iPhone 12 Why Do Photos Look Better In The Photos App Than They Do Everywhere Else?

[boltjames]

I know I’m going to get a little confusing here, but there are 2 types of HDR that we are talking about here.
the first type is HDR of exposure. Where you stack multiple exposures and pick the best exposure in each parts. So let’s say you take a picture of a person in front of the sun with a nice cloud formation. If you expose for the clouds, the person will turn into a black Silhouette, but the clouds will look great. If you expose for the person, the clouds will just fade away into white because the camera over exposed them. If you take the best exposure from each and combine them, you get a classic HDR photo. The iPhone takes multiple exposures super quick every time you take a picture and combines them together. That’s always been what HDR was way back before OLED technology.
The other type is stretching the full dynamic range across a wider brightness/color gamut. It’s what what makes the bright areas “glow” on your Screen. An OLED panel is not limited to an overall brightness like an LCD (unless you use area backlighting). So the OLED panel can display, in one image, a full black to the brightest nitt level.
What Apple is doing from my guess is doing the first HDR and adding that brightness map on top to simulate the second. And for all intents and purposes, it works.
Over time apple has tweaked the HDR prosessing with its image processing engine as phones get faster. so what you saw on your phone may not look the same on the new. I seem to always find the new phones pictures meh until learn the quirks of the new and learn how to use it.
Now you can turn off HDR in settings/camera under smart hdr. Give it a try and see how you like it.

Great detail, lostless, thanks.

So what I want to do is toggle. I want the Type 1 HDR (clouds example) when I shoot people and places, the usual family photos and such. And in that scenario I'm good with the Type 2 HDR (top nit level example) as well. Outdoors, family party, HDR, why not. But when I shoot my cars, I don't want any HDR at all.

So....if I have HDR turned off in both Settings > Camera and Settings > Photos, is it true then that when I want to take an HDR photo I merely need to toggle it 'on' in the actual Camera viewfinder and not have to go drill through the settings each time? In Camera > Settings it talks about "Smart HDR", so does that turn off all HDR or just some derivative that's smart?

 

[lostless]

Unfortunately Apple adds 2 types of if the first type of hdr. If you’re coming from a X, turning off smart HDR give you the option to toggle between no HDR and to what’s similar to the X. Smart HDR is the improvement that uses more references, but can’t be toggled in the camera app. It’s always on. As far as the brigness maps, the iPhone 12 adds it to either HDR type regardless as far as I can tell. More detail here https://backlightblog.com/what-is-hdr-iphone
Maybe invest in a third party camera app, like camera+ 2, that will give you more flexibility from an app. Remember that Apple caters to consumers and does what’s best and looks best for most uses and keeps things simple in their own apps. Or be like me and just learn to shoot with the 12 and try not to compare it to an older phone. It does take amazing pics out of the main app if you just learn to tweak them a tad

 

[boltjames]

Unfortunately Apple adds 2 types of if the first type of hdr. If you’re coming from a X, turning off smart HDR give you the option to toggle between no HDR and to what’s similar to the X. Smart HDR is the improvement that uses more references, but can’t be toggled in the camera app. It’s always on. As far as the brigness maps, the iPhone 12 adds it to either HDR type regardless as far as I can tell. More detail here https://backlightblog.com/what-is-hdr-iphone
Maybe invest in a third party camera app, like camera+ 2, that will give you more flexibility from an app. Remember that Apple caters to consumers and does what’s best and looks best for most uses and keeps things simple in their own apps. Or be like me and just learn to shoot with the 12 and try not to compare it to an older phone. It does take amazing pics out of the main app if you just learn to tweak them a tad

Again, just fantastic information. I can't thank you enough for your detail and your patience both here and with my Apple TV question in that forum. Looks like I'll have to throw a couple of switches when its time to take my car photos. Rest of the time I'll do as you say, relax, turn all the HDR features on, and let Apple work its magic on the family stuff.

 

[EM2013]

Unfortunately Apple adds 2 types of if the first type of hdr. If you’re coming from a X, turning off smart HDR give you the option to toggle between no HDR and to what’s similar to the X. Smart HDR is the improvement that uses more references, but can’t be toggled in the camera app. It’s always on. As far as the brigness maps, the iPhone 12 adds it to either HDR type regardless as far as I can tell. More detail here https://backlightblog.com/what-is-hdr-iphone
Maybe invest in a third party camera app, like camera+ 2, that will give you more flexibility from an app. Remember that Apple caters to consumers and does what’s best and looks best for most uses and keeps things simple in their own apps. Or be like me and just learn to shoot with the 12 and try not to compare it to an older phone. It does take amazing pics out of the main app if you just learn to tweak them a tad

It baffles me how some people (NOT OP) complain about the iPhone’s camera. Those are some amazing shots.

 

[lostless]

It baffles me how some people (NOT OP) complain about the iPhone’s camera. Those are some amazing shots.

Thanks. fyi, The star shots are were done with a 10 and 30 second exposure in night mode and then edited in Snapseed to darken the sky and bring out the stars. Snapseed is a great free photo editing app by google.

 

[EM2013]

Thanks. fyi, The star shots are were done with a 10 and 30 second exposure in night mode and then edited in Snapseed to darken the sky and bring out the stars. Snapseed is a great free photo editing app by google.

Thanks for the info. Where was the purple sky taken?

 

[lostless]

In the mountains in Orange County, CA. The shot was pretty much taken in pitch black. you could see some glow from the city nearby in the haze above. I just pointed at the sky and did a 10 second exposure. So the light source is city lights. It just came out purple for whatever reason. Ran it through snapseed and made it “pop”
Just remember is was pretty much pitch black outside. I added a simulation of what it looked like to me. And a pic right from the camera. The night mode is insane.