The iPhone is capable of taking high-quality photos and selfies right out of the box. So you can usually snap nice photos without needing to configure any settings. But there are a host of advanced features and picture-taking tricks that can help you capture truly great images.
Keep in mind that some options are available only on certain model iPhones. Apple typically enhances the camera’s hardware with each new generation of iPhone, and you get more if you buy a more premium model. (Check out our story comparing the four iPhone 14 models.)
The following guide will show you all the features accessible in the Camera app on your iPhone and help you take advantage of your phone’s photo-taking prowess. For more general photo-taking tips, check out our story on how to take better shots from any smartphone.
1. Update Your iPhone
When was the last time you updated your phone? Before getting started, you should update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS to ensure you have all the latest and greatest options available. (And to fix any bugs that might pop up).
Go to Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll be told that the OS is up to date or prompted to download and install the latest update.
2. Navigate Photo Mode
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Now, open the Camera app to check out the different camera modes. You’ll be in Photo mode by default. You can easily zoom in or out by tapping one of the preset optical zoom settings on the screen. To use the digital zoom, move your fingers apart or pinch them together and you can move in smaller increments.
If these default settings aren’t enough for you, press and hold one of the preset zoom icons to access the wheel zoom tool. Here, you can manually zoom by dragging your finger between the different presets.
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
To switch between the rear and front camera, just tap the Rotation icon in the lower right. Depending on your model iPhone, you may be able to zoom in and out slightly by tapping a double-arrow circle on the screen or moving your fingers apart or together.
3. Customize Composition
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Under Settings > Camera, you can also turn on the switch next to Grid if you want to see a grid of squares appear on the camera screen to better align certain subjects and scenes. Enable Mirror Front Camera to take a selfie as the camera sees it and not reversed.
Certain wide-angle lenses will distort the picture you take, but Lens Correction will fix any distortion that appears in a photo shot with the ultra wide or front cameras.
iPhone 11, 12, 13, and 14 models allow you to view content outside the frame to show what can be captured with a different lens. This option can be controlled from the View Outside the Frame option in the Camera settings.
4. Set Your Flash Options
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
While in Photo mode, you can turn the flash on or off by tapping the lightning icon in the top toolbar. Some models allow you to set the flash to automatic so it will turn on if there isn’t enough natural light available. Some older phones set these controls on the bottom toolbar instead.
To display these options, tap the up arrow at the top or swipe up on the screen. Tap the first icon on the toolbar to set the flash to auto, on, or off. If the flash is set to automatic, and the flash icon changes to yellow, that means the flash will turn on when you take a picture.
5. Take Quick Videos With QuickTake
Capture video in Photo mode without having to switch to Video mode thanks to the QuickTake feature. Press and hold the shutter button to instantly start taking video. To free up your finger without stopping the video, slide the shutter button to the right and then release it.
6. Shoot Faster
As seen on the iPhone X
(Credit: Jason Cohen)
To take burst shots, drag the shutter button to the left, or use the Volume Up button, if you turn the option on via Settings > Camera > Use Volume up for Burst. Or go to Settings > Camera and enable Prioritize Faster Shooting to automatically capture more photos when you keep tapping the Shutter button.
7. Play With Portrait Mode
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Using the bottom toolbar, scroll to Portrait mode so you can shoot studio-quality portraits by taking a highly detailed image of your subject in the foreground while keeping the background softer and out of focus. As you line up your shot, the app will offer guidelines and suggestions to help you better frame the subject.
You can adjust the zoom, flash, and (if available on your model iPhone) the depth of field from the F stop icon. Moving the slider on the scale at the bottom determines how blurry you’d like the background to appear.
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Tap the lighting effect icon on the screen to browse through the effects and choose a specific one, such as Natural Light, Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, Stage Light Mono, or High-Key Light Mono. If you take a picture and don’t like the effect, you can also change it after the fact.
Choose a picture from your camera library. The photo will display the word Portrait at the top to indicate that you shot it in Portrait mode. Tap Edit. Tap the lighting effect icon in the top left to browse through the effects again and choose something different. You can also tap the depth icon to change the focus of the background.
8. Capture Panoramic Pics With Pano Mode
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
From the bottom toolbar, switch to Pano mode to capture a panoramic picture by slowly moving your phone along a wide scene. When you’re ready to take the panoramic picture, tap the Shutter button and then slowly move your phone as shown on the screen until you capture the full picture.
Make sure you hold the phone steady and level by keeping the arrow as straight as possible on the horizontal line. Everything is then compiled into one extended photo. View your photo in landscape mode to experience the full scale of it.
9. Go for Slow-Mo Mode
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
If you pick Slow-Mo mode, it can be used on the front and back cameras to slow down the action. Those with an iPhone 8 or newer can switch between 120 and 240 frames per second by tapping the number in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Tap the Rotation icon in the lower right to switch between the front and rear cameras. Tap the Shutter button to start and stop the video, or move the button to the right to lock it in place. You can also zoom in and out while recording.
10. Take a Time-Lapse Video
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Set the phone to Time-Lapse mode, and you can shoot videos that speed up the action when you play them back. Capture storm clouds rolling in, your progress as you get your hair cut, or a drive on a winding road, for example. You’ll likely want to keep the phone steady and supported, so a tripod may be best for longer captures.
Tap the arrow at the top to display the Exposure scale, if you wish to adjust it. Tap the Rotation icon in the lower right to switch between the front and rear cameras. Tap the Shutter button to start the process, then tap it again to stop it.
11. Master Night Mode
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Introduced with the iPhone 11, Night mode lets you take high-quality photos in low-light conditions. You don’t even have to do anything to activate Night mode; if the phone detects low light, a moon-shaped icon will appear on the screen indicating that Night mode is on.
To take pictures using Night mode in low-light situations, your iPhone extends the shutter for several seconds longer than normal. This ensures that the lens brings in the right amount of light to get a better image. The number next to the icon indicates how long you need to hold the phone in place before the camera takes the picture.
Tap that icon, and the Night mode scale appears at the bottom, allowing you to manually set the exposure. Swipe the vertical line on the scale to adjust the exposure time, typically anywhere from one to three seconds. However, you can get exposure times as high as 30 seconds if your iPhone is on a tripod.
12. Go Small With Macro Control
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
The iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max offer a macro control in Photo mode through which you can capture photos of small and up-close objects. When macro control is available, a yellow flower icon appears on the left. Tap that icon on and off to see what the difference would be with macro control active or inactive.
If you don’t see the macro icon on the screen when trying to snap a small object up close, go to Settings > Camera and turn on the switch next to Macro Control.
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13. Change Up Your Live Photos
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Live Photos add motion to your otherwise-still images by recording what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a photo. To enable it, tap the bullseye icon at the top of the screen before you take the shot.
After snapping a photo, you can determine how that motion will be used. In your camera roll, find the Live photo you want to adjust and tap the Live icon in the upper left to select a desired effect. Loop allows the video to loop endlessly, Bounce takes a page from Instagram’s Boomerang to bounce back and forth, while Long Exposure adds SLR-like effects to photos.
To edit a Live Photo, open the image in your camera roll and tap Edit. Choose the Live icon and use the slider to choose a start and end point. When you find your desired frame, tap Make Key Photo and that will become your default still image.
Edits are nondestructive, so you can go back and give a photo a completely different look if you end up not liking your first take. Just tap into the photo in question and select Revert. Live Photos do eat into your phone storage, however. To turn it off, tap the Live Photos icon again.
14. Control HDR (If You Can)
As seen on the iPhone X
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
If you have an iPhone 8 or higher, Apple uses High Dynamic Range (HDR) to improve your photos; iPhone 12, 13, and 14 models also use HDR to capture video. Certain iPhone models show an HDR icon in the upper-right corner of the screen when you go to take a picture. With it enabled, your phone takes several photos at a time and blends them together to bring out the best features.
On iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone 11 models, iPhone SE (2nd gen), and iPhone 12 models, you can tap the HDR button to turn it on or off. For the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, you need to open Settings > Camera, then turn off Auto HDR. With the iPhone 13 series and higher, HDR is automatically added to your photos so you can no longer manually turn it on and off.
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
In Photo, Portrait, Slo-Mo, or Time-Lapse mode, the bottom toolbar can help you control specific settings. To display it, tap the up arrow at the top or swipe up on the screen. Depending on what mode you’re in, the toolbar will display as many as six icons, including ones for Flash, Live Photo, Exposure, Night Mode, and a Self Timer to snap a photo in 3 or 10 seconds.
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Tap the Style icon and then swipe from one screen to another to switch among different photographic styles, such as rich warm, vibrant, warm, and cool. To adjust a specific filter, tap the Tone or Warmth graph below and swipe the slider to the left or right.
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
Tap the aspect ratio icon and you can switch among different ratios, such as 4:3, square, and 16:19.
16. Change Photo Formats
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
You can change the format your pictures use by default. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose whether your images will use High Efficiency (the HEIF/HEVC format) or Most Compatible (the JPG format). HEIF/HEVC is a smaller and more efficient format but may not be as compatible as JPG if you wish to transfer your photos to non-Apple operating systems and devices.
In certain cases, though, photos in HEIF/HEVC will be converted to JPG depending on how you send or share them. If you need to preserve space on your iPhone, try the setting for HEIF/HEVC; otherwise stick with JPG for greater compatibility.
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
With the iPhone 12 Pro and later, you can capture photos in RAW format, which offer higher quality and greater flexibility for editing but take up more space than photos stored as JPGs. Under the Photo Capture, turn on the switch next to Apple ProRAW if you wish to capture photos in RAW format. You can then opt to save them as 12- or 24-megapixel files, noting that the 24MP files take up more space.
17. Preserve Your Default Camera Settings
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
By default, your camera’s settings will reset each time you leave the Camera app. To make them permanent, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings. Turn on options for entries like Camera Mode, Creative Controls, Exposure, Night Mode, Portrait Zoom, Action Mode, or Live Photo. Your camera will now retain the last settings you choose for these features.
18. Switch Photographic Styles
As seen on the iPhone 14 Pro
(Credit: Lance Whitney)
If you prefer your colors a certain way, head to Settings > Camera and tap the Photographic Styles link. Swipe through each style and choose the default tone and warmth for the colors in your photos. Regardless of which one you select as the default, you can always switch to a different style for individual photos.
