Many of us have fallen for the irresistible charm of the iPhone, yet a lot of don’t realize half of what it can do, especially when it comes to the camera. Apple has always taken pride in the quality of its smartphone cameras over the years, and the default camera app is now packed with many helpful hints and tools in which you can get the most out of your mobile snaps. Here’s just of few of them:
1. Rule of thirds: This is based on an old photographer’s trick that means to get the best picture you split your frame into nine equal rectangles with four crisscrossing lines. You should be aiming to get the most interesting parts of your picture within those lines and intersections. To get some help for this using your iPhone head to Settings, then the Photos & Camera menu, and tap the Grid toggle to On. Now, when you go to use the camera a grid overlay will appear helping you position your shot perfectly.
2. Optical zoom: This is a feature specifically for the iPhone 7 Plus, but by tapping the 1x button on the camera screen you can instantly apply a 2x optical zoom to get a much better close-up than if using digital zoom.
3. Clip-on lenses: These are great accessories for improving your iPhone’s pictures. Kits are offered from both ExoLens and Olloclip and can transform your shot within seconds by applying wide-angle view, special macro modes or extra zoom when needed.
4. Burst mode: Simply hold down the shutter button for around half a second and a rapid-fire burst of photos will be taken until you lift your finger off the button.
5. Post-shot edits: In the iPhone’s Photos app you’ll find a whole host of features to help with editing your photos including filtering, color adjusting, and a straightening tool to name just a few.
6. Remote shutter control: If you have your earphones plugged in and your phone is in camera mode you can simply tap the volume button to take a photo. How cool is that?!
7. Portrait mode: Again, this is a feature that’s exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus, but it’s designed to keep your subjects in focus while blurring the background for that ultimate portrait look.
8. HDR mode: HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is a way to get a greater range of color and contrast in your photo. The downside is that it does take longer to process so isn’t really great for fast moving subjects. You can simply tap on the HDR button to use it or turn it off or keep it on auto and let the camera decide when it would be best to use.
9. Camera apps: Some third-party apps can give you, even more, control over certain settings such as shutter speed and exposure, extra filters, and bonus editing tools. Manual or Obscura Camera are two apps that are quite popular at the moment. Even Instagram has handy image enhancement tools and is worth installing even if you don’t intend to share your photos.
10. Focus and exposure: When using an iPhone camera you can tap anywhere to set the focus manually. You can also increase or decrease the exposure of the photos by dragging the sun icon up or down. Another helpful feature is you can set a focus and exposure lock that will keep shots consistent and steady for you. Simply tap and hold a part of the picture to set the lock and tap again to release it.
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