How to Use HDR in Lightroom (Desktop and Mobile)

To use HDR in Lightroom, shoot two or more bracketed exposures of the same scene, select them, and choose Photo > Photo Merge > HDR. Lightroom aligns the frames, combines them into a single raw DNG file that holds detail from the brightest highlights to the deepest shadows, and puts it back in your library to edit like any other raw photo. On a phone, the camera built into Lightroom mobile has an HDR mode that captures and merges the frames for you.

This page covers both routes: merging brackets in Lightroom Classic and the Lightroom desktop app, and capturing HDR in Lightroom mobile. It also covers how to shoot the brackets, how to edit the merged file so it looks natural, and when HDR is not worth doing.

What an HDR merge does in Lightroom

A camera sensor can only record a limited range of brightness in one exposure, its dynamic range. A sunset sky can be many stops brighter than the shadowed ground below it, and a window can be far brighter than the room around it. Expose for the sky and the ground goes black; expose for the ground and the sky turns white.

HDR (high dynamic range) solves this by combining several exposures: a dark one that holds the highlights, a middle one, and a bright one that holds the shadows. Lightroom’s merge takes the best data from each frame and produces one file. It does not apply a dramatic look. The merged DNG usually looks flat and ordinary when it first appears, because the extra range is stored in the file for you to use while editing, not pushed onto the picture automatically.

Want the theory behind combining exposures? What HDR is and when to use it explains dynamic range, tone mapping and the scenes that need it.

Two other features share the name and are easy to confuse with the merge:

• HDR capture in Lightroom mobile is the same idea done on the phone at the moment you shoot. It is covered below.
• HDR editing mode is a separate setting for editing and exporting photos to be viewed on HDR displays, which can show brighter highlights than ordinary screens. It does not combine exposures. You can use it on a merged HDR file or on any single photo.

How to shoot brackets for a Lightroom HDR merge

The merge can only work with what you give it, so the shooting matters more than the software.

1. Shoot RAW. Lightroom can merge JPEGs, but raw files carry more highlight and shadow detail and give a cleaner result.
2. Turn on auto exposure bracketing. Three frames two stops apart (-2, 0, +2) handle most sunsets, backlit scenes and landscapes. For a dark interior with bright windows, use five frames, or seven if the camera allows.
3. Keep the aperture and ISO fixed. Use aperture priority or manual mode so only the shutter speed changes between frames. A change of aperture would change the depth of field, and the frames would no longer match.
4. Lock focus and white balance. Focus once, then switch to manual focus, and set a fixed white balance so every frame is consistent.
5. Use a tripod if you can. If you must hand-hold, use burst mode so the frames are fired as quickly as possible, and turn on Auto Align when merging.
6. Check the frames. On the camera’s histogram, the darkest frame should show no clipped highlights and the brightest frame should show no clipped shadows. If either end is still clipped, add frames or widen the spacing.

Movement between frames is the main enemy. Wind in leaves, moving clouds, waves and people walking through all appear in different places in each frame, which is what the merge’s deghosting option is for.

How to merge HDR in Lightroom Classic

1. In the Library grid or the Develop filmstrip, select all the frames of one bracket. Click the first, then Shift-click the last.
2. Choose Photo > Photo Merge > HDR, or right-click one of the selected photos and choose Photo Merge > HDR.
3. In the HDR Merge Preview dialog, set the options:
   • Auto Align: lines the frames up. Turn it on for anything shot handheld; it does no harm on a tripod.
   • Auto Settings: applies a starting edit to the merged file. Useful as a first look; you can change everything afterward.
   • Deghost Amount: None, Low, Medium or High. Leave it on None unless the preview shows doubled or semi-transparent objects.
   • Show Deghost Overlay: tints the areas where deghosting is working, so you can see what it changed.
   • Create Stack: groups the merged file with its source frames so the brackets stay tidy in the grid.
4. Click Merge. Lightroom builds the HDR file in the background and adds it to the same folder as the source photos, as a DNG with “HDR” added to the file name.

If the HDR command is grayed out, check that you have at least two photos selected. The merge needs the frames of one scene; it cannot create HDR from a single photo.

How to merge HDR in the Lightroom desktop app

The cloud-based Lightroom desktop app works the same way. Select the bracketed frames in the grid, right-click and choose Photo Merge > HDR (the same command is in the Photo menu). The preview offers Auto Align, Auto Settings, deghosting and Create Stack, and the merged DNG is added to your library next to the originals, where it syncs to your other devices like any photo.

How to use HDR in Lightroom mobile

Lightroom mobile’s built-in camera can capture HDR directly on supported phones:

1. Open Lightroom and tap the camera icon.
2. Tap the shooting mode control and choose HDR. On phones that do not support it, the option does not appear.
3. Frame the shot and press the shutter. Hold the phone as still as you can while the frames are captured.
4. The app merges the frames and saves the result as a DNG in your library, ready to edit.

Compared with the HDR setting in a phone’s own camera app, which usually produces a processed, compressed image, Lightroom’s version gives you a raw DNG with the full range intact, so you decide how far to recover the highlights and lift the shadows. The cost is a slower capture, so it suits still scenes: landscapes, architecture, interiors and sunsets.

New to editing on a phone? The Lightroom mobile guide walks through the camera, the editing panels and syncing with the desktop.

How to edit a merged HDR file so it looks natural

The merged DNG is a raw file with unusual latitude. The risk is not too little range but using all of it, which produces the gray, haloed, flat look people associate with HDR. Work in this order:

1. Set the overall brightness with Exposure, judging the midtones, not the sky.
2. Pull Highlights down and push Shadows up, moderately. Values around -40 to -70 for Highlights and +30 to +50 for Shadows are a reasonable starting range. Going to the ends of both sliders flattens the picture.
3. Set Whites and Blacks so the brightest and darkest parts reach near white and near black. This restores the contrast that the highlight and shadow sliders took away. Hold Alt or Option while dragging to see where clipping starts.
4. Keep the scene’s direction of light. The shadows should still be darker than the lit areas. If everything is the same brightness, back off.
5. Use local adjustments for the rest. A sky mask or a linear gradient darkens a bright sky more naturally than dragging Highlights further. See Lightroom masking for the tools.
6. Look for halos along high-contrast edges such as a skyline against a bright sky. Reduce Clarity, Dehaze or the shadow lift until they disappear.

Would you rather blend exposures by hand? Exposure blending shows how to combine frames with masks for full control over each area.

Deghosting: fixing movement between frames

When something moves between brackets, the merge shows it in more than one place, as a doubled branch, a semi-transparent person or blurred water. Deghosting fixes this by taking the moving areas from one frame only. The cost is that those areas lose the extra range of the other frames, which can show as noise or a clipped patch. Use the lowest setting that removes the ghosts, and turn on the overlay to check which parts are affected. If High still leaves ghosts, the frames are too different; reshoot faster or on a tripod, or use the best single frame.

When HDR is worth it, and when it is not

Use HDR when one exposure cannot hold the scene:

• Sunrises and sunsets with a dark foreground.
• Interiors with windows, where you want to see both the room and the view.
• Backlit subjects in front of a bright sky.
• Harsh midday light with deep shadows beside bright surfaces.

Skip it when:

• The scene fits in one exposure. If the histogram shows nothing clipped, a single raw file has all the range you need, and the Highlights and Shadows sliders will do the rest.
• Things are moving. Moving subjects, fast water and wind-blown trees produce ghosts.
• You want the contrast. A silhouette against a bright sky depends on the dark areas staying dark.

Is a single raw file enough? Highlight recovery covers how much detail one exposure can give back before you need a bracket.

Common mistakes

• Bracketing with the aperture. In program or shutter priority mode, the camera may change the aperture between frames. Use aperture priority or manual.
• Brackets that do not cover the scene. If the darkest frame still has a white sky, the merged file will too. Check the histogram of the ends of the bracket.
• Turning deghosting on by habit. It costs quality in every area it touches. Use it only when the preview shows ghosts.
• Maxing out Highlights and Shadows. The result is flat and gray. Restore contrast with Whites, Blacks and the tone curve.
• Merging the wrong frames. A bracket from a slightly different position or zoom setting merges badly. Stack or label brackets as you import so they stay together.

Try this

Find a window in a dim room on a bright day. With the camera on a tripod or braced on a table, shoot a five-frame bracket two stops apart that includes both the room and the view outside. In Lightroom, merge the middle three frames, then merge all five, using the same settings. Edit both to look as natural as you can and compare the window area. You will see how many frames the scene really needed, and how much a single middle exposure lost.

Questions people ask about HDR in Lightroom

How do I merge HDR in Lightroom?

Select the bracketed frames, then choose Photo > Photo Merge > HDR, or right-click and choose the same command. Set Auto Align and deghosting in the preview, then click Merge. The result is a DNG added to your library next to the originals.

Can Lightroom make an HDR from one photo?

No. The merge needs two or more exposures. With a single raw file you can lower Highlights and raise Shadows, which recovers a surprising amount, but you cannot add information the sensor never recorded.

How many brackets do I need for HDR in Lightroom?

Three frames two stops apart cover most outdoor scenes. Very high-contrast scenes, such as a dark interior with a sunlit window, may need five or more. The test is the histogram: the darkest frame should hold the highlights and the brightest should hold the shadows.

Why does my merged HDR look flat?

The merge stores the extra range without applying a look, so the file often starts out low in contrast. Set the Whites and Blacks, add some contrast or a gentle tone curve, and the picture comes back to life.

Does Lightroom mobile HDR work on every phone?

No. HDR capture depends on the phone’s camera hardware, and the option only appears on supported devices. On other phones, shoot bracketed frames and merge them on the desktop.

Related guides

• What HDR is and when to use it
• Exposure bracketing
• Dynamic range
• Making panoramas in Lightroom, the other half of Photo Merge
• Lightroom masking and selective adjustments
• HDR and tone mapping quiz

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