IPHONEOGRAPHY CRASH COURSE
We all love taking pictures and capturing special moments, and thanks to our iPhones, doing so is now easier than ever. Whether you're casually snapping shots with your friends or orchestrating elaborate photo shoots, these steps will help you master your iPhone's camera and start taking beautiful pictures in no time.
TAKE BETTER PHOTOS
To begin, tap the Camera icon or swipe up from the camera symbol on your lock screen. Switch between the front and back camera instantaneously by tapping the camera-and-arrow outline in the top right corner. If you want to deviate from the iPhone's standard picturetaking mode, swipe right or left in the viewfinder to reveal more options, such as panoramic or square-cropped photos, as well as options for shooting video— including time-lapse and slo-mo. To capture a photo, tap the white circle below the viewfinder or press the volume up/down button. You'll notice a preview box in the lower left corner; tap it to view your recently captured shots.
When in video mode, tap the red circle to record. The video duration will play at the top; tap the red button again to stop recording. You can also take pictures while recording by pressing the white circle on the bottom left of the screen, and view both your videos and pictures in the All Photos album.
FILTERS
Apple's filters are a fast way to give your shot a different look. You can apply one of eight filter options in real time or after the fact by tapping the overlapping circle icon. For a wider ranger of more sophisticated filters, try VSCO Cam (free).
ZOOM
To zoom, place two fingers on the screen and spread them apart. Doing so will bring up a bar: slide right to zoom in, left to zoom out. Remember, zooming in on your subject tends to compromise quality, so try moving closer whenever possible.
FOCUS & EXPOSURE
The camera automatically adjusts the focus and exposure on your subject, framing it with a yellow square, but when automatic focus and exposure fail, you can manually select your subject. To do this, tap the part of the screen that you want to focus on. A vertical line with a sun will appear alongside your focus box. When you see this, swipe up to lighten your image; swipe down to darken it.
If you'd like to play with depth of field and lighting, you can also manually set and lock your focus and exposure. Tap the screen to manually choose your subject; to lock it there, press and hold until the yellow square pulses and AE/AF Lock appears on the screen. This tool is useful for artistic effects or to help counteract a backlit scene.
HDR & FLASH
Flash is another tool you can use to correct low-lit or backlit scenes. Tap the upper left corner to adjust your flash to Auto, On, or Off. You can also try HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode, which compiles three different exposures, recovering detail in dark as well as light parts of an image.
HDR works best for high-contrast landscape scenes. To begin using, tap HDR On at the top of the screen or HDR Auto to let your device control the setting. When HDR is enabled, you can save both regularly exposed and HDR versions of shots to your Photos app by going to Settings > Photos & Camera and toggling Keep Normal Photo on.
SELF- TIMER
You'll also notice a timer icon at the top of your screen that lets you set up your shot and get in the frame before the picture's taken. When you tap on the icon, you'll be able to choose between a 3- or a 10-second timer. Once you select the time you prefer, tap the shutter to begin the countdown.
BURST MODE
To take multiple shots in Burst Mode, tap and hold the shutter button in the Camera app to capture 10 frames per second. A counter will pop up, letting you know how many photos you've taken so far. Your burst images will then be clustered together and can be identified by an icon reading “Burst” at the top left of the image. You can choose the images you would like to keep by tapping Select and checking off the images you like. When you tap Done, you'll be asked whether you would like to Keep Everything or Keep Only Favorites. We suggest keeping only your favorites, as burst images take up a lot of space.
ORGANIZE & EDIT YOUR MEDIA
To start viewing the images you've taken, head over to the Photos app, where you can organize and tweak your pictures and videos. On the bottom, you'll see a tab called Photos, which automatically files your images using time and place
and organizes them into Years, Collections, and Moments. Tap a Year to see the Collections within; tap a Collection to see the Moments within. To see where you took your shots, tap the location name by the group of photos and you'll see thumbnails of photos on a map.
You'll also see a tab called Albums, which includes All Photos, Favorites, Bursts, Videos, Recently Deleted, and any other albums you've created or from third-party photo editing apps. All Photos is responsible for storing all the photos and videos you've taken, while your Favorites album is filled with all of the images you've “favorited” by tapping the heart-shaped symbol below each photo and video. Your Recently Deleted folder is especially useful. Any image you delete sits in this album for up to 30 days, so if you accidently delete one of your favorite shots—no worries! You can restore deleted items by selecting the images you'd like to recover and then tapping Recover at the lower right.
HIDING PHOTOS
To hide private photos, simply tap and hold on any photo and a pop-up will appear, giving you the option to either Copy or Hide your photo. Your hidden items will no longer appear in your Years, Collections, or Moments, but they will still be visible in your All Photos and Hidden albums.
SEARCH PHOTOS
To search your images, go to Photos and tap the search icon. Then enter the time, location (if you have location tracking enabled), or album name corresponding to the photo you're looking for into the search field. For instance, if you type “home,” a collection of all the photos you've taken at your home address will pop up.
SHARING
When viewing a photo or video, tap the upward-arrow icon for sharing options that let you text, email, tweet, AirDrop, or post to Facebook. You can also share images to your third-party apps by tapping More and enabling your apps of choice. To send multiple images, first tap Select at the top right of an image grouping, then tap the photos you'd like to include.
You can also use iCloud Photo Sharing to exchange photos and videos with friends and family right within the Photos app. To get started, go to Settings, Photos & Camera, and turn on iCloud Photo Sharing. In the Photos app, select images you'd like to share, tap the Share button, and press iCloud Photo Sharing. Title your stream and add a note in the Comment field. Next, select contacts with whom you'd like to share your album. Whoever you invite will be able to view and add images, videos, and comments in the Shared tab along the bottom of the Photos app.
And don't worry, your non-iUser friends don't have to miss out on all the fun. You can send them links to a view-only website of your stream by opening your stream, tapping the People tab at the bottom, and turning on the Public Website option. From there, press Share Link to text, email, tweet, or AirDrop your URL.
EDITING PHOTOS
To edit a photo you're viewing, tap Edit in the upper right corner. You have the option to crop or rotate the image, boost lighting and saturation, and apply filters. When done, tap Save to keep changes; tap Cancel to discard them. If at any point after editing an image you decide you want to go back to the original, simply tap Edit, and then tap Revert. If you have thirdparty photo editing apps such as Pixlr (free) or Litely (free) on your device, you can access them directly from Photos by tapping Edit and then selecting the three dots at the top right. To enable more apps, tap More. This feature allows you to edit photos within the native app and bypass having to upload images elsewhere.