Advanced shooting techniques

Overcome shooting challenges with these iphone settings

When shooting into direct sunlight your subject will be backlit, making it a challenge to capture detail in both the shadows and the highlights at the same time. Your iphone’s HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode enables you to capture more detail in contrasting areas by snapping a burst of three shots that have different exposure settings. It then automatically merges them together as a single shot. In low light the iphone 11 series can produce amazing results using its

Night mode.

1 Set HDR mode

The XR and 11 automatically use Smart HDR. If you prefer to activate the HDR mode manually go to Settings>camera and toggle off Smart HDR. An HDR icon appears in the Camera app.

2 Take a shot

Hold the camera steady as you snap the HDR shot. The merging process is automatic, so you’ll end up with a single shot that features more detail in the shadows and highlights.

3 Night mode

If the lighting is low, older iphone models will automatically trigger the flash in an attempt to cast light on the subject. This won’t illuminate distant objects. The iphone 11 automatically switches to Night mode.

4 Exposure dial

Night mode automatically selects a slow shutter speed to capture detail in low light conditions. After triggering the shutter button you’ll see an exposure dial counting down during the exposure. Hold the iphone steady.

5 Long exposure

If you have a tripod to hold the iphone still, you can capture sharp detail in the darkest locations. The maximum exposure is 30 seconds. The preview during the exposure looks grainy, but the results are smooth.

6 Creative effects

In this example we triggered a 30second exposure and then asked our subject to walk into shot and stand still. Since the background was empty for a short while the foreground subject looks semi-transparent.