Portrait is not recognized

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2019-12-08 10:41:28

I load a portrait from IOS into Pixelmator Pro and on some portraits I have a portrait mask and on some it's missing. But all the photos are marked as portrait in the Photo App. What can I do, that I get the portrait mask on all portraits?
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2019-12-09 16:13:37

Certain photos, even though they were taken in Portrait mode, don't have portrait masks, especially if the subject is not a person. In the Photos app, when you click Edit, are you able to change the portrait lighting effect applied to the photo? If so, the image should have a mask. If not, it probably doesn't.
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2019-12-09 22:58:19

yes, that's possible. I can switch the whole range of lightning effects, that's the reason why I was surprised that pixelmator could not "detect" the mask. In the meantime I was using the magnetic-tools to create an own mask in pixelmator. A little more effort but in the end the result was great :)
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2019-12-10 08:32:31

In that case, could you share a sample image with us at support@pixelmator.com along with a few more details? The Magnetic Selection tool is pretty awesome, but it sounds like the mask should be shared together with the image...
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2020-03-26 23:04:45

Hi there 👋 I'm working on a big project atm, using this awesome feature built-in Pixelmator Pro. But I experience the exact same random problem as "spacekuh"... Have you guys found an explanation/solution to this yet?
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2020-03-27 11:18:54

by iammarzari 2020-03-26 23:04:45 Hi there 👋 I'm working on a big project atm, using this awesome feature built-in Pixelmator Pro. But I experience the exact same random problem as "spacekuh"... Have you guys found an explanation/solution to this yet?
Hi! :wave: The explanation is as follows: Certain photos, even though they were taken in Portrait mode, don't have portrait masks, especially if the subject is not a person.

In the Photos app, when you click Edit, are you able to change the portrait lighting effect applied to the photo? If so, the image should have a mask. If not, it probably doesn't.
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2020-12-14 02:47:27

by Andrius 2019-12-09 21:13:37 Certain photos, even though they were taken in Portrait mode, don't have portrait masks, especially if the subject is not a person. In the Photos app, when you click Edit, are you able to change the portrait lighting effect applied to the photo? If so, the image should have a mask. If not, it probably doesn't.
Is it possible to change in Pixelmator Pro the depth of a portrait photo (aperture simulation f1.8 f2.4 etc) as in the iPhone? If not now, is it in your plans? Thanks!
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2020-12-18 16:30:05

It isn't possible and, to be honest, it isn't in our plans – it would be quite a difficult effect to simulate convincingly and Photos already does it, so it doesn't seem especially worthwhile. Maybe in the future, though!
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2021-09-13 13:38:10

Hi Andruis, I know this is an old(ish) thread but I was curious if there was every any resolution?
I've been pulling what's left of my hair out trying to find this mask... turns out that some photos work while others don't. Yet in iOS I can edit the lighting effect and f-stop of my portrait photos.. yet they open with no mask in Pixelmator.. not all of the pics are effected.. it's not to do with .JPG or .HEIC... I tried both but had issues with both.. and at the same time photos in both formats worked anyway!
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2021-09-13 13:44:52

by Dave_Newbie 2021-09-13 13:40:14 Hi Andruis, I know this is an old(ish) thread but I was curious if there was every any resolution?
I've been pulling what's left of my hair out trying to find this mask... turns out that some photos work while others don't. Yet in iOS I can edit the lighting effect and f-stop of my portrait photos.. yet they open with no mask in Pixelmator.. not all of the pics are effected.. it's not to do with .JPG or .HEIC... I tried both but had issues with both.. and at the same time photos in both formats worked anyway!
Have you edited your portrait photos in any way before opening them in Pixelmator Pro? Either in Photos or using some third-party app? If you did, try reverting all the changes you've applied and then see if the portrait mask shows up.
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2021-09-14 10:09:06

Hi Aurelija
I hadn't made any changes to some of them, so of them I did. So I just took two portrait photos, one one I made some edits in iOS and the other was untouched.
When I use Pixelmator Pro /File/New From Photos and browse to the Portrait phots and open the image from there, the unedited photo opens with the Mask... the edited one didn't. So I reverted the edited image to the original and tried again and success.... it opened with the Mask... so that's cool.

I usually open the images from Photos though, but when I open either image from Photos using CMD + Enter, the image opens IN Pixelmator Pro as a TIFF, with no mask... so it seems as long as I open the image from the P.Pro menu all is good..

I'll stick with that method... thanks for coming back to me...
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2021-09-15 14:05:02

Glad to hear reverting the image to the original helped! This, however, doesn't sound good :grimacing: :
I usually open the images from Photos though, but when I open either image from Photos using CMD + Enter, the image opens IN Pixelmator Pro as a TIFF, with no mask... so it seems as long as I open the image from the P.Pro menu all is good..
If you still happen to have some images that open via New From Photos but you can't open them by choosing Edit With > Pixelmator Pro (or Command ⌘ + Return ↵ in Photos), it would be great if you could share a couple of them with us at support@pixelmator.com. We'll take a closer look.
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2021-12-09 23:27:32

Sorry to resurrect a thread, but I have this same issue and was curious if there was any new info? When I edit an image in pixelmator on Mac (from Photo's app, Command ⌘ + Return ↵ in Photos, etc) my newer photo's just open as .tiff files with no portrait mask. I know these images do have all necessary metadata (can change lighting and turn portrait on/off in Photos). In trying to debug, interestingly found that portrait photos taken with my iPhone XS and older seem to open fine with the mask, but photos taken with 11 Pro and 12 Pro do not. No idea why this is, any insights?
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2021-12-14 17:07:50

by jjjjjjjj 2021-12-09 21:27:32 Sorry to resurrect a thread, but I have this same issue and was curious if there was any new info? When I edit an image in pixelmator on Mac (from Photo's app, Command ⌘ + Return ↵ in Photos, etc) my newer photo's just open as .tiff files with no portrait mask. I know these images do have all necessary metadata (can change lighting and turn portrait on/off in Photos). In trying to debug, interestingly found that portrait photos taken with my iPhone XS and older seem to open fine with the mask, but photos taken with 11 Pro and 12 Pro do not. No idea why this is, any insights?
The photo has to be unedited (with Photos or any other app) for Portrait Masks to work. Could you try reverting your image to the original and then try opening it in Pixelmator Pro?
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2021-12-16 16:56:32

Hi Aurelija,

​I am 100% confident that the images have not been edited or changed in anyway. I have reverted to original when applicable (very few have been edited in the first place), but also opened dozens of different images from over the past two years all with the same result. They should work. But only those taken on my iPhone XS and earlier open with their mask, no iphone 11 pro or 12 pro pictures do. I can open the last image I took with my XS and it works, and the first image i took with my 11 pro does not. I am 100% confident this is not specific to any editing or changes to individual photos.
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2021-12-16 21:02:19

Did a little more digging. If, from the photos app, I use file > export unmodified original, it will let me export a HEIC file with all metadata, and when I open that file in Pixelmator the portrait mask is present. When I use Edit With > Pixelmator Pro, on the same photo it always opens as a .tiff file with no metadata/mask. I took a brand new photo with a brand new, out of the box, stock iPhone 13 (set up with no Apple ID or anything, just completely vanilla) to try this with, so no modifications or unusual settings were made to the photo at any point.
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2021-12-22 13:08:03

by jjjjjjjj 2021-12-16 19:02:19 Did a little more digging. If, from the photos app, I use file > export unmodified original, it will let me export a HEIC file with all metadata, and when I open that file in Pixelmator the portrait mask is present. When I use Edit With > Pixelmator Pro, on the same photo it always opens as a .tiff file with no metadata/mask. I took a brand new photo with a brand new, out of the box, stock iPhone 13 (set up with no Apple ID or anything, just completely vanilla) to try this with, so no modifications or unusual settings were made to the photo at any point.
Weird. We'd love to take a closer look at this photo on our end, if possible. Perhaps we'll be able to reproduce the issue as well (as we weren't able with our own sample files). You can share it with us at support@pixelmator.com. Thanks in advance!