Naked Eye vs. Camera/iPhone: RAW vs. JPEG and Filters Explained
Understanding the difference between what we see with the naked eye and what cameras capture can clarify a lot about photography, especially when discussing RAW vs. JPEG and the use of filters.
Naked Eye View
When observing phenomena like the aurora in lower Western Australia, the naked eye will likely perceive a pink glow and white or grey ribbons at the peak of an event. This is because our eyes can’t stay open long enough or process light in the same way cameras do, limiting the colors we see.
Camera Captures
JPEG: Shooting in JPEG means your camera automatically applies color adjustments and edits to your photos. These enhancements vary depending on the camera brand, so what you see is essentially the camera’s interpretation of the scene.
RAW: Shooting in RAW is like capturing an outline of a painting that you later need to add color to. RAW files preserve all the unprocessed data from the scene, giving you more control. Keep in mind that the preview on your camera screen reflects settings like exposure, highlights, shadows and white balance.
Phone Cameras
JPEG: Most phone cameras default to shooting in JPEG, often over-saturating colors to make images more vibrant so they look good on small screens and social media.
RAW: Many phones now offer RAW shooting options, allowing you to capture and process images with greater creative freedom.
Note: Whatever software you use to process your photos, depending on your personalised import settings may “develop” the image by applying a base layer of color adjustments.
Filters and Editing
No Filter: In traditional photography, with a camera, a filter refers to a physical accessory placed on a camera lens (like sunglasses) to modify light or enhance specific elements of the scene (shadows etc).
When using a phone camera, the colors applied to the image come from the phone’s internal processing. So, saying a photo has "no filter" isn’t entirely accurate, it simply means the phone processed the colors automatically instead of you applying them manually yourself.
Straight Out of Camera (SOOC):
When someone says a photo is unedited or straight out of the camera/phone, it’s often a JPEG image where the camera or phone has already applied some level of color processing.
Even if you take a phone camera photo of the back of your camera screen it is a processed image, a straight out of camera image would be dull with not much colour.
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If we were to share Aurora Australis images as the naked eye sees them social media would be very boring!
By understanding these differences, you can better appreciate how tools, settings and formats influence the final image and how much creative input you have in the process!