How to generate an UIImage from AVCapturePhoto with correct orientation?

Question

I am calling AVFoundation\'s delegate method to handle a photo capture, but I am having difficulty converting the AVCapturePhoto it generates into

Answer 1

To create our image with the right orientation we need to enter the correct UIImage.Orientation when we initialize the image.

Its best to use the CGImagePropertyOrientation that comes back from the photoOutput delegate to get the exact orientation the camera session was in when the picture was taken. Only problem here is that while the enum values between UIImage.Orientation and CGImagePropertyOrientation are the same, the raw values are not. Apple suggests a simple mapping to fix this.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/imageio/cgimagepropertyorientation

Here is my implementation:

AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate

func photoOutput(_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput, didFinishProcessingPhoto photo: AVCapturePhoto, error: Error?) {
        if let _ = error {
            // Handle Error
        } else if let cgImageRepresentation = photo.cgImageRepresentation(),
            let orientationInt = photo.metadata[String(kCGImagePropertyOrientation)] as? UInt32,
            let imageOrientation = UIImage.Orientation.orientation(fromCGOrientationRaw: orientationInt) {

            // Create image with proper orientation
            let cgImage = cgImageRepresentation.takeUnretainedValue()
            let image = UIImage(cgImage: cgImage,
                                scale: 1,
                                orientation: imageOrientation)
        }
    }

Extension for Mapping

extension UIImage.Orientation {

    init(_ cgOrientation: CGImagePropertyOrientation) {
        // we need to map with enum values becuase raw values do not match
        switch cgOrientation {
        case .up: self = .up
        case .upMirrored: self = .upMirrored
        case .down: self = .down
        case .downMirrored: self = .downMirrored
        case .left: self = .left
        case .leftMirrored: self = .leftMirrored
        case .right: self = .right
        case .rightMirrored: self = .rightMirrored
        }
    }


    /// Returns a UIImage.Orientation based on the matching cgOrientation raw value
    static func orientation(fromCGOrientationRaw cgOrientationRaw: UInt32) -> UIImage.Orientation? {
        var orientation: UIImage.Orientation?
        if let cgOrientation = CGImagePropertyOrientation(rawValue: cgOrientationRaw) {
            orientation = UIImage.Orientation(cgOrientation)
        } else {
            orientation = nil // only hit if improper cgOrientation is passed
        }
        return orientation
    }
}