How to Use the Camera on an iPhone

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: September 3, 2020

This wikiHow teaches you how to use the native Camera app that came pre-loaded on your iPhone.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:
Getting Ready to Take a Photo or Video

1
Open the Camera app. It's a gray app that contains a black camera icon.
- In iOS 10, you can quickly open the camera by swiping left on your iPhone's Lock screen. This feature comes in handy if you need to snap a photo on short notice.
2
Frame your shot. Do so by aiming the camera's lens at your subject.
- To switch between the rear-facing and front-facing (selfie) cameras, tap the camera icon with the 🔄 symbol inside it. It's in the lower-right corner of the screen.
- Turn the iPhone horizontally to capture a wider, landscape-oriented photo.
- Zoom in by spreading two fingers in opposite directions on the screen.
- Zoom out by pinching two fingers together on the screen.
- Set flash options by tapping the ⚡icon in the upper-left corner of the screen.
  - Tap Auto if you'd like the Camera app to activate the flash when lighting conditions require it.
  - Tap On if you want flash whenever you take a photo or video.
  - Tap Off if you don't want the flash to activate when you take photos or videos.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:
Taking Photos

1
Tap PHOTO. This puts the camera in standard photo mode. It's at the bottom of the screen, just above the round, white button. All of the camera modes are listed horizontally here.
- To capture an image in "PHOTO" mode, tap the round, white button at the bottom (portrait) or side (landscape) of the screen.
2
Scroll left and tap SQUARE. In this mode, the camera will take a standard photo, but it will be cropped into a square so that its aspect ratio conforms with the standard settings of apps like Instagram.
- To capture an image in "SQUARE" mode, tap the round, white button at the bottom or side of the screen.
- In "PHOTO" and "SQUARE" modes, you can tap HDR at the top of the screen to activate High Dynamic Range, which will process photos in a slightly different manner to enhance the highlights and lowlights in the images.
- In "PHOTO" and "SQUARE" modes, you can take self-timed photos by tapping the timer icon at the top-right of the screen. Tap 3s for a three-second interval or 10s for a 10-second interval, then tap the round, white button at the bottom of the screen to start the timer. Tap Off to deactivate the timer.
- In "PHOTO" and "SQUARE" modes, you can add a filter, which changes the look and feel of an image, to your photos by tapping the overlapping circles icon in the upper-right corner of the camera screen, then tapping a filter, and taking a photo as you normally would.
3
Scroll left and tap PANO. Do so at the bottom of the screen. In this mode, you can take an extremely wide-angle, panoramic picture by slowly moving your iPhone horizontally to capture a scene of up to 360 degrees.
- To take a vertical panoramic shot (of a skyscraper, for instance), hold the iPhone horizontally and move it slowly upward.
- To capture an image in "PANO" mode, tap the round, white button at the bottom or side of the screen, then move the iPhone slowly so that the white, on-screen arrow follows the yellow line. Tap the white square inside the white circle when you're done.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:
Taking Videos

1
Scroll right and tap VIDEO. Scroll over the camera modes near the bottom of the screen. In this mode, your iPhone will record videos at a normal frame rate.
- To capture a scene in "VIDEO" mode, tap the round, red button at the bottom (portrait) or side (landscape) of the screen to start recording. Tap the red square at the bottom or side of the screen when you are finished recording.
2
Scroll right and tap SLO-MO. In this mode, the camera will begin to capture a video at a normal frame-rate but will increase the frame-rate in the middle to create a slow-motion video.
- To capture a scene in "SLO-MO" mode, tap the round, red button at the bottom (portrait) or side (landscape) of the screen to start recording. Tap the red square at the bottom or side of the screen when you are finished recording.
- Slow-motion videos are bigger files that use more storage than standard videos.
3
Scroll right and tap TIME-LAPSE. In this mode, your iPhone will capture a video at a low frame-rate to create a speeded-up, time-lapse effect.
- To capture a scene in "TIME-LAPSE" mode, tap the round, red button at the bottom (portrait) or side (landscape) of the screen to start recording. Tap the red square at the bottom or side of the screen when you are finished recording.
- When taking a time-lapse video, your iPhone should remain still and in the same place for the duration of the video to achieve the best effect.
4
View your photo or video. In any camera mode, tap the thumbnail in the lower-left corner of the screen to view, delete, or edit your photos or videos.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I turn shutter sound on?

Community Answer

Make sure that you have your mute switch turned off, then turn up the volume on your phone until you can hear it. The iPhone's shutter sound can't actually be turned off per se, but it does get muted when the phone is muted.
Question

How do you choose the "selfie" option?

Community Answer

Open the camera. Then, press the square with arrows in it in top right hand corner square. This changes the camera from the front camera to the selfie camera. Touch it again and to revert back to take other photos.
Question

How can I send a photo by email?

Chris (Byankno1)

Top Answerer

Open the Photos app, select your photo, tap the Share button from the bottom left corner of the screen (the button will look like a square with an arrow coming out of it near the top), tap Email, tap the size of the photo you want to send (some people have tiny email mailboxes that iPhones are cleverly designed to adjust for), then fill in the details as if it was a brand new email to the person with the picture as an attachment.
Question

Where is the live button on an iPhone 6?

Chris (Byankno1)

Top Answerer

iPhone sixes don't have a live button. You'll get this button when you upgrade to the iPhone 6S or 7 (or any other device newer than the iPhone 6).
Question

How can you get the auto flash to stay on after the first photo with a flash?

Community Answer

There is a lightning bolt that should appear when you open the Camera app.
Question

How can you save your pictures so they don't disappear when the app is closed?

Community Answer

They automatically save. Just go to the app labeled "photos," and the pictures you have taken will be there.
Question

In camera mode, is there another way to zoom in without the "pinch" method?

Chris (Byankno1)

Top Answerer

As of iOS 10 and up, pinch is the only way to access the zoom feature.
Question

How do you select one picture from a burst group?

Community Answer

To do that, tap the "select" button, tap the picture you wish to select, then do whatever you want with it.

Things You'll Need

iOS device (iPod touch or iPhone or iPad)
Camera app (default, preinstalled, and undeletable app)

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About This Article

Co-authored by:

wikiHow Staff Writer

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 128,955 times.

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Co-authors: 13

Updated: September 3, 2020

Views: 128,955

Categories: Featured Articles | IPhone