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Slightly off-topic, but is there a way to disable some of the photo processing on iPhones? For example, iPhones automatically brighten people once they detect

Slightly off-topic, but is there a way to disable some of the photo processing on iPhones? For example, iPhones automatically brighten people once they detect a face, which is especially noticeable when taking photos against the light. It ruins the contrast and makes the photo look really bad. Is there a way to turn that stuff off?

dijit 3y ago
I think blackmagics iPhone App disables a lot of automatic processing; however I haven't tested post-processing behaviour myself. Given that it gives such fine-grained control of the sensor, it wouldn't surprise me though.
- omnimus 3y ago
  Blackmagic Camera app doesnt take pictures. Its for video.
  - dijit 3y ago
    Quite right, this shows how little I actually looked at it.
  - joking 3y ago
    well, there are some other apps like Halide, but I doubt they are free.
    - internetter 3y ago
      Halide costs 12$ a year (or 60$ OTP I believe). I don't like subscriptions, but given the app has replaced 1500$ worth of camera I used to carry with me, I'm ok eating the 1$ a month.
kouru225 3y ago
I think you gotta buy a more professional camera app to fix stuff like that, and even that doesn’t work for some things. I’m always pissed about bad the iPhone is at taking photos of rainy days.
quitit 3y ago
The purists answer is to shoot RAW, but many just want a solution that doesn't require any post-effort off the device, for that the answer is "sort of": 1. Taking Live photos can be a good work around, since this mostly maintains the individuals frames which are used to build the full image. Use the built in photo editor to go to a different frame in the live photo and set this as the Key Photo - this dodges a lot of the HDR/image adjustment process. 2. Using the AE/AF lock can prevent a fair bit of the automated adjustments from taking place. (Tapping the screen on dark areas or hot points will adjust the exposure, holding your finger for a moment will turn on the AE/AF lock keeping it there as you move the phone around.) 3. If it's not just for one shot, but all shots you take. Go to the Camera settings and turn on preserve "Exposure Adjustment", in the settings which starts each camera session with the exposure settings preserved from earlier - and simply keep this on 0.0. This can also make it more straight forward (one tap) to undo much of the automatic levelling without locking AE. Similarly you may want to also disable night shooting for darker scenes, by preserving that setting too. 4. On older iPhones, disable the HDR mode.
- liminalsunset 3y ago
  Adding on to this, newer iPhones have a ProRAW feature. Various tech youtubers have documented ways to create a shortcut in the Shortcuts app to automatically convert them to HEIF or JPEG, which might impose slightly less processing. Similarly, ProRAW photos imported to Apple Photos on Mac can be reduced in processing by clicking Edit Photo, and then hitting Save Changes without necessarily changing any settings (or just changing something inconsequential would work too). Doing editing forces the Photos app to discard the preprocessed image embedded in the ProRAW and replaces it with a software processed version which I find slightly more natural. However, ProRAW is still processed by the phone, so you need to download a third party app and shoot classic non pro RAW (then use the same conversion shortcut maybe) on top of it.
olliej 3y ago
It might be worth trying halide? I know they used to have "we make photography better" with a pro-photographer angle, but I guess to an extent it depends on what the camera is providing, but I recall halide kind of implied they got raw data?
- liminalsunset 3y ago
  Halide has several modes, one of which is giving you the full unadulterated RAW, and optionally doing in-app jpeg conversion with less offensive processing. These photos have more noise due to the limitations of the sensor. Halide, like the official camera app, can also shoot ProRAW but ProRAW is not totally RAW, it has been processed with the frame stacking to reduce noise, but introduces sharpening artifacts.
ayoisaiah 3y ago
Best thing is to shoot in Raw or ProRraw and post-process yourself Edit: Fix typo
liminalsunset 3y ago
This is a slightly off topic response as well, but some Android phones are currently capable of shooting RAW video in 12MP, sometimes at 60fps (more than 4K 8.3MP). Google shot a music video [1] (unfortunately only available in 1080p) on the Pixel 7 Pro using a third party app called MotionCam Pro. The app shoots RAW video which can be imported into DaVinci Resolve or similar, or rendered to a mp4 in-app with any log profile you prefer optionally, and has no processing applied. According to the developer of something called AMVR [2], the quality obtainable is much higher than that of even the aforementioned log files from iOS. I asked whether it would be feasible to shoot DNG on iOS as video and was told that iOS lacks a camera API that is performant enough, resulting in several fps only. I haven't personally tested it though, so maybe this could be a fun project. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyeS_xYxCLI&pp=ygUfYW15IHNoYXJrIGNhbiBpIHNob3dlciBhdCB5b3Vycw%3D%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyeS_xYxCLI&pp=ygUfYW15IHNoY... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xra4ATrWZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xra4ATrWZ4
- mirsadm 3y ago
  I'm the developer of MotionCam Pro. I have no affiliation with AMVR, it bothers me that they present themselves as somehow associated with me. As a side note, whenever Apple takes steps to release a feature aimed at professionals there is a significant uptick in users trying out MotionCam. I think there is a small but very vocal group of users that have wanted something like this for years but have not been catered to.
  - trelane 3y ago
    > whenever Apple takes steps to release a feature aimed at professionals there is a significant uptick in users trying out MotionCam. Ha, and here I am, learning about your app for the first time, and about to install it... :)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

dijit 3y ago

I think blackmagics iPhone App disables a lot of automatic processing; however I haven't tested post-processing behaviour myself. Given that it gives such fine-grained control of the sensor, it wouldn't surprise me though.

omnimus 3y ago
Blackmagic Camera app doesnt take pictures. Its for video.
- dijit 3y ago
  Quite right, this shows how little I actually looked at it.
- joking 3y ago
  well, there are some other apps like Halide, but I doubt they are free.
  - internetter 3y ago
    Halide costs 12$ a year (or 60$ OTP I believe). I don't like subscriptions, but given the app has replaced 1500$ worth of camera I used to carry with me, I'm ok eating the 1$ a month.

kouru225 3y ago

I think you gotta buy a more professional camera app to fix stuff like that, and even that doesn’t work for some things. I’m always pissed about bad the iPhone is at taking photos of rainy days.

quitit 3y ago

The purists answer is to shoot RAW, but many just want a solution that doesn't require any post-effort off the device, for that the answer is "sort of": 1. Taking Live photos can be a good work around, since this mostly maintains the individuals frames which are used to build the full image. Use the built in photo editor to go to a different frame in the live photo and set this as the Key Photo - this dodges a lot of the HDR/image adjustment process. 2. Using the AE/AF lock can prevent a fair bit of the automated adjustments from taking place. (Tapping the screen on dark areas or hot points will adjust the exposure, holding your finger for a moment will turn on the AE/AF lock keeping it there as you move the phone around.) 3. If it's not just for one shot, but all shots you take. Go to the Camera settings and turn on preserve "Exposure Adjustment", in the settings which starts each camera session with the exposure settings preserved from earlier - and simply keep this on 0.0. This can also make it more straight forward (one tap) to undo much of the automatic levelling without locking AE. Similarly you may want to also disable night shooting for darker scenes, by preserving that setting too. 4. On older iPhones, disable the HDR mode.

liminalsunset 3y ago
Adding on to this, newer iPhones have a ProRAW feature. Various tech youtubers have documented ways to create a shortcut in the Shortcuts app to automatically convert them to HEIF or JPEG, which might impose slightly less processing. Similarly, ProRAW photos imported to Apple Photos on Mac can be reduced in processing by clicking Edit Photo, and then hitting Save Changes without necessarily changing any settings (or just changing something inconsequential would work too). Doing editing forces the Photos app to discard the preprocessed image embedded in the ProRAW and replaces it with a software processed version which I find slightly more natural. However, ProRAW is still processed by the phone, so you need to download a third party app and shoot classic non pro RAW (then use the same conversion shortcut maybe) on top of it.

olliej 3y ago

It might be worth trying halide? I know they used to have "we make photography better" with a pro-photographer angle, but I guess to an extent it depends on what the camera is providing, but I recall halide kind of implied they got raw data?

liminalsunset 3y ago
Halide has several modes, one of which is giving you the full unadulterated RAW, and optionally doing in-app jpeg conversion with less offensive processing. These photos have more noise due to the limitations of the sensor. Halide, like the official camera app, can also shoot ProRAW but ProRAW is not totally RAW, it has been processed with the frame stacking to reduce noise, but introduces sharpening artifacts.

ayoisaiah 3y ago

Best thing is to shoot in Raw or ProRraw and post-process yourself Edit: Fix typo

liminalsunset 3y ago

This is a slightly off topic response as well, but some Android phones are currently capable of shooting RAW video in 12MP, sometimes at 60fps (more than 4K 8.3MP). Google shot a music video [1] (unfortunately only available in 1080p) on the Pixel 7 Pro using a third party app called MotionCam Pro. The app shoots RAW video which can be imported into DaVinci Resolve or similar, or rendered to a mp4 in-app with any log profile you prefer optionally, and has no processing applied. According to the developer of something called AMVR [2], the quality obtainable is much higher than that of even the aforementioned log files from iOS. I asked whether it would be feasible to shoot DNG on iOS as video and was told that iOS lacks a camera API that is performant enough, resulting in several fps only. I haven't personally tested it though, so maybe this could be a fun project. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyeS_xYxCLI&pp=ygUfYW15IHNoYXJrIGNhbiBpIHNob3dlciBhdCB5b3Vycw%3D%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyeS_xYxCLI&pp=ygUfYW15IHNoY... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xra4ATrWZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xra4ATrWZ4

mirsadm 3y ago
I'm the developer of MotionCam Pro. I have no affiliation with AMVR, it bothers me that they present themselves as somehow associated with me. As a side note, whenever Apple takes steps to release a feature aimed at professionals there is a significant uptick in users trying out MotionCam. I think there is a small but very vocal group of users that have wanted something like this for years but have not been catered to.
- trelane 3y ago
  > whenever Apple takes steps to release a feature aimed at professionals there is a significant uptick in users trying out MotionCam. Ha, and here I am, learning about your app for the first time, and about to install it... :)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]