GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
For years, Google Pixel phones have earned a reputation for being incredible point-and-shoot cameras. Sure, if you want to get down and dirty with prosumer features, Chinese OEMs have everyone else beat. But out of the box, it’s hard to argue that the Pixel makes it absurdly simple to get great shots, albeit with a caveat.
Google, by the very nature of its approach to imaging, has leaned hard into an aggressive HDR implementation. This can often mean flat-looking images with artificially lifted shadows and details that are just a bit too sharp for my liking.
But with the arrival of the Pixel 11 series, Google is about to give you a bit more control over how your image looks. With the Camera Looks feature, Google is giving users access to an array of film-inspired color profiles that could address a long-standing flaw of its camera processing — and I’m 100% here for it.
What do you want most from your phone's camera? 29 votes Natural and realistic photos. 62 % Film-like color rendition and character. 21 % Punchy, social-ready photos. 14 % Full manual control. 3 %
The problem with Google’s aggressive processing
When Google introduced HDR+ on early Pixel devices, it was a massive leap forward from what we were used to. It wasn’t the first phone capable of HDR image capture; it just did it better. While Samsung leaned cartoonish and Sony phones were just too slow, the Pixel had the magical ability to snap a burst of photos and stack them perfectly for a well-balanced shot.
The Pixel's aggressive HDR processing can make images feel flat, oversharpenned and overtly digital.
The Pixel had no trouble handling background backlighting to recover details. However, over the years, others have clearly caught on and improved on the formula. Meanwhile, Google’s aggressive tone-mapping certainly has a distinctive look, but it comes with obvious downsides.
As I mentioned earlier, Pixel photos carry a very distinctive HDRed to a T smartphone look. Between elevated shadows, computational sharpening, and crunchy texture, the image here is tuned to appeal on social media. Sure, the Pro mode unlocks a range of photography tools that can help you tweak the image, but that requires work. I shouldn’t have to play around with the image settings while trying to take a photo of my dog being goofy. Google’s new tool could be the solution to that.
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