Photo editing Masterclass

Plus! How to take pro-quality shots with your iPhone

Do you remember how grainy that first iPhone camera was? The shots were small – 2 megapixels – and decidedly mediocre. Apple knew its limitations back then, and it’s long since overcome them. From the iPhone 4S to the present day, the sensor has run to a full 8 megapixels and pops out shots that are ripe for anything, from posting online to printing on canvas.

The sensor is only half the story, though. Apple has worked just as hard on the lens to deliver a sliver of glass that’s bright, clean and razor sharp. The results are first class, and the iPhone now sports one of the best pocket cameras in any mobile device.

It’s been paired with intuitive applications that let you control the hardware and tweak its output with ease, and Apple has built hooks into the underlying code that allow developers to take it further. That’s why apps like Instagram, Analog and Photoshop Touch work so smoothly on the iPhone: it’s the perfect pairing of hardware and software, from both Apple itself and its developer community.

Over the next few pages we’ll show you how you can get the most out of the one camera you carry wherever you go. We’ll walk you through the photography best practices that apply whichever camera you’re using – whether it’s your iPhone, compact or DSLR – reveal the MacFormat team’s everyday shortcuts for transferring images between our phones and our computers, and show you how you can make your best shots really zing, with simple and surprisingly effective editing techniques. All in all, it makes for happy snapping!