In a method to improve backwards compatibility when decoding high-dynamic range images coded in a wide color gamut (WCG) space which may not be compatible with legacy color spaces, hue and/or saturation values of images in an image database are computed for both a legacy color space (say, YCbCr-gamma) and a preferred WCG color space (say, IPT-PQ). Based on a cost function, a reshaped color space is computed so that the distance between the hue values in the legacy color space and rotated hue values in the preferred color space is minimized. HDR images are coded in the reshaped color space. Legacy devices can still decode standard dynamic range images assuming they are coded in the legacy color space, while updated devices can use color reshaping information to decode HDR images in the preferred color space at full dynamic range.