Level 1 (18 points)

Photos App adding contrast in library and when viewing photos

iPhone 14 Pro just updated to iOS 27 and some photos in the native Photos app library are very dark and saturated. All detail is lost. They appear dark even when selecting the image and zooming in. When I view the same photos in Lightroom their preview looks dark but when opened they suddenly appear how they’re supposed to look. It’s as if the phone is adding a ton of contrast in the Photos app. The effect can be screenshot and recorded.

Posted on Oct 17, 2026 11:43 PM

10 replies

ludrubru Author

Level 1 (18 points)

Oct 18, 2026 5:54 PM in response to Yer_Man

Gotcha! I went ahead and checked and noticed HDR in LR’s export menu was selected. That and the update must be showing the images “correctly” now. I deselected HDR and exported as Adobe RGB, TIFF 16 and the image looks correct now.

I appreciate your patience and help!

léonie

Level 10 (205,585 points)

Oct 18, 2026 6:01 AM in response to ludrubru

You may want to check the Settings > Photos > Options > View Full HDR. This is modifying the display settings when displaying HDR photos. It influences the level of detail and saturation.

Yer_Man

Level 10 (166,900 points)

Oct 18, 2026 3:33 PM in response to ludrubru

My point about Tiffs on a phone is that they would be indistinguishable from good quality jpegs for a fraction of the space. And while this may have worked up to this things like system updates change things. So what are the colour profiles you're using in LR and the phone?

ludrubru Author

Level 1 (18 points)

Oct 18, 2026 9:05 AM in response to léonie

They begin as FITS files which are then exported as 16 bit TIFF into Lightroom for final editing. From Lightroom I again export as 16 bit TIFF into a folder on my laptop and either airdrop into my phone’s Photos app or drag-and-drop into the Photos app on my laptop which eventually syncs with my phone.

Yer_Man

Level 10 (166,900 points)

Oct 18, 2026 10:44 AM in response to ludrubru

That's quite a convoluted workflow and, frankly I cannot see the advantage of using 16 bit TIFFS on a telephone, but my guess is that there is a mismatch between the colour profile on Lightroom and the one on the phone.

ludrubru Author

Level 1 (18 points)

Oct 18, 2026 1:43 PM in response to Yer_Man

If you know a way to edit FITS in Lightroom let me know haha. FITS always gets exported as TIFF 16 or 32 to begin image editing. I choose 16 as I’ve previously had trouble with Lightroom opening TIFF 32.

Also viewing TIFF 16 on my phone was never an issue before. If someone asked to look at my images I’d just show them what’s on my phone. I like having them on my phone. The folders on my laptop are full of different versions of edits, notes and thousands of FITS files. Final images are placed into the Photos app.

All colors were represented correctly until iOS 27 update.

Tinfoil hat says they want me to give up my 14 Pro… lol

Yer_Man

Level 10 (166,900 points)

Oct 18, 2026 12:27 AM in response to ludrubru

What format are you shooting? Jpeg? Raw? Whatever?

ludrubru Author

Level 1 (18 points)

Oct 18, 2026 6:42 AM in response to léonie

Yes I checked with it both on and off and effect was still there regardless.

ludrubru Author

Level 1 (18 points)

Oct 18, 2026 6:43 AM in response to Yer_Man

I always export 16 bit TIFF

léonie

Level 10 (205,585 points)

Oct 18, 2026 8:19 AM in response to ludrubru

Have the photos been taken with the iPhone camera or have they been importedd from a different camera to the iPhone?

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256378204