As an idealist in terms of his metaphysics, he argued that what we see is actually already a psychological or mental thing to begin with. To be is to be perceived is how he put it. The subjective idealist answer is yes, it does, because God is always there. Second, there is the mental processing that goes on sometime after that light hits our retinas, or the sound hits our eardrums. Direct realism says that the first step is enough.
Subjective idealism says that the second step is all there is.
It could even be said that science is a very well balanced blend of the two, where each serves, like the branches of government, as a check and balance to the other. From this theory we deduce, using our best logic, a hypothesis , a guess, regarding what we will find in the world of our senses. This is rationalism. Then, when we observe what happens in the world of our senses, we take that information and inductively support or alter our theory. This is empiricism.