The iPhone Camera

Cameras on phones are getting better and better all the time due to advances in both hardware and software. You can take AMAZING photos with “the camera that’s always with you”.

In upcoming articles, podcasts and videos, I’ll be reviewing photo apps and show you how to get the most out of your smartphone camera.

I’ll start off by giving you an overview of the “stock” iPhone camera app. Although there are a LOT of camera apps out there that truly extend the capabilities of the camera, the stock camera app is still a great choice when capturing your images. For one thing, it’s the fastest camera app for a “quick draw” shot. If you were to suddenly come upon a surprise photo op, you should be able to pull your iPhone out of your pocket and snap a photo in less that 2 seconds. Without even having to unlock your phone, just bring up the lock screen, find the camera icon in the lower right hand side, flick it up and you’re good to start shooting.

There are several other tips and tricks (i.e. did you know you can use the volume buttons as a shutter release to take pictures?) that I’ll cover in the video below. Here’s a quick summary:

• The iPhone focuses quick on objects in the center of the screen, but you can force the focus point by tapping anywhere on the screen.
• Once you’ve tapped your point of focus, you can also tap and slide, up and down, to change the exposure.
• A tap and hold on a point on the screen will lock your exposure and focus point until you tap somewhere else on the screen to unlock it.
• The timer allows you to shoot at 3 and 10 seconds. The video will go over why the 3 second timer can help you get nice, sharp photos.
• You can force the flash to fire even in bright sunlight, which could help with some fill light in certain situations.
• There are some nice filters you can use (i.e. black and white, saturated color, vintage, etc.)

To see more features (including a way to use the panorama camera in a way you may not have thought of), check out the video.

Cheers!