How to fix overexposure issues on iPhone 14 Pro Max Photos?

I DID turn off the HDR setting in the very beginning. The pictures are horrible. I upgraded to a 14 Pro Max from a 11 Pro Max. Went from taking excellent pictures to garage.

I even had a professional photographer ask me what kind of camera I was using when I had my 11 Pro Max. Now I am just embarrassed

I have the same issue. I have iPhone 14pro - my first iPhone ever. I upgraded from Pixel 3 (!!!), expecting too see a huge improvement in the picture quality, given the bigger main sensor, triple lens system, etc. Unfortunately, was I mostly got was disappointment: the moment you take a picture it looks great, and then the aggressive post-processing just turns it into garbage. Shadows are crashed and black and highlights are way off, too. No matter what picture style I use and no matter how I twist all those settings, I end up with pitch-black shadows more often than not, especially in low light. And this can’t be repaired by post-processing, because the info in shadows is just completely lost in many cases. It’s really said when you see your Pixel 3 doing a better job in low light than the top phone on the market with such a price tag.

The only workaround I found is shooting raw, then converting to jpegs and removing raws to save space - which takes time and not ideal at all. But you can get pretty decent results with RAW.

I will be returning this phone, most likely, because photo quality was the main reason I got it. RAW is great, but it looks like I just received more hassle for my money. Which is a real pity, because I like almost everything else about the phone. And it’s great to have my phone finally synced with my laptop.

Please make sure to leave product feedback on Apple website and complain about the issue. I really hope they fix it. It could have been such a great camera.

PS. in photo styles, looks like “Tone” increases or decreases contrast. I set mine at -30 and it helps a bit, but just a tiny bit. I’ll leave it here in case someone might find it useful.

mine Is awful too. I made an appointment with the Apple Store and they didn’t know how to help either. I’ve been trying different things and this is what has worked for me so far.

you can change the exposure level of the picture before you take it. For me, I had to increase mine to 1.3 or even 1.7 for it to look normal to me. When the camera is open you can do this in the left hand corner or from the settings of the camera. Then in the settings, you can make it save your preference so you don’t have to do it each time. It will save the preference you used last until you change it again.

I have no idea if this is actually good advice, but it’s just what I’ve discovered on my own through trial and error. I definitely can tolerate the camera more now… even though I feel like it’s still horrible that it’s like this in comparison with my old iPhones.

yes Exactly the pictures on the screen looks totally different than the picture taken, the selfie looks awful and as if there is a change in the facial features. That’s totally disturbing. What appears on the screen before taking the shot is a total different photo output. I am totally disappointed, is there something with the camera or a malfunction or setting needs to be changed. My old phone takes better pictures than this. It’s totally annoying and disturbing!!!

Guys the figured out what went wrong it’s in the camera settings, if you prefer to capture selfies exactly as they appear in the Camera app preview, you can.

All you need to do is turn on the Mirror Front Camera option in the Composition section of the Camera app’s settings. With this option turned on, your selfies will look exactly as you see them in the preview.

I had the 12 pro max and was AMAZING, best camera ever, now I upgraded to 14 pro max and was the biggest mistake, I’m so sad with my cameras, it’s over exposure, ashy, without life, it’s horrible, such a expensive phone for nothing.

Big problem with all iphone 14, whenever we take photo and when we open in the photos aap it proces the photo and changes its quality to very dull too sharp and contrast which look very bad. Apple need to resolve it otherwise all the assets are waste.

I found the trick!! Try going to edit image > markup > immediately close markup > press done, and it somehow unprocesses the photo. It’s time consuming, but I’ve done this on countless photos and it saves them from the ugly over-exposure.

I FIXED IT!!! i went to settings>camera>format and unchecked high efficiency and checked off most compatible

i was taking rly good selfies and they weren’t being ruined so i had to figure it out.

(insta @ draculana for the pics hehe)

It helps a bit, but it doesnt solve the problem of horrible post processing occuring right after you took the photo, its very noticable, just a second after you view the photo ios applies atrocious post processing

I agree. I upgraded from an 11 Pro Max to a 14 Pro Max purely for the improved camera and I much prefer the photos I took with the older phone. I wish I had not bought the 14 Pro Max. Apple please fix this problem.

Pixel between those 2 is the best option I think, I have seen the nothing phone pictures and they're still lacking... But yeah, I can't believe nobody from Apple hasn't reached into this forum yet, even though we have 1.5K of "Me too" already and lots of replies. I can't believe I paid this kind of money to have the iPhone 14 and get this in return, a complete mess of a post after taking the picture. As others have said, I also tried the live photo method, then choosing another main one, and that is kind of a workaround. But it is impossible to do that in bulk, and even so, the fact only of having to do that sickens me...

I went into the store after not feeling that a new phone would help and the lack of understanding of the person on the phone for the issue. The store could not help at all other than to confirm that is just how the phone works. The lighting in the store is so bright that it was not as obvious. I was told that this is how the camera works because it takes more realistic photos. This is not a camera for taking close-up pictures of people. I too regret getting rid of my 11 Pro Max for this one.

I was told that it might have been a refurbished one, so I went in - see my post below, was told the way the camera is designed to work. I was also told that the recent update that I did in the store did fix some camera bugs. Unfortunately, this is not a camera bug because I do not think it is a bug, it is the way that it is designed to work, which no one using it in the most common ways that consumers use it like. Complete waste of an afternoon dealing with it. I'm now working with settings and making light in the room as bright as possible, but still a mess.

New 14 Pro after IPhone 12. What’s with the massive overexposure with all pictures taken with sky. I have taken a bunch of photos holding the 12 and 14 side by side and the difference is staggering. I’m sending the 14 back as I don’t want to spend my life making adjustments to ever picture I take.