.
Third-Party Display Issues. If you’re using a display from a third-party manufacturer, you may need to activate the HDR mode for it manually. You’ll usually find this setting in the System Preferences on your Mac.
Non-HDR Photo or Video. Check to see the file format of your photo or double-check your camera settings to make sure you’re shooting in HDR. For videos, check if a supported compression type is used for displaying HDR.
If you cannot retake a photo in HDR, Photomator offers a Smart HDR feature that you can use to convert the photo from SDR to HDR.
Unsupported File Format. Check if your HDR photo is in a format supported by Photomator or Pixelmator Pro. See the list of supported file formats.
Older macOS or iOS Version. HDR editing in Photomator requires iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 on iPhone and iPad. And on Mac, both Photomator and Pixelmator Pro require macOS 14 Sonoma. If you’re running an older version, you will need to update to start editing in HDR.
Older Photomator Version. Update to Photomator 3.2, Pixelmator Pro 3.5 or later for full HDR editing capabilities.
Incorrect Mac Settings or Setup. If HDR is not displayed in high dynamic range or with the quality you expect, try the solutions in this Apple Support article.
On iPhone or iPad
Low Power Mode on iPhone/iPad. On iPhone and iPad, Low Power mode will disable HDR content viewing. Learn how to turn off Low Power mode in this Apple Support article.
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