6 iPhone Camera Tips to Enhance Your Photography Skills

Apple’s latest iPhone includes several key camera features worth using, such as Portrait Mode and Photography Styles. But if you just want to use the standard photo mode, there are still tools and settings that can improve your photo composition and help you capture the perfect shot using more traditional techniques.

Whether you’re the owner of a new iPhone or a long-time user looking to up your photography game, the following six camera tools and settings in iOS are worth checking out and trying.

1. Use the rule of thirds

For some time now, Apple’s Camera app has included some optional settings to help you arrange your photos. The most important of these settings is the Grid tool, which should be used when applying the rule of thirds. It divides the frame of the photo into a grid with two horizontal and two vertical lines, forming nine equal parts.

The rule of thirds helps guide the viewer’s eye to the most important parts of the photo and creates a more harmonious composition. Here’s how to overlay a grid on a picture window.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and click Camera.
3. In the Composition section, turn on the switch next to Grid.

Here are five things to remember when applying the rule of thirds using a grid.

• Identify key elements: First, identify the main subject or element in the scene you want to photograph. These can be people, buildings, trees, or any focal point.
• Position your subject: Place these key elements along lines or points where lines intersect. For example, if you are taking a photo of a person, you could place it on one of the vertical lines rather than in the center of the frame.
• horizontal element: For horizontal elements (such as the horizon in a landscape), align them to one of the horizontal lines. For a more dramatic sky, place the horizon line on a lower line. To put more emphasis on the land or sea, place it on the upper line.
• balanced image: Use the rule of thirds to balance your photo. If you place a subject on the left, consider placing something less important on the right to create a sense of balance.
• experiment: Although the rule of thirds is a guiding principle, it is not a strict rule. Feel free to try it out and see how changing elements in the frame changes the look of your photo.

2. Straighten top-down shots

If you’re taking a photo of something like a plate of food or a decoration on the ground from above, consider using a camera level as it can help you take balanced photos without using a tripod arm or stand. It’s also useful for photographing objects directly above you, such as those on the ceiling or in the sky.

The camera level tool used to be part of the grid overlay, but Apple separated out the feature in iOS 17, and it now has its own toggle: Open the Settings app on your iPhone, select Camera, then turn on Level Next to the switch. Now you can use it.

1. Open the camera app and set the shooting mode to photo, portrait, blockor time lapseuse the sliding menu above the shutter button.
2. Point the camera directly above the subject (or directly above if the subject/scene you want to capture is above you).
3. By adjusting the angle of your phone’s camera, align the floating crosshair with the fixed crosshair in the center of the screen. When perfectly aligned, the crosshairs all glow yellow.
4. Click the shutter button to take a photo.

The aligned crosshairs turn yellow (right), indicating that the camera is parallel to the ground.

3. Straighten your horizontal shot

By making the level tool a separate option in iOS 17, Apple is also providing an additional level for more traditional straight-view photos.

Turning on the Horizontal option causes a broken horizontal line to appear on the screen when your iPhone detects that you’re queuing up a straight shot and you tilt the device slightly outside of horizontal position. When your phone is not level, the line appears white; once it reaches level, the line turns yellow, indicating success.

Try it yourself after enabling the level settings (Settings ➝ Camera ➝ Levels). Open the Camera app and try to capture your subject at a right angle, you should see a dotted line in the center of the viewfinder. Straighten the angle upward to connect the lines and create a yellow line.

The horizontal pop-up appears only briefly and only within a narrow range of angles that are close to horizontal (portrait or landscape), so it doesn’t pop up when you intentionally try to take a photo at an angle.

4. Continuous photo shooting

Burst mode is when the camera on your iPhone takes a series of photos in rapid succession at a rate of 10 pictures per second. This is a great way to capture action scenes or unexpected events because you’re always more likely to get the shot you want.

To shoot in burst mode, go to Settings ➝ Camera and turn on Use volume up for burst shootingthen press and hold the Volume Up button in the Camera app, and your iPhone will take a series of photos in quick succession. Note that the counter inside the on-screen shutter button will increase as long as the volume button is pressed. This indicates how many photos have been captured in the current burst. When you want to end the burst, just remove your finger from the volume.

When you take a series of burst photos, they automatically appear in the Photos app under the album name Burst. You can also find them in the main photo gallery. Click the link to learn How to view and choose the best burst photos In the Photos app.

5. Mirror your selfies

When you take a selfie using your iPhone’s camera app, it automatically flips (or mirrors) the image so that it becomes an inverted version of the mirrored image you saw in the preview before taking the shot.

This may seem strange because it has a big impact on the appearance of your selfie. It can also be annoying because most third-party social media apps automatically take mirror selfies, which means you’re more likely to get used to the mirror feature than the flip selfies your iPhone takes.

Luckily, you can change the camera app’s default behavior, which means you can get mirror selfies you’re probably more accustomed to seeing. Here’s how.

1. start up settings Applications, then scroll down and select camera.
2. Toggle the switch next to Mirror front lens to the green ON position.

That’s all. From now on, when you take a selfie using the Camera app, you’ll take the same photo you see in the app’s preview mode.

6. Views outside the frame

On iPhone 11 and later, there’s an optional camera setting that lets you see beyond the borders of the photo frame, so you can correct the alignment of your photos (and movies) without cropping.

With the “Out of Frame View” setting enabled, when using a wide-angle or telephoto lens, the camera will simultaneously use the next widest sensor to show you the view of the lens. So when you’re looking with the telephoto lens, the wide-angle lens is active, and when you select the wide-angle lens, the ultra-wide-angle lens is active.

1. Open settings app.
2. Scroll down and click camera.
3. Under the “Composition” section, turn on the switch next to “Out of Frame View.”

You may need to experiment with adjusting the zoom level to switch between lenses, but you’ll know the feature is on when the camera interface becomes translucent to show your surroundings outside the viewfinder.