iPhone Photos, HDR Support, File Format Nerd Talk. Pixelmator NEEDS true HDR support.

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2022-01-04 02:37:14

What if I told you Pixelmator, and every other photo editor on the planet, is missing critical information from iPhone photos?

I tell ya. This is one big rabbit hole.

Some of you with newer iPhones (I assume starting with iPhone 12, but can't confirm.) may notice the images become brighter than the rest of the display when viewing. Or you may notice more highlight detail in the Photos app compared to a third party app. I've noticed it.

I’ve been exploring HDR image editing recently to test the Pro Display XDR on my new MacBook Pro and finding information about actually getting a true HDR image seems uncommon. For photography it’s well known as a feature to use multiple exposures, bracket them, and compress dynamic range to fit onto SDR displays. This gives the “HDR look” a la Google Pixel. But it seems as if Apple has included true HDR, perhaps even Dolby Vision, in their processed photographs with little notice. True HDR that takes advantages of XDR displays in the new MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones. If some of you are confused I’m talking about the image equivalent to the difference between an SDR video and an HDR video. Big difference on something like an OLED or MiniLED display. This is not just an “HDR processed” image that’s compressed to SDR. This is actually extremely uncommon and Apple is surely the ONLY company doing this at the moment with processed images. To make things weirder this data is found in the .HEIC file format. Typically HDR images are .HDR or .EXR.

What does this mean? There is high dynamic range data in processed iPhone photographs that no app other than Photos or Camera (and Preview) knows how to view.

I'm an amateur when it comes to understanding file formats, color space, or high dynamic range. But one thing is clear. Images in this format are brighter, more lifelike, and take advantage of XDR displays. Here's at least my guess on how it works. The .HEIC file format is actually just a container format for .HEVC/H.265. Apple notably added Dolby Vision video recording in iPhone 12, which is saved in the .HEVC file format. So, they're most likely using this form of HDR coded to HEVC inside an HEIF file with HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) support. Which, if my suspicions are correct, overcomes the limitations of .HDR and .EXR file formats. HLG is a new technology supported in Dolby Vision video on iPhone which makes a file compatible with both HDR and SDR displays. The only problem is that Apple has not documented any of these features for images. Not that I could find...

This has clear implications for Pixelmator Pro, or any other photo editor. Editing iPhone photographs outside the first party controls will immediately remove this HDR and kick the picture back to SDR. Want to test it? For those at Pixelmator who have a MacBook Pro with an XDR display, import this provided image into Photos app, then edit it in the Pixelmator Pro module. You'll see the brightness immediately reduce as the image becomes SDR.

This is quite a unique phenomenon that I don't feel has gone noticed. Where is this extra data stored? Has Apple told anyone?

Back to Pixelmator. You guys are buddies with Apple. If anyone can get to the bottom of this it is you. But here's a more generalized suggestion. XDR displays are here. HDR is here. HDR photo editing? It's still ignored. It's difficult. It's difficult to understand. The displays are expensive and uncommon. But that is changing. All three of Apple's major product lines support have XDR displays. Being stuck with SDR content on these displays is common because truly HDR compatible displays were too expensive to matter for far too long. That is not true any more. It is time we get real support on here from Pixelmator. The new displays are really one of the best parts of the new devices, period. It's time an application pioneered HDR photo creation, with true HDR results to view on an HDR display. Democratize this technology and allow users to experiment with these new displays. In the process, figure out this whole iPhone photo situation.

Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... t.HEIC.zip
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2022-01-10 01:42:55

This is a really interesting finding, I’m curious about whether there is some degradation of iPhone images once edited outside of the Photos app in iOS. Especially as Apple continues with an all HDR workflow across their mobile devices and new M1 MacBook Pros with mini LEDs, iPad Pro with mini LED, and OLED across their entire iPhone line.

Do you know if this same issue occurs if you edit the photo from within the Photos app using the Pixelmator Pro extension? I’m not sure if that’s what you mean when you say “then edit it in the Pixelmator Pro module”?
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2022-01-10 08:39:51

Hi guys, we have actually spoken to some folks at Apple about this and as far as the issue goes, you've hit the nail on the head with the following:
To make things weirder this data is found in the .HEIC file format. Typically HDR images are .HDR or .EXR.
We do support high dynamic range in Pixelmator Pro – say if you open a RAW image on a display that supports this feature. The trouble is that the HDR data in HEIC is not documented and there doesn't appear to be a way we can decode and encode this data. I'm positive Apple will get around to adding an API for this and make it possible for developers to work with and preserve the data but, for now, it doesn't appear to be possible. At least as far as we've found...
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2022-01-10 16:08:55

by Andrius 2022-01-10 13:39:51 Hi guys, we have actually spoken to some folks at Apple about this and as far as the issue goes, you've hit the nail on the head with the following:



We do support high dynamic range in Pixelmator Pro – say if you open a RAW image on a display that supports this feature. The trouble is that the HDR data in HEIC is not documented and there doesn't appear to be a way we can decode and encode this data. I'm positive Apple will get around to adding an API for this and make it possible for developers to work with and preserve the data but, for now, it doesn't appear to be possible. At least as far as we've found...
I've experimented with EDR display support in Pixelmator Pro. While I was thrilled to see the feature I believe it's practically useless. Is there any way to export a file with EDR support into a format that keeps the extra dynamic range? Also, it works with RAW photographs but I can't find a way to implement EDR support in shapes. Granted, the only software I've found that supports all of this functionality is Affinity software. Even then, the implementations leave a lot to be desired.
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2022-02-17 08:53:04

Apple's actually been doing this since the iPhone XS/XR with the original version of Smart HDR. I've also never found a 3rd party way of editing it
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2022-02-17 09:08:30

by Zenith22 2022-01-10 14:08:55
I've experimented with EDR display support in Pixelmator Pro. While I was thrilled to see the feature I believe it's practically useless. Is there any way to export a file with EDR support into a format that keeps the extra dynamic range? Also, it works with RAW photographs but I can't find a way to implement EDR support in shapes. Granted, the only software I've found that supports all of this functionality is Affinity software. Even then, the implementations leave a lot to be desired.
We currently don't support exporting to any HDR formats while preserving the extended dynamic range data – I'm personally not super well-versed in this topic, but I believe OpenEXR is pretty much the only viable one at the moment, is that right? Where does EDR/HDR fit in your workflow and what kind of support would you like to see?
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2022-11-24 12:43:58

Anything new on this topic? I have just bought the pixelmator PRO and I am disappointed that I cannot edit my photos without loosing HDR. Photo opened in the editor already looks different then in the Photos app :(
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2023-06-09 18:11:03

It looks like Apple just announced their new ‘ISO HDR’ file format and have APIs that can export to it! (At least, I hope that means what I think it means)
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2023-06-10 19:37:14

Hey, I just came across this thread as I'm new to Photomator on Mac, and observed the same behavior when playing with my Apple ProRAW photos.
I'm not very educated in photography, and this "issue" of loosing some HDR-y details from my photos is not a big deal for me.
But if someone as updates regarding the topic I would be interested !
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2023-06-18 00:59:15

Aloha. Unfortunately I've just come across the same issue and managed to find this thread! I'm editing proraw's from the iPhone 14 Pro in Photos, and occasionally use the Pixelmator pro add-in for the brushes/tools it has.

Unfortunately, as others have reported, when I start editing the photo with the Pixelmator extension the HDR effect from the photo immediately gets removed, and doesn't come back when I save changes. This means that I'm completely unable to use the Pixelmator extension for photo editing which is really disappointing. Hopefully something that can be fixed in a future update?

As someone mentioned above, it feels a lot like the HLG is being converted to SDR - not sure how Pixelmator typically works with HDR as I've not used it much...
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2023-06-27 18:06:25

For video, HDR is standardized as:
PQ
Image

or

HLG
Image

This information is found in the Inspector of QuickTime Player or MediaInfo (available on the Mac App Store)

For photos, unfortunately HDR is not standardized across apps yet. Opening the OP's image in MediaInfo, we see that the image has a Transfer Characteristic (Transfer Function) of BT.709 (SDR) instead of PQ or HLG.
Image

If developers can agree on using the same PQ and HLG video standards for 10-bit HEIF encoded photos within a .HEIC container then we'll have continuity (Pixelmator team, maybe you can be the trailblazers?). Viewing correct HDR with Apple's ProRAW currently works, but RAW is an intermediate format built for editing, not delivery. Sharing RAW photos on websites/social media would be illogical due to comparatively huge file size and processing power needed to decode.
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2023-07-04 14:59:50

I've got lots of information on HDR photography at https://gregbenzphotography.com/hdr/


Anyone know how to enable EDR editing for Pixelmator 3.0 on iPhone or iPad? Even when I use a ProRAW shot with the native iOS camera app, I never see the EDR option under Adjust Colors as shown here: https://www.pixelmator.com/blog/2022/10 ... -ipad-pro/

Are there other requirements? Anyone know if EDR can be used with any photo? (It's definitely very useful for non-RAW source images as well, I do that frequently in Photoshop).
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2023-09-19 07:21:24

I just bought both Pixelmator Pro and Photomator, and also feeling quite disappointed to find out that HDR is not in fact supported at all.

I have been experimenting with the EDR feature both in Pixelmator Pro and Photomator on my MacBook Pro M1 14” with XDR display, and can confirm the EDR toggle is quite useless no matter which program you use or how you open the raw image. Yes, it does bring back some lost details from the brightest highlights in a raw file but, and here’s the bummer, only while editing the photo, since the setting does not seem to be sticky at all, and whenever I click Done (Photomator) or Save Changes (Pixelmator Pro extension), then this setting does not get saved and the higher dynamic range is not shown outside the editing space, not in Photomator’s nor Apple Photos’s browser. And indeed when I go back to edit the raw photo the EDR toggle has turned itself off. So what use is there for this at all?

With iPhone photos (regular, not even ProRAW, which are also HDR by default but not raw), the EDR toggle is disabled. But when viewing and comparing the same iPhone image side by side in Apple Photos and Photomator/Pixelmator, then the highlights in Photos are clearly brighter and more radiant, while the same highlights in Photomator are flat and dull. So here Pixelmator/Photomator totally ignores any the extended range built into the original file. But it’s not that Pixelmator/Photomator cannot show dynamic range at all, since it still does show it when turning the EDR toggle on when editing a raw file.

But why on earth cannot we save this setting and view the extended range also while browsing the images?