iPhone 13 ProMax HDR photos oversaturated (i.e look fake)

i spent all night trying to fix this. I hate what they have done to photos. The iPhone 11 Pro Max would shoot and save image exactly how it was displayed on screen. Now you take a picture and it boosts the white to comical levels, over saturates, and looks airbrushed when you zoom in. I specifically avoid Galaxy phones for this reason and now I’m stuck with it on my iPhone 13 pro max. I hope they update and allow you to avoid this feature.

If you read some earlier posts, there is one stating that it is a hardware issue….bad luck guys, I am so disappointed with Apple. Last hope is that that post is wrong and the issue will be resolved with an software update. Let us prey.

Although I had posted this briefly earlier, I thought it might help some folks to hear about a trick that helps this situation in my experience as follows: Assuming you used “Live Mode” edit the photo after preview and select the live function. Select a specific capture and save as key image/photo. This seems to restore the more natural balance and reduce the over-saturation of the intended photo. A pain to have to do this for every photo but it sure seems to help!

It is a hardware issue and there is nothing Apple can do about it. It was purposely input w.o. hdr turn off on the 13. It is possible in the 12. Many of us use our photos differently or don't have access that I gather you do since you have suggested using lightbox or shooting in raw and editing on the computer.

Would you post and let us know what Apple Support said. I too spoke to them for hours and they are looking at my camera / phone logs, but I know it is not specific to my phone.

What is it about the hardware?

The nighttime lensflare issue since iPhone 12 DEFINITELY seems related to the hardware design, but this oversaturated HDR compensation that blows out skin tones and rendres things warmer feels much more like a software issue.

The oversharpening seems to be Deep Fusion which on some shots looks horrible as well.

Thanks for the hardware report.

Another funny thing is the Genius Bar. Lots of people in forums say the same thing, they have been telling them things like the camera taking a few moments to process going from the blurry image to processed is related to their wifi. Really??!??! I don't think so. It's a talking point for sure.

When I spent nearly two hours with Apple on chat and the phone on Friday the person wasn't aware of anyone with HDR related tone or other camera issues. Said they hadn't seen one bug report. Wow, I just don't see how that is possible when forums are FULL of complaints.

In in the iPhone 13 - you can't turn off the hdr - that is hardware. It's so upsetting because I am comparing photos and videos from an 11pro max to the 13 pro max and there is such a huge difference.

Tried that. All the images in the sequence had the blow out skin tone and watercolor sharpness. Plus I take LOTS of photos. I don't want to have to take LIVE shots of everything and then have to pick the frame I want. Returning.

No device is proper for everyone, but be aware that HDR with high contrast is the way the phone marketplace has gone, as the latest Galaxy and Pixel and devices do the same.

There is a great video on YouTube that describes the shift going on with computational photography and AI: devices are no longer designed to present an “accurate” depiction of a scene but rather customers want a one-click post-worthy enhanced image ready for Facebook and Instagram.

They don’t want to have to run filters and enhance their photos to get a highly saturated look, they want to be able to post what they get, instantly.

The downside is that photographers who want an accurate photo they can tweak as they see fit are a far smaller proportion of the customer base.

ProRAW allows you to bypass most, but not all processing; third party apps like Lightroom can bypass more.

It’s definitely worth a watch as the definition of “photography” is changing rapidly due to computational techniques and AI.

It’s already normal for a phone to detect you are taking a sunset photo and turn up the reds.

Note I have no affiliation with the poster and receive no compensation for referring people to the video, it’s just a wonderful explanation of wider trends and why moving to a different phone may not provide you with a less processed experience:

https://youtu.be/MZ8giCWDcyE

Well this is exactly what I thought, we have to write a lot about the frustration we feel because of the over saturation when taking pictures so that Apple reads what they should already assume or know. And let us prey that Apple comes up with a solution quickly.

So waited a few days for my Apple Support Tech to call back after Engineering would look into it. She assured me an answer by Monday which surprised me.

Got an email from Apple saying they tried to call, but they didn't or had the wrong #.

Then immediately got an email saying my tech was out of the office.

Called and talked to another tech. Told me there is never an ETA fro Engineering which I'm not surprised.

Got till Jan 8th to return. Might hang on a bit, but tech told me too his 11 Pro shoots images just fine and that seems to be the consensus.

Good luck all.

I just got my iPhone 13 pro, having previously used a Pixel for 5 years.

I took a few photos this evening at sunset and am very disappointed. These photos are over saturated.

I never had this issue with the Pixel.

I think this problem is a big deal. I would very much like a solution from Apple. I do not agree with some comments in this chat series who suggest third party apps or shooting in raw and editing are the answer.

I would appreciate any feedback leading to a solution. Has anyone had helpful feedback from Apple? Thanks.

Answer: Return that phone and go with something like an 11 Pro. No ETA on a possible toggle off for HDR for 13s. I returned mine. I’ve shot HDR professionally on DSLR for years. It comes in handy, but when you have no say over the tonal compression it makes certain scenes look horrible. There is no current recourse. Return that phone or wait indefinitely for an iOS update to address.

Similar to what I have been experiencing on 13 pro. As far I understand, there are no differences between the 13 and 13 pro that would have any effect on this. Same camera and same processors. HDR appears to be blowing things up with no way to turn it off. Best remedy is to set live as default and then go in and select one of the live shots. This seems to mitigate the issue somewhat. Very disappointing for sure.

You could have reduced the exposure when taking the original shot, or you can use various third party camera apps.

HDR doesn't blow things up so much as it can finally reproduce what was actually there with the side effect it no longer looks like what people have become used to as looking like a photograph.

You can also do a lot in various photo apps with just a few mouse clicks.