Mobile Phones > iPhone & iOS 139 139 people found this article helpful How to Use the iPhone Camera Super tip: The iPhone knows when it's mounted on a tripod will make itself take longer exposures automatically By Sam Costello Sam Costello Writer Ithaca College Sam Costello has been writing about tech since 2000. His writing has appeared in publications such as CNN.com, PC World, InfoWord, and many others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on July 13, 2023 In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Switching Cameras Switching Lenses Zooming In Using the Flash Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting Use HDR Photos Overriding the Focus Panoramic Photos Burst Mode Applying Filters Live Photos Making Pictures Square Using the Composition Grid AE/AF Lock Scanning QR Codes Video Recording Slow-Motion Video Time-Lapse Video Frequently Asked Questions Trending Videos Close this video player What to Know Select circular arrow to cycle between front and rear cameras. Select circle above Photo to switch lenses.Touch screen with two fingers and spread out to zoom in, or pinch fingers together to zoom out.Select lightning bolt to set flash to Auto, On, or Off. This article explains how to use the default camera app (Camera) on recent iPhone models. Read the note in each section to see if your iPhone supports each feature. How to Set a Timer on an iPhone Camera Switch Cameras on Your iPhone All recent iPhone models have two cameras systems: The front-facing camera is for taking selfies, using FaceTime, and similar tasks. The back-facing camera system is more feature-packed with a normal and wide angle, and some iPhones also have a telephoto lens. It's easy to change between the two cameras on your iPhone so that you can take selfies, record video, or perform some other task. Just tap the circular arrow. Switching between the back-facing and front-facing camera works on all iPhone models since the iPhone 4. 8 Best Selfie Apps of 2024 Switch Lenses on Your iPhone Camera With the iPhone 11, Apple introduced additional lenses. Currently, the iPhone 14 lineup has: The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus feature a wide-angle and an ultra-wide-angle lens on the back of the device.The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have a third telephoto lens on the back, making a total of four lenses, including the front-facing camera. If you have one of these models, you can switch between lenses by selecting one of three circles above the Photo tab in the Camera app: .5 refers to the new ultra-wide lens.1x selects the standard wide lens.2 refers to the new telephoto lens. Originally, iPhone just had one camera with a single lens on the back. Apple All iPhones since the iPhone 4 have a front and a back camera. Zoom In With Your iPhone Camera The iPhone camera can zoom in and out to capture the photo you want. It's similar to how you zoom up on web pages and pictures. With the camera open and viewing something, pinch two fingers together to zoom out or drag your fingers away from each other to zoom up. Another way to use your iPhone's digital zoom feature is to pinch in either direction to reveal a zoom bar at the bottom of the screen. Drag the bar to the left to see more of the picture or to the right to zoom closer. Use the iPhone Camera Flash The iPhone camera picks up details in low light. Still, you can get great low-light photos with the built-in camera flash. Recent models of the iPhone include multiple flashes, which deliver better, more natural colors. In the Camera app, the camera flash icon is the lightning bolt at the top of the screen. Tap it to reveal these options: Flash Auto: Uses the flash only when needed to take a good picture, as determined by the iPhone camera.On: The flash is used for every picture.Off: This is the default setting for the camera. The phone doesn't produce a flash, regardless of the lighting conditions. How to Use the iPhone as a Flashlight Use Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting on an iPhone Some iPhone models have a dual-camera system on the back that delivers high-quality photos that apply lighting techniques and depth-of-field effects. Apple Inc. Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting work with iPhone 7 Plus and newer iPhone models. How to Use Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting on Your iPhone Use HDR Photos High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos deliver better-looking, more detailed images by taking multiple exposures of the same scene and combining them. Your phone gives you some control over HDR photos. Tap Settings > Camera, and then do the following: Move the Smart HDR slider to on/green to use HDR photos for all the pictures you take.Move the Keep Normal Photo slider to on/green to keep a non-HDR copy of your photos (this isn't necessary, some photographers prefer it). The 5 Best HDR Camera Apps of 2024 Apply the Camera Focus on an iPhone Tap an object or person to apply the camera's focus to a particular part of a scene. A square appears on the screen to indicate the part of the image on which the camera is focused. The focus feature automatically adjusts exposure and white balance to deliver the best-looking photo, but you can also control this. Tap the screen to display the focus square, then swipe up and down to adjust the brightness. iPhone Camera Won't Focus? Try These Fixes Take Panoramic Photos on an iPhone Want to capture an immersive vista that's more detailed and spectacular than the standard image size offered by iPhone photos? Use the iPhone's panoramic photo option. Even though it doesn't have a panoramic lens, iPhone uses software to stitch together multiple images. From the Camera app, swipe through the text below the viewfinder to select Pano. Tap the button used to take photos. Follow the on-screen directions and move the iPhone slowly and steadily across the subject you want to capture in the panorama, following the line you see on the screen. Tap Done when you're finished to save the panoramic photo to your Photos app. The photo will look small on your iPhone since the screen isn't big enough to show the full-size image. Share the image to a device with a larger screen to see the full-size photo. The 4 Best Panoramic Camera Apps of 2024 Use Burst Mode on an iPhone If you want to capture several photos quickly, like when photographing action, use burst mode. Instead of snapping a picture every time you press the button, it takes up to 10 every second. If you have the iPhone Xs or newer, hold down the shutter and swipe while still holding the shutter button to engage Burst Mode.If you have the iPhone X or older, hold down the shutter button when you want to use Burst Mode. On newer phones, if you hold down the shutter long enough the iPhone figures you really wanted a video, so it records a video rather than employing Burst Mode. How to Use iPhone Photo Burst Apply Photo Filters on an iPhone Some popular photo apps apply stylish effects and filters to photos to make images look cool. The iPhone's Camera app has a set of filters that you can apply without using another app. alongoldsmith / RooM / Getty Images Access the iPhone camera filters by selecting the three interlocking circles from the corner of the Camera app. Scroll through the filters to see how each looks, then use your camera as you normally would. The camera will save any image you take a picture of with the filter you selected. How to Add Photo Filters to iPhone Photos Take Live Photos on an iPhone Apple's Live Photos format combines animation and audio to create fun, engaging snapshots. You can also apply filters that loop the animations or bounce the action back and forth. There is a Live Photos button in the upper right corner of the screen of the camera app's camera when the app is active. The button looks like a series of nested circles. Everything You Need to Know About iPhone Live Photos Capture Square Format Photos Your iPhone can take Instagram-style square photos instead of the rectangular photos the Camera app typically captures. Swipe the words beneath the viewfinder to switch to square mode until Square is selected. Then, use the camera as you usually would. Use a Grid to Compose Better Photos Turn on the grid feature built into the Camera app to get on-screen composition assistance. Enabling a grid in the Camera app puts a grid on the screen while taking pictures. It breaks the image up into squares to help in composing photos. The grid doesn't appear in your photos; it's just on the screen to help you. To turn it on, open the Settings app and tap Camera > Grid. Use AE/AF Lock The Camera app also includes an AE/AF lock feature to lock in your current auto-exposure or autofocus settings. To find this setting in the Camera app, tap and hold the screen until AE/AF Lock appears at the top. Tap the screen once anywhere to turn it off. Scan QR Codes With an iPhone Modern iPhones don't need a separate app to scan QR codes. Use the built-in Camera app to read QR codes no matter where you see one. To do this, view the code on your camera and tap the banner that explains where it goes. You'll immediately complete the QR code's action. Westend61 / Getty Images How to Scan a QR Code on Android Record Video on an iPhone Besides being a great still camera, the iPhone is also a terrific video camera. Recent models can capture ultra-high-resolution 4K footage, slow-motion video, and more. To take a video on an iPhone, open the Camera app, slide to Video, and use the red button to start and stop the recording. Some still photography features, like HDR photos and panorama, don't work when recording video, though the camera flash does. You can also take still images while recording the video. You can use the phone's built-in video editor, the Apple iMovie app, or third-party apps to edit videos taken with the iPhone camera. How Much Video Can You Record on an iPhone? Record Slow-Motion Video Rather than taking videos that run at 30 frames per second (fps), more recent models can capture slow-motion videos at 120 fps or 240 fps on some models. This effect can add drama and detail to your videos. To record slow-motion videos, swipe the row of options below the viewfinder to Slo-Mo, then proceed as usual. Record Time-Lapse Video Slow-motion isn't the only neat video effect built into the iOS Camera app. There's also a time-lapse video feature. To record time-lapse video on your iPhone, open the Camera app, then swipe the text below the viewfinder until you reach Time-Lapse. Record as usual to make the video. Learn More About Capturing Time-Lapse Video on iPhone How to Combine Photos on iPhone FAQ How do you use the macro camera on the iPhone 13 and 14 Pro and 13 and 14 Pro Max? Only some iPhones have the ability to do macro photography. All you have to do is use the ultra wide camera (.5) and get really close to your subject for macro mode to turn on. Can I control the iPhone camera from my Apple Watch? Assuming they are paired together, yes! Just open the Camera Remote app on your Apple Watch and you'll see an image from the front or rear camera of the iPhone (you can pick which). There's also a timer, too, so you can trip the shutter and have the iPhone do a count down so everyone can get ready. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit