Apple, like all large companies, simply doesn’t care that thousands of users have complained about this. Their “specialists” offer zero help aside from linking to some useless & non relevant article, all while completely ignoring the actual question at hand or offering any actual solutions.
The front camera does take awful selfies that look nothing like what’s visible in the viewfinder before the photo is captured.
Just as countless others have mentioned, prior to taking a selfie, my skin looks nice & evenly toned, yet as soon as the image is taken my skin appear all washed out with every imperfection becoming overly prominent (not how a selfie should look).
If any enhancements are to be automatically applied to selfie images, it should be some kind of softening; not added contrast to the skin.
I’m far from alone in this sentiment. Search around online & through these forums. There are thousands upon thousands of iPhone users who share in this confusion, including many prominent social media users who’ve posted their complaints about this. Some have had to resort to taking screenshots to achieve the same unmodified look from what they see in their viewfinder. Though of course this is far from optimal, since you lose all editing ability, lose quality, & are forced to first disable any grids & leveling overlays. Even highly popular websites such as PetaPixel & Yahoo have posted on this, with many commenters mentioning how they’d returned their iPhone because of this inconvenience & Apple’s refusal to provide a simple workaround.
Apple, why not just listen to your customers & allow a simple way to disable your auto applied enhancements to selfie images. Is it that much to ask that an image appear as it does prior to being captured? Is it too much to ask that selfie portraits not make us appear like half dead zombies with awful complexion?
And yes, I’m fully aware that we can make changes via the ‘Edit’ options. I’m a designer & can achieve any look I’m wanting in Photoshop as well. But this of course shouldn’t be necessary, as it’s a complete waste of time… and not all users are all that knowledgeable when it comes to making edits. Based on the numerous other comments that have fallen on deaf ears, I’m under no illusion that my comment here will change anything… but hopefully if enough of us make our voices heard, Apple will be forced to implement this simple yet obviously needed change/solution.