Apple's ProRAW format: Unlocking the potential of iPhone photography

Apple's ProRAW is the latest innovation in mobile photography that is available on iPhone Pro models. Apple first introduced this feature with iOS 14.3 in November 2020 for the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max. It is geared towards photography enthusiasts who want even more control over their images. What makes the ProRAW image format special is its ability to capture high-quality and uncompressed images.

This allows users more freedom while editing their photos, allowing them to create stunning images with rich details and color accuracy.

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What is Apple's ProRAW and the future of iPhone photography

It is a new image format for shooting raw images on your iPhone. It was made for professionals and enthusiasts to provide more control and flexibility in clicking images and editing. With this new format, iPhone users can take their photography skills to the next level by capturing professional shots right from their phones. It combines the benefits of RAW image format with Apple's computational photography.

ProRaw enhances the raw image by adding information like camera exposure, white balance, and other important settings along with Apple's advanced photography algorithms. It also helps users take advantage of the Smart HDR, Deep Fusion, and Night Mode features, which assist in making adjustments to the images.

This unique feature also comes with a new editing interface in the native Photos app. In the app, users can make various adjustments such as exposure, contrast, and saturation. The interface is also quite intuitive and user-friendly, which helps novice photographers and enthusiasts take advantage of shooting in RAW format.

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What is the RAW format?

RAW formats are used by professional photographers as they offer a lot of information that can be further adjusted and edited using professional editing software. Image formats like JPEG and HEIC apply process algorithms to the image which makes them lose their details and color accuracy.

On the other hand, RAW formats enable the image to retain all the information captured by the camera sensor, which enables more precise adjustments and control over the final product.

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How to use Apple's ProRAW

To use this image format, you first need to make sure that your iPhone is running on iOS 14.3 and up. You must also have a compatible device as Apple only offers this feature to its Pro models starting with the iPhone 12 series.

To enable the image format, go to Settings>Camera on your iPhone and then toggle on ProRAW. Once enabled, you'll see a RAW button in the Camera app. Then select the mode you want to shoot (Photo it Portrait) in the Camera app.

Once that's done, you will need to click on the RAW button to enable ProRAW on your iPhone. After this, simply take pictures as you normally would.