Metapho Supports Auxies and HDR

Metapho 2024.1 is available on the App Store today. This version brings High Dynamic Range (HDR) support, adds Photos Library HEIC editing, and makes it easy to access auxiliary data.

HDR

For iOS 17 and macOS 14 Sonoma, HDR photos and videos are rendered as HDR images on the supported devices. HDR assets retain their HDR-ness even after editing metadata — removing metadata, changing date/location — since Metapho now knows how to handle HDR gain map auxiliary data.

HEIC Editing

Starting from iOS 17 and macOS 14, Photos allows you to add a new version of an item in HEIC format; previously, JPEG was the only option. Strangely, Photos uses the .jpg file name extension for the new version of the file, even if it is in HEIC format internally. But it walks like HEIC and quacks like HEIC, it’s a HEIC file. Now Metapho adds .jpg HEIC file as a new version of your photo when you select Edit Original save option in your Photos Library.

Auxies

The latest iPhones’ Camera app automatically takes a portrait image when a person’s face is detected. What makes a photo Portrait Photo? It's various auxiliary data embedded in the photo, such as the disparity (depth) map, Effects Matte, and Glasses Matte (and more). These are essential ingredients for applying Portrait Effects for Photos. Now, these auxiliary data — I named it Auxies — are neatly visualized and displayed under the Assets view. You can preview them and export them with drag and drop, enabling you to apply your own manual effects using other image editor apps. You could also find the HDR Gain Map Auxy for HDR photos backed by HDR Gain Map, and embedded JPEG data Auxy for RAW images like DNG¹.

Release Note