Apple ProRaw is one of the biggest new camera features on iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, and with the Christmas holidays leaving you plenty of time for DIY, we've put together this guide. to help you do just that. What is Apple ProRaw? In short, it's somewhere between compressed JPEG files and uncompressed raw files, which means it gives you the benefits of iPhone computer tricks in a single file with tremendous editing flexibility. . In some situations, it has the potential to seriously elevate your photography. For a more detailed explanation of the format itself, see our "What is Apple ProRaw?" explainer. But in this guide, we'll focus on three main practical questions: how to turn on Apple ProRaw, when to use it, and how to edit ProRaw files in both Apple's Photos app and third-party apps like Lightroom. As we will see, the main thing to keep in mind is that Apple ProRaw is not a gold standard for getting better photos in all situations. There are pros and cons to using it, which you can skip below, but its real benefits can be seen in harsh conditions – think indoor situations, strange or artificial lighting, and shorter days. where the sun is low in the sky and creates a high contrast scene. All of these can create quite a difficult set of conditions for the average smartphone. But Apple's new highly editable format can help you get through some tricky photography scenarios even after you've taken the photo. In many ways, it's also much more accessible than standard raw files. Fortunately, ProRaw is simply a new version of the “digital negative” (DNG) format, which means you can not only edit it in-camera, but also use third-party apps like Photoshop and Lightroom. Like raw files, ProRaw shots contain much more information than JPEG or HEIC files, which means you can recover lost detail, fix exposure or lighting conditions, and more. In this guide, we'll show you how to do exactly that, but first, here's how to turn on Apple ProRaw on your iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 Pro Max...
How to activate Apple ProRaw
Apple ProRaw is available to anyone with an iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 Pro Max running iOS 14.3 or later. At the moment, the format is only available on these two phones, even if you have an older iPhone running iOS 14.3. To update your firmware, simply go to Settings > General > Software update. Once this is done, you will need to enable Raw Shooting from the iPhone's main menu. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and turn on the "Apple ProRaw" slider. You will notice here that there is a warning regarding file size, which should be taken into account. Each ProRaw file will take up around 25MB of space on your iPhone, which will add up quickly if you use it for every shot. This means that it is best used sparingly or in situations where it could be most useful.
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(Image credit: Apple) The next time you launch the iPhone's native camera app, you'll notice that there's now a "RAW" icon in the top-right corner of the screen. By default, a line will cross it to indicate that it is not activated. Pressing it will delete the row and now ProRaw will be activated. Before you do that, there's one more thing to keep in mind: Apple's Camera app doesn't take a JPEG or HEIC image simultaneously with ProRaw, so you need to make sure you actually want to shoot. before using it. . If that's a feature you need, third-party apps like Halide allow you to shoot a ProRaw + JPEG at the same time. Once you've taken your raw photo, it's worth disabling ProRaw again if you intend to continue shooting other scenes.
How to Take and Edit Apple ProRaw Photos
1. Choose the correct scene
Since each ProRAW file is large and not as easy to share as JPEG/HEIC files, it really pays to consider which scenes are worth shooting and which are not. Your daily lunchtime snaps aren't worth the extra storage or hassle, and they won't give you much of an average landscape benefit in bright sunny conditions, either. The only exception is if the winter sun is bright and low in the sky, causing a high contrast effect.
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(Image credit: Apple) Low light, especially when there are artificial light sources in the scene, is the ideal situation to shoot with ProRaw, as you'll have more leeway to edit the photo to your preferences later. Above are a few different scenes that would certainly benefit from being shot on ProRaw. The light is dim or mixed and they generally lack a bit of oomph. But for the purposes of this piece, we'll only pick one to focus on, which, since it's the season, will be the artificially lit Christmas scene.
2. Make subtle adjustments with the Photos app
The Photos app offers a versatile set of editing options, ranging from fairly simple or subtle edits to more advanced edits that solve bigger problems. To get started, all you need to do is view your photo in the Photos app (or tap the gallery in the Camera app). Once you find it, tap the word "Edit" in the top right corner of the screen and you'll be presented with a variety of different editing options.
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(Image credit: Apple) You'll also find an "auto" option, represented by a magic wand. Typing in it produces quick and instant results, which may not be perfect, but may be a good place to start. We prefer to start with simple edits like straighten, crop, and rotate; once you've sorted them, that tends to inform the most important changes you want to make. At the bottom of the screen, you will see three different icons: to change your composition, tap on the 'crop' icon. Now you will be able to rotate, straighten, change the perspective or even change the aspect ratio to suit your preferences.
3. Now use the Photos app to make more important changes.
Once you're happy with the overall composition, you can dive into more serious editing. Tap the "mark" icon at the bottom of the screen to return to the larger editing tools. For a photo like this, there are a number of edits we can make to improve it. We can start with Exposure to brighten it up a bit, and then move on to Highlights to catch some of the detail lost in the brighter, burned areas. We can use the shadows to bring detail to the darker areas, as well as pick out some contrast.
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(Image credit: Apple) If you're not happy with how the white balance made the lights appear artificial, head over to Warmth or Tint to make adjustments until you're a little closer to the original scene. . You can also use saturation to bring out those colors or lower it a bit for a more realistic effect. There are other settings, all of which are worth sitting down and experimenting with so that you have complete control over each one.
4. Make additional changes in Lightroom
Because Apple ProRaw uses the open DNG format, it can be opened in third-party apps and software beyond Apple's Photos app. You can do this right on the phone or on your computer, depending on how you like to work. Apple says editing will be better with software that directly supports ProRaw, but that shouldn't stop you from using different programs if you prefer.
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(Image credit: Apple) On your phone, Lightroom mobile gives you many of the same options as Apple's Photos app, including brightness, highlights, shadows, contrast, and more. But it also offers additional tools for even finer editing, like the handy Spot Correction brush and presets. In this scene, we use the healing brush to correct some annoying blemishes and adjust the white balance. Again, it's worth experimenting with different sliders to find out how they all work, if you're new to photo editing. Alternatively, if you have Photoshop or Lightroom on your computer, you can open your iPhone's DNG files in Adobe Camera Raw and make similar edits.
5. Finish and export
Once you're happy with the changes you've made, it's time to export. If you're using the Photos app, tap Done. A good option might be to add your photo to a special "edited" folder, so you can quickly grab your photos when you need them. Here we can see the differences between an edited raw file and a JPEG photo that comes straight from the phone (taken a few seconds later).
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(Image credit: Apple) The differences aren't huge or dramatic, but we can see that there's added vibrancy and subtle differences that make the edited shot even more vivid. There's a bit more shine on the characters' faces, while the colors have been adjusted to make them a bit more realistic. Initially, Instagram refused to accept iPhone ProRAW files, but a recent update changed everything. Either way, it's best to make changes in the Photos app before uploading to Instagram, which you can do directly from the Photos app or head over to the Instagram app. to add additional filters, etc.
Apple ProRaw: pros and cons
It was big news when Apple announced that it was finally bringing its own version of raw shooting to the iPhone's native camera app. Considering that this had been possible on Android phones for several years, it seemed like Apple was falling behind (although you could still shoot raw in third-party apps). Now that it's here, it's worth using, but arguably in moderation. On the plus side, the added leeway allows you to correct problems created by difficult shooting scenarios, like blown-up skies, by taking more control than you might with JPEG/HEIC images. It's also great that you can do advanced editing in the native Photos app without too much additional knowledge. However, photos straight from the camera are usually so good in the first place, that it's not always worth taking up extra storage space and having to edit them for export to social media platforms. . We hope this is the first step towards introducing a more advanced shooting mode to the iPhone's native camera app, but for now it'll work just fine.