Photos 2026jan07_cardinal

The Northern Cardinal is a very bright red color. In bright sunlight, the red channel nearly always clips with a result of loss of feather detail because it is so saturated. Strategies I have tried to mitigate the clipping of the red channel include:

• under expose by 2/3 stop
• In Canon DPP software, increase the dynamic range by moving the Input white point 2 stops to the right
• Edit the raw camera data in HDR PQ mode producing a HIF file that has 10 bits of dynamic range
• Darken the entire image by one or two stops when editing the raw camera data

The HIF file can be viewed in the Safari web browser on Apple products, but so far as I know, not in the Chrome web browser. https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026jan07_cardinal/IMG_5499cpq.HIF

Although sometimes I use rawtherapee free software for editing the raw image data that the camera saves, this time I used the free to download Canon DPP software. If I had a Nikon camera, I would use the free to download software from Nikon. After editing in DPP, I used Gimp free software to add an additional unsharp mask with a different radius than the unsharp mask in Canon DPP software. The table below includes a list of all the changes I made using Canon DPP software which I had saved in what Canon calls a dr4 recipe file. I used exiftool free software to list those edits as a table. The second table lists all of the edits done in DPP when I switched to HDR PQ editing mode. A 96 page standards document explaining the HDR PQ mode, ITU-R Recommendation BT.2100 to use the standard name, is at https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-r/opb/rep/R-REP-BT.2380-1-2017-PDF-E.pdf. and a more readable description is at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._2100.

Command Lines used on the TIF, JPG, and HIF files saved from Canon DPP software

The first of these were on macOS, but I often use gimp and exiftool on Debian Linux as well. I seldom use graphicsmagick on macOS.

echo "on macOS"
echo "Add Metadata Working Group standard description"
exiftool -"description=Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on January 7, 2026" IMG_5499c*.[JHT][PI][FG]
echo "Add keywords for the software that cares about them"
exiftool -sep ", " -"keywords=bird, cardinal, Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, wildlife, wildlife photography, Oklahoma" IMG_5499c*.[JHT][PI][FG]
echo "add standard IPTC and MWG tags"
exiftool -Xmp:LicensorURL='https://www.rsok.com/copyright.html' -Xmp:LocationShownProvinceState='Oklahoma' -Xmp:LocationShownCountryName='United States' \
-State='Oklahoma' -Xmp:LocationShownCity='Norman' -Country='United States' -City='Norman' -copyrightnotice='Copyright John Moyer, all rights reserved.'  \
-copyright='Copyright John Moyer, all rights reserved.' -ICC_Profile'<='../sRGB_v4_ICC_preference.icc IMG_5499c*.[JHT][PI][FG]
echo "Add the makernote tags saved by the camera to the in camera JPG file"
exiftool -tagsfromfile /Volumes/EOS_DIGITAL/DCIM/100CANON/IMG_5499.JPG -make -model -makernotes  IMG_5499c*.[JHT][PI][FG]
echo "Run Gimp free software to add additional unsharp mask and export using the higher quality smaller file size jpegli"
/Applications/GIMP.app/Contents/MacOS/gimp --show-playground IMG_5499c.TIF 
echo "replace the meta data tags lost by gimp"
exiftool -tagsfromfile IMG_5499c.JPG   IMG_5499c*_gimp.JPG
echo "On Linux"
echo "get the description so that I can do a copy/paste into a frame around the image"
exiftool -filename -imagesize -datetimeoriginal -description -keywords IMG_5499c*.[JHTj][PIp][FGg]
echo "Prepare for use on web by reducing resolution and adding a frame"
gm convert -verbose IMG_5499c_gimp.JPG   -resize "30%" -unsharp 0x1 -mattecolor black -frame 16x16 -font helvetica -fill white -font '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf' \
-draw "text 4,1228 'Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on January 7, 2026, Copyright http://www.rsok.com/~jrm/ All rights reserved.'" \
-define 'jpeg:dct-method=float,jpeg:optimize-coding=true' -interlace line  -quality 97 2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499c.jpg
echo "Same as previous, but use 16 bit TIF saved from DPP and convert to JPEG using jpegli command line with png intermediate file because jpegli cannot read TIFF"
gm convert -verbose IMG_5499c.TIF[0]   -resize "30%" -unsharp 0x1 -mattecolor black -frame 16x16 -font helvetica -fill white -font '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf' \
-draw "text 4,1228 'Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on January 7, 2026, Copyright http://www.rsok.com/~jrm/ All rights reserved.'" \
-depth 16 2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499c_gm.png
echo "convert to JPEG using jpegli"
/home/jrm/src/libjxl/build2/tools/cjpegli -v -q 95 2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499c_gm.png 2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499c_gm.jpg
echo "replace meta data tags lost by jpegli"
exiftool -tagsfromfile IMG_5499c.JPG  2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499c*.[jJp][pPn][gG]
echo "gimp exported a JPG after loading the HIF file saved by Canon DPP software"
gm convert -verbose IMG_5499cpq_gimp.JPG   -resize "30%" -unsharp 0x1 -mattecolor black -frame 16x16 -font helvetica -fill white -font '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf' \
-draw "text 4,1228 'Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on January 7, 2026, Copyright http://www.rsok.com/~jrm/ All rights reserved.'" \
-define 'jpeg:dct-method=float,jpeg:optimize-coding=true' -interlace line  -quality 97 2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499cpq.jpg
echo "add a PQ ICC color profile for those software programs that will understand it"
exiftool -ICC_Profile'<='../pq.icc 2026jan07_cardinal_IMG_5499cpq.jpg

Software used or mentioned:

• https://app.ssw.imaging-saas.canon/app/en/lineup.html Canon Digital Photo Professional
• https://www.gimp.org/ Gimp free software
• https://exiftool.org/ Exiftool free software
• https://packages.debian.org/trixie/graphicsmagick GraphicsMagick
• https://github.com/libjxl/libjxl/tree/main/lib/jpegli jpegli source code

ICC color profiles are available from color.org

IPTC standards are available from iptc.org

IPTC is the Global Standards Body of the News Media

Our mission is to simplify the distribution of information. We develop and promote efficient technical standards to improve the management and exchange of information between content providers, intermediaries and consumers. We thereby enable easy, cost-effective and rapid innovation and product development.

We are committed to open standards and make all of our standards freely available to our members and the wider community.

Founded in 1965 and based in London, the IPTC brings together the world's leading news agencies, publishers and industry vendors.

Information about Metadata Working Group (MWG) standards is available at https://exiftool.org/TagNames/MWG.html.

Information about jpegli is available at https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.18589 and JPEG in general at

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