I’m excited to announce that Lightroom mobile now includes the ability to capture raw, high dynamic range (HDR) images! In the Lightroom mobile app, tap the camera icon and then choose HDR from the drop down at the bottom of the screen.
Lightroom mobile automatically analyzes the scene to determine the appropriate spread of exposure values over three shots (most other apps only average two exposures). Then, Lightroom automatically aligns, de-ghosts, and tone maps the image, creating a 16-bit floating point DNG file which can then be edited as desired. The resulting DNG file offers a much larger dynamic range than a singe raw file while maintaining all other advantages of a raw file such as higher bit-depth per color, lack of JPEG compression, and the ability to address white balance after capture with no loss of information! Although, HDR files are larger, I believe the superior image quality and greater editing flexibility are well worth the increase in file size. Plus, while in HDR capture mode, you also have access to exposure compensation, white balance, and the manual focus slider.
Note: for iOS users, the HDR mode requires a device that can capture in DNG such as an iPhone 6, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, iPhone SE, or iPad Pro 9.7″. For Android users, the Samsung S7, S7 Edge, Google Pixel, and Pixel XL are supported.
In addition, Speed Review is back! In Review mode, tap -drag up/down on the left side of the screen to add star ratings. Tap -drag up/down on the right side of the screen to add pick/reject flags.
Export Original enables you to export DNG files captured in Lightroom mobile (as well as raw files imported from your camera to Lightroom mobile or Lightroom web) to the camera roll. Tap the Share icon and choose Export Original.
Note: if you’re images originated in, and were synchronized from Lightroom CC on the desktop, you can not export the original raw file from Lightroom mobile because Lightroom CC on the desktop does not upload the full resolution raw file to the cloud (instead it uses a Smart Preview).
And, for Android Creative Cloud members, both the Radial and Linear selective adjustments are now available!
In addition, the team has improved sync speed and stability and added background sync and upload features.
For more information about Lightroom mobile click here to see how to use the Force Touch and Notification Center widget on iOS or, click here to see my Lightroom mobile Getting Started Series.