There are many instances where a standard dynamic range (“SDR”) overlay is displayed over high dynamic range (“HDR”) content on HDR displays. Because the overlay is SDR, the maximum brightness of the overlay is much lower than the maximum brightness of the HDR content, which can lead to the SDR elements being obscured if those elements have at least some transparency. The present disclosure provides techniques including modifying the luminance of either or both of the HDR and SDR content when an SDR layer with some transparency is displayed over HDR content. A variety of techniques are provided. In one example, a fixed adjustment is applied to pixels of one or both of the SDR layer and the HDR layer. The fixed adjustment comprises decreasing the luminance of the HDR layer and/or increasing the luminance of the SDR layer. In another example, a variable adjustment is applied.