Author: Lauren Crabbe

Unlike a compact camera or a DSLR, your iPhone doesn’t let you adjust the most popular settings: aperture, lens length, shutter speed, and white balance. That said, several tools within the Camera app (and other third-party programs) can aid you in taking very attractive pictures.

Exposure and focus

Setting your iPhone camera’s exposure (which controls the image’s brightness) is a simple matter of tapping once on whatever part of the image you’d like to source. If you move, or if the view changes too much, the Camera app recalibrates and picks a new focus and exposure point.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here are a few common situations and some tips on how to photograph them successfully. We emphasize basic approaches, but don’t be afraid to get creative and capture something unique.

Sunsets and bright windows

If you find yourself observing a beautiful sunset, and you’re itching to take someone’s picture in front of it, remember that the sun is still very bright even when it’s setting. This means that you’re shooting in a backlit situation, so you need to take the same steps you would if you were shooting in front of a sunny window.

When capturing a backlit portrait, use your iPhone’s flash to illuminate your subject. Because the camera will expose for the background lighting, the result should be a nice, even exposure. Alternatively, you can tap to set the exposure on your subject and then use the iPhone’s HDR mode to flesh out the sunset’s shades. HDR is perfect for capturing sunset landscapes.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here