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Photo Skills: iPhone Essentials Guide

  • Beverley Dupouy
  • Aug 21
  • 8 min read

Updated: Sep 8


A male yellow pansy butterfly, Image by Beverley Dupouy
A female yellow pansy butterfly gathering pollen for breakfast. Picture taken with an iPhone. Image: Beverley Dupouy


Photography has become a part of our everyday life, the portability of having a built-in camera in our smartphone has changed how we document our lives. It’s estimated that 61,400 images are taken every second worldwide, with 94% of these images taken with a smartphone.Whether you’re travelling, documenting a special event or creating content for your startup the powerful blend of technology and size makes your mobile phone the perfect tool for shooting and editing.

 

Getting to know your camera app


Your iPhone's camera has advanced settings perfect for different types of photography, whether you're shooting landscapes, portraits, or close-ups. This guide will help you explore and apply new techniques to get the best shots without any hassle.

 A "good" photograph is a combination of several elements, such as correct exposure, focus, composition, timing, and subject choice to get the best results.

 The “Camera” app is used for creating images and videos, and the “Photos” app is the library where the images and videos are stored and edited.


Camera app navigation – iPhone (version - iOS18)


*Please note older phone models may not have all the options mentioned.

Camera app modes:

Photography

  • Photo : Go to mode for still photos  and Live photo option

  • Portrait: Controls the images depth-of-field and advanced lighting options

  • Spatial: Creates spatial photos and videos for 3D use.

  • Pano: Creates  panoramic images

Videography

  • Video: Records standard videos

  • Cinematic: Allows changes to the depth-of-field in videos

  • Slo-mo: Records a video with a slow-motion effect

  • Time-lapse: Create a time‑lapse video of motion over a period of time.

 

Quick ways to access your camera


  • When the screen is locked, swipe left on the iPhone Lock Screen.

  • Touch and hold on white camera thumbnail found bottom-right of the iPhone Lock Screen.

  • Click the Camera Control button on the bottom-right of the phone to open Camera app – this is new to the iPhone 16.



Camera app modes
Camera app modes


“Photo” mode basics


Photo mode is the go-to option for multiple photographic genres and offers full control of the camera’s functionality.

 

1.      Subject and Composition: Open the Camera app, in “Photo” mode point your camera at the subject, you can then decide if you would like to zoom in either by pinching the screen or using the numbers found just above the shutter button eg 0.5x (extreme wide angle), 1x (wide angle), 2x (standard), 2.5x, 3x, and 5x (Telephoto).

The numbers represent the lenses on the phone and using the pinch option use the “digital” zoom which can make the image seem blurry if used at extremes like,15x or 25x.

 

2.      Focus and Lighting: Your camera automatically reads the light in the scene, tap on your screen where your subject is to select the focus area and exposure reading. A yellow square will appear where you tapped with a sun icon. This simple action draws the viewer's eye to the subject. To lock the focus and exposure setting, press and hold on the screen until you see the “AE/AF Lock” notification . This ensures that the focus remains fixed on your chosen subject. To reset the focus and exposure to their automatic settings, tap anywhere on the screen.

 

3.      Exposure :Adjust the scenes lighting by manually changing the exposure, tap on the subject and when the yellow square appears swipe up on the screen to brighten the image or down on the screen to darken the image. When you tap on a different part of the screen it will revert back to its auto settings. This is the best way to solve tricky lighting situations and still retain detail in certain areas e.g. a glowing sunset or a subject standing in front of a light source or an animal hiding in the shadows.

 

4.      Click away: When you are happy with your settings hit the shutter button.

 

“Photo” mode advanced


Now that the basics have been covered let’s explore some of the advanced options for capturing images.

*Images shot with the burst mode need to be edited in the photo app as they are stacked on top of each other and appear as a single image in the library.

  1. Make sure your phone is on a stable surface, or you are standing very  still when capturing the image. what happens just before and after you take a photo. The setting creates a short video which then can be viewed as a single image or edited in the “Photos’ app where the “key” image can be changed or converted into a long exposure image, a loop or bounce video as well as a normal video. This works well with images that have some moving aspects eg. a waterfall or busy street. 

  2. *Live photo is normally ON by default, and we suggest switching it off when you want high quality, sharp images.


“Portrait” Mode


This mode adds a professional touch to your photos by creating a beautiful depth-of-field effect. This setting keeps your subject sharp while softly blurring the foreground and background, you can also apply different lighting effects to the image. The shooting options can also be changed in the photos app.

1.Subject: Open the camera app, then slide to Portrait mode. You will notice the screen settings have changed slightly, above the word Portrait you will see a box with a sun inside it and on the bottom- left of the screen will be the zoom options. You will also notice a yellow frame come up automatically around your subject.

2.       Focus: Tap on the screen to confirm the focus point, a yellow portrait box will appear. You will notice that the subject will be sharp and everything around it is blurred. This is known as “shallow” depth of field and this can be changed to make the entire image sharp known as “deep” depth of field.

3.       Depth Control: You can change the depth in the image by tapping on the circle icon with an “F” in it at the top-right corner of the screen. The Depth Control slider will appear above the shutter button. If you drag the slider to the left you will increase the blur (f4) in the image and if you drag it to the right you will decrease the blur (f16)

4.       Lighting: :Explore the various lighting options by taping on the different icons which will offer various effects. Depending on the model of your phone some settings can only be seen after the image has been taken.                   

  • Natural Light: The subject is in focus against a blurred background.

  • Studio Light: The subject is brightly lit, and the photo has an overall clean look.

  • Contour Light: The subject has dramatic shadows with highlights and lowlights.

  • Stage Light: The subject is spotlit against a deep black background.

  • Stage Light Mono: This effect is similar to Stage Light, with a classic black and white filter added to the photo.

  • High-Key Light Mono: Creates a grayscale subject on a white background.


*We normally leave the lighting option on Natural and later on in the Photo app we are able to adjust the settings.

 

“Pano” Mode


This mode combines several overlapped images to create a  panoramic image. It is normally used when there are several points of interest in the scene and can be shot either vertical or horizontal. It is often used in cityscapes and landscapes.

1.       Setup: Open the Camera app and slide to the Pano mode. Decide on the direction that you will be shooting your Panoramic and get ready to take your image.


2.       Direction: Tap the arrow to pan in the opposite direction. To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too buy tapping the white arrow.

 

3.      Shooting: Tap the Shutter button and slowly pan in the direction of the arrow, whilst keeping the image inside the frame and centred using the yellow line as a guide. Tap the Shutter button again to end shooting.

*Panoramic images tend to have extreme proportions such as a 6:1 ratio, please be aware of this if you plan to print your pictures.

 

Editing in the “Photo” App


The photos app is a smart library where your images and videos can be viewed as well as edited, not only can you fix exposure composition, but you can also add advanced filters for a professional feel.

 

Basic Editing:
  1. Open the Photos app, select the image you would like to edit . Tap on the three blue lines thumbnail.  A range of options will appear below the image, eg. Adjust, Filters,Crop and Clean Up.

  2. Normally we start with the lighting, swipe left under the photo to view the lighting adjustments you can make eg, Exposure, Brilliance, Highlights, and Shadows. Tap the lighting setting you want to adjust, then drag the slider to make precise adjustments. The level of adjustment you make for each lighting setting is indicated by the outline around the button, so you can see at a glance which lighting settings have been increased or decreased. Tap the lighting button to switch between the edited photo or video and the original so you can see the difference your edits made.

  3. You can then tap on any of the other options such as “filters” and try them out.

  4. If you have a few elements in the image that are distracting and you would like to get rid off them you can use the “ Clean Up” option.

  5. Remember to hit done when you are finished, edited images can as be reverted back to the original format by clicking on “edit” and tapping the red “revert” thumbnail in the top-right corner.

 

Burst Image:
  1. Go to your photo library and select the image that was shot in burst mode. On the top-left corner you will see the thumbnail “burst” with numbers in brackets, tap on  it.

  2. You will see the stacked images as individuals; select the ones you would like to keep by tapping on the circle in the lower-right corner. When your selection is complete hit the done button.A box will come up asking if you would like to “Keep Everything” or “Keep only (x) Favorites or “Cancel”. Select Option 2 and your selected images will be saved in the library


Live Photo:

Getting the best of both worlds, photo meets video

1.       Go to your photo library and select the image that was shot in Live phot, on the top-right corner you will see the thumbnail “Live” with a drop down arrow, tap on  it.

2.       You are then able to turn your image into one of the following:

  • Live: Applies the Live video playback feature, when you touch the photo it goes into video mode.

  • Loop: Repeats the action in a continuous looping video.

  • Bounce: Rewinds the action backward and forward.

  • Long Exposure: Simulates a long exposure effect by blurring motion.

  • Live Off: Turns off the Live video options.

3.       If you would like to create a video tap on the “three dot” thumbnail  in the top-right corner, then tap Save as Video.

 

Portrait image:

In the Photos app, you can change and adjust the lighting effects, depth of field, and focus point of the photos.

  1. Go to the Photos app and select the portrait photo. At the bottom of the screen tap on the edit thumbnail.

  2.   A range of editing options will come up, the “portrait” option allows you to change the focus point by tapping on the screen as well as the depth in the image by moving the slider from left to right. You can also “turn off” the portrait mode.

  3. On the top-right corner you will see the “Lighting” thumbnail, tap on it and the lighting slider will appear above the editing options, slide to see the different options.

  4. You can continue to edit the image by adjusting the light, colour, composition and more just remembering to hit the “done” button when you are finished


Did you know…


You can shoot video and photographs at the same time when you are in  “photo” mode.

  1. Tap and hold done the shutter release button, you will notice the button turns red and moves into video recording.

  2. If you swipe your finger to the right you can “lock” the video record, and use the “shutter button” to take still images at the same time. You will also notice a “pause” button on the opposite side of the screen which allows you to pause the video. If you want to stop recording, simply tap the “red” record button.

  3.  We continue the learning journey in our next blog post about shooting video, if you loved what you’ve learned please send us a mail with your favourite shots.







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© 2025 Beverley Dupouy, Enviroshot, all rights reserved.

 

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