Before anybody jumps at the opportunity for correction, this guide, unlike the majority of our guides, will deal with the more colliqual uses of the term. That’s as opposed to the technically correct usage. But how do you bring out more detail and “dynamic range” in your phone-snapped photos and fix areas that appear too dark or bright? This guide will attempt to highlight some ways you can accomplish that. More directly, without ever uploading your images to a computer.
You’ll want to enable RAW captures on your smartphone if you can
Now, when it comes to capturing more of that much-sought-after dynamic range from your phone camera there are several options available to help your photos turn out better. One of the most impactful, especially when it comes to post-processing and editing photos using the data captured by the camera or cameras, is to use a more loss-resistant format. Such as RAW. And, fortunately, most top-ranked phones support RAW captures. As might be given away by the terminology, RAW photos deliver minimal processing on image data. In effect, saving nearly all of the data captured in the photo. As opposed to only saving the data that’s making an appearance in the image itself. More succinctly, it saves all of the data that’s usually whittled down and processed into the JPG files most Android phones save. And that means you can get more from your photos when you do edit and finalize them. We’ll discuss that momentarily. In the interim, even phones that come with RAW saving capabilities don’t typically have it turned on by default. And that’s because RAW files can be several dozen — or more — Megabytes in size. As compared to the much smaller files JPGs represent. And, moreover, not a lot of apps support the RAW format anyway. So we’ll need to look at how to turn on RAW, to begin with. Some third-party apps also claim to unlock RAW captures for Android phones. Some popular ones include ProCam X and Open Camera. These won’t work for every Android phone necessarily. But can work in some cases, so it’s worth looking into if you can’t find the setting above in your stock camera app.
You can also get more dynamic range in your photos using HDR or Pro mode if your phone has it
Of course, most modern smartphones also come with built-in features to help you get the most from your photos without after-editing. Summarily, via an included HDR mode that helps you get even more dynamic range in your phone-shot photos from the initial snap. That’s usually turned on automatically but not always. So we’ll take a look at how you can activate the mode. Aside from HDR shots and RAW captures, which we’ll discuss more momentarily, there is also typically a pro mode. Now, our test device, the Google Pixel 5, doesn’t come with a Pro mode. Or a dedicated HDR tool, either. But we’ll discuss those features here as well, using a different Android handset, the Vivo X50 Pro+. And how to tweak those settings more to ensure better photos with an improved showing of dynamic range from your phone.
Post-process and edit photos using your phone’s built-in software or third-party apps for more or better dynamic range in your final shots
Now, once you’ve taken your photos, you’re going to be able to get a lot more dynamic range out of them using the software directly on your phone. But it’s important to understand how that works. Of course, you’ll be in a better starting position if you’ve taken RAW photos. Not just because many of the top photo editing apps available on Android and iOS can also work with that format. And since many of those apps’ same tools or proxies are discoverable on a computer, we’ll be discussing those here. For instance, our example will be using the built-in editing tools on a Google Pixel smartphone. Specifically, using the editing tools in Google Photos and not in RAW since support for that is limited. At least in that app. But many of the available tools in the app and even more are available in other apps. Such as Lightroom CC from Adobe, VSCO, or Google’s Snapseed. Better still, the tools are effectively the same across services since they’re adjusting the same photo parameters. Albeit, with extras available for photos in the RAW format since that format does save more data, to begin with. The bulk of the adjustments we’ll discuss can also be used on JPG and other file formats saved by smartphones. So, even if you haven’t saved using a RAW format, you’ll still be able to make improvements with some practice. Here, we’ll discuss what each of these settings is and what they do for an image. In addition to a brief explanation of how they’re used to add more dynamic range in your photos as well as just to make your phone-snapped images better.
…here’s how post-processing tools on phones typically work
Since there’s a lot of variance from app to app, we’ll also be skipping over auto enhancements shown in the images below. Those images are included to provide a look at what exactly those tend to do. In terms of adjusting color temperature and other settings. But those also tend to be fairly extreme in their adjustments. So they serve as a good contrast to what we’re trying to show here. The images here have also been resized and compressed. And that’s important to bear in mind since changes won’t be as prominent with those factors in place. It’s also important to make smaller adjustments first, as needed. Further changes can be made as needed too, even to those adjustments that have already been made. But small changes to start with will help ensure that the image doesn’t look too overprocessed when finalized.
Brightness is a setting that effectively increases the exposure of the entire image. That means that darker areas see increased detail, in exchange for a loss in terms of the deepness of dark colors and overexposure in areas that are already bright. These drawbacks can be helped with other settings we’ll discuss here. So don’t worry too much if your photo now appears a bit blown out on making the change.Contrast, conversely, is a great way to counter the ill effects of increased brightness. By adjusting contrast, as is implied, you’re increasing or decreasing the difference between shades of color and between the lightest and darkest parts of the image. More prominently in the latter area with the photo tool that we’re using.White Point adjusts effectively “defines” what white is for the system. Namely, by adjusting the tristimulus values or chromaticity coordinates that serve as that definition in encoding, reproduction of an image, or image capture. So, summarily, when you adjust white balance you’re changing what the other tools here consider to be white. And how white tones are defined when the image appears elsewhere.Black Point serves a similar purpose but sets the tone in the photograph that the system will view as “black.” So it should be set similarly.Highlights and Shadows serve a more general purpose but, as is implied, for darker or lighter areas of the image.Saturation is a term used to define how much color is in an image. For instance, a black and white photo has effectively no saturation whatsoever. So, if you find your photo looking a bit too bright and colorful, a slight reduction to saturation can help. And vice versa.Tint, Temperature, and warmth are not necessarily interchangeable terms but each applies to the overall color tone of an image. Natural daylight, for instance, leans more to the blue side of the spectrum than typical indoor lighting, which is warmer and leans yellow. Tint adjusts the overall color tone more generally, while temperature and warmth generally apply to the blue or red/yellow shift of an image.Denoise and sharpen are tools you can use to finalize your photo if it’s looking a bit too grainy or blurry. Denoise, for example, is used to smooth out areas that may be too grainy or otherwise noisy. Conversely, Sharpen can help if things appear just a bit too blended together. Or if they need to be made more clear, to a certain extent.
