Best iPhone 12 Camera Tips to Take Better Photos

Summary

This video offers comprehensive iPhone 12 camera tips to enhance photo quality. It covers new exposure controls available in iOS 14, which allow for better dynamic range management. The script advises on aspect ratio selection, leveraging grids for composition, and utilizing Live Mode for the perfect shot. It also highlights the benefits of Portrait Mode, especially with the iPhone 12's improved lens, and the importance of using a tripod for night mode shots. Lastly, it encourages viewers to explore the iPhone's Photos app for editing features to stylize images.

Takeaways

• 📱 The iPhone 12 introduces new exposure controls that provide more control over image brightness, especially useful in high dynamic range scenarios.
• 🔗 Exposure compensation can be adjusted by swiping up on the screen to access controls, allowing for a darker or brighter image as desired.
• 🔗 Locking focus on a subject before adjusting exposure can help achieve the desired image quality, especially when the HDR might not perform optimally.
• 📱 Accessorizing with cases and screen protectors is recommended for iPhone 12 users, with options like the Map version and Jelly case mentioned.
• 📸 Choosing the right aspect ratio for photos is crucial, with 4x3, 16x9, and square options available, depending on where the photo will be used.
• 📏 Using grids in the camera settings can enhance photo composition by aligning subjects with the rule of thirds or other compositional techniques.
• 📸 Live mode can be utilized to select the perfect image from a short video clip, offering more control over the final still image.
• 📷 Portrait mode on the iPhone 12 benefits from a new main camera lens, allowing for better depth of field and more natural background blur in photos.
• 📸 Night mode can be significantly improved by using a tripod, which allows the iPhone to take longer exposures and produce better low-light images.
• 🎨 The Photos app offers a range of editing features to enhance images, from auto adjustments to seasonal styles, allowing users to make their photos stand out.

Q & A

What new exposure control feature is available in the iPhone 12 and iOS 14?

The new exposure control feature allows users to have more control over their images by adjusting the exposure compensation. This can be accessed by swiping up on the screen to reveal the exposure control slider, which can be used to make the image brighter or darker as desired.

How does locking the focus help in taking better photos on the iPhone 12?

Locking the focus ensures that the subject of the photo remains in focus and does not change after the initial focus lock. This is particularly useful when adjusting the exposure, as it prevents the camera from refocusing and altering the exposure settings.

What are some recommended iPhone 12 accessories mentioned in the script?

The script recommends cases and screen protectors for the iPhone 12. It specifically mentions Map versions, Jelly cases, and Matte skins for cases, and robust, heavy-duty screen protectors for added protection.

Why might someone choose a 16x9 aspect ratio when taking photos with their iPhone 12?

Choosing a 16x9 aspect ratio is beneficial for users who plan to post their photos on Instagram Stories, as this format requires a 16 by nine aspect ratio. It also allows for more of the scene to be visible on the screen, though it does not increase the field of view beyond the capabilities of the ultra-wide lens.

How can the grid feature in the iPhone camera app help with photo composition?

The grid feature helps with photo composition by allowing users to apply the rule of thirds, which can lead to more balanced and visually appealing images. It also includes crosshairs that appear when shooting from directly above, indicating when the phone is perfectly level.

What is the purpose of Live Mode in the iPhone camera, and how can it be used to select the perfect image?

Live Mode captures a few seconds of video before and after the photo is taken. This feature can be used to select the perfect image from the video, especially when the subject or the photographer is moving, which can result in slight blurring in the still photo.

How does the iPhone 12's new main camera lens affect portrait mode?

The iPhone 12's new main camera lens, with its wider aperture, allows for better portrait shots. In portrait mode, the iPhone 12 automatically switches to the 2x telephoto lens, but users can also manually switch to the main lens for portraits, which may provide a more natural background blur.

What is the recommended f-stop range to achieve a natural background blur in portrait mode on the iPhone 12?

For a natural background blur in portrait mode, it is recommended to keep the f-stop above f4. Going below this can result in an overly artificial blur that is easily distinguishable as fake.

How can using a tripod improve night mode photography on the iPhone 12?

When the iPhone 12 is on a tripod, it recognizes this stability and allows for longer exposure times in night mode. This results in better night shots with less noise and more detail, as the camera can capture more light without the need for handholding stability.

What editing features are available in the updated Photos app on the iPhone 12?

The updated Photos app on the iPhone 12 includes a variety of editing features that allow users to change the style of their images, apply filters, and enhance the overall look of their photos, making them stand out more than the standard images captured by the camera.

Outlines

00:00

📱 iPhone 12 Camera Tips for Better Photos

This paragraph introduces various camera tips for the iPhone 12, emphasizing that many of these can be applied to other iPhones, especially with iOS 14. The focus is on new exposure controls that provide more control over image brightness and contrast, particularly in high dynamic range scenarios. The tip explains how to access and use these controls, including locking focus and adjusting exposure compensation for desired brightness levels. It also mentions the use of HDR and how manual adjustments can enhance its effectiveness. The paragraph concludes with a suggestion to check out accessories like cases and screen protectors for the iPhone 12.

05:01

🎥 Advanced iPhone Photography Techniques

The second paragraph delves into additional iPhone photography techniques, starting with the use of aspect ratios for different social media platforms like Instagram. It discusses the misconception of field of view in relation to aspect ratios and the importance of using grids for composing images according to the rule of thirds. A unique feature of the iPhone's grid system is highlighted, which provides crosshairs to assist in leveling the phone for overhead shots. The paragraph then touches on the use of Live Mode for selecting the perfect image from a short video clip, the benefits of using the main camera lens over the 2x telephoto lens in Portrait Mode for more natural background blur, and the importance of using a tripod for night mode shots to achieve longer exposures and better results. Finally, it suggests leveraging the editing features in the Photos app or third-party apps to enhance and stylize images post-capture.

Keywords

💡Exposure Controls

Exposure Controls refer to the settings that adjust the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor, which affects the brightness and detail of the captured image. In the context of the video, the iPhone 12's new exposure controls are highlighted as a feature that enhances the user's ability to manage the light and shadows in their photos, particularly in high dynamic range scenarios. The script mentions that users can lock focus and adjust exposure compensation to achieve desired brightness levels, which is crucial for capturing images with balanced lighting.

💡Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range is the ratio between the brightest and darkest elements that can be captured in an image. It is a key concept in photography, as it determines the detail in both shadows and highlights. The video emphasizes the importance of dynamic range in photography, especially when dealing with scenes that have both very bright and very dark areas. The iPhone 12's exposure controls are mentioned as a tool to manage dynamic range, allowing for better image quality in challenging lighting conditions.

💡Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio is the proportional relationship between the width and the height of an image or screen. In the video, the presenter discusses the different aspect ratios available on the iPhone 12 camera, such as 4x3, 16x9, and square. These ratios influence how much of a scene is captured and how the image will be displayed or shared, especially on platforms like Instagram. The video suggests choosing the right aspect ratio based on the intended use of the photo, which can enhance the composition and visual appeal.

💡Grids

Grids are overlay lines on the camera viewfinder that help photographers align and balance elements within the frame. The script explains that enabling grids in the iPhone's camera settings can assist with composing images using techniques like the rule of thirds. This feature is particularly useful for achieving balanced and aesthetically pleasing photographs, as it guides the photographer in placing key elements of the scene.

💡Live Mode

Live Mode is a feature on the iPhone camera that records a short video clip, including the moment just before the photo is taken. The video explains that while Live Mode traditionally captures a few seconds of video, it can be more useful for selecting the perfect still image from the video. This feature can be beneficial for capturing sharp images when motion blur or camera shake might otherwise affect the photo quality.

💡Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode is a camera setting designed to create professional-looking portraits with a depth-of-field effect that blurs the background while keeping the subject in focus. The video discusses how the iPhone 12's updated camera hardware allows for improved portrait shots, with the option to switch between the 2x telephoto lens and the main lens for different effects. This mode is particularly highlighted for its ability to create a more natural background blur, enhancing the subject's prominence in the image.

💡F-Stop

F-Stop, or aperture, is a setting on a camera lens that controls the size of the lens opening and thus the amount of light that enters. In the video, the presenter advises on the use of f-stop in Portrait Mode to adjust the artificial blur effect. A lower f-stop number results in a shallower depth of field, which can create a more pronounced background blur. The video suggests that going below f4 can result in an unrealistically blurred background, which detracts from the natural look of the image.

💡Night Mode

Night Mode is a camera feature designed to capture better-quality images in low-light conditions. The video explains that when the iPhone is on a tripod and detects that it is stable, it can extend the exposure time for Night Mode shots, resulting in brighter and more detailed images at night. This feature is crucial for astrophotography or any nighttime photography, where maintaining camera stability is essential for capturing sharp and well-exposed images.

💡Photo Editing

Photo Editing involves the process of altering and enhancing digital photographs using various tools and techniques. The video encourages viewers to take advantage of the editing capabilities in the iPhone's Photos app or other apps like Photoshop and Lightroom. Editing can significantly improve the look of photos by adjusting elements such as color, contrast, and style, making them stand out and appear more professional.

💡HDR (High Dynamic Range)

HDR is a photography technique that combines multiple images of different exposures to create a single image with a greater dynamic range. The video script mentions that sometimes the iPhone's automatic HDR may not work optimally in certain lighting conditions. By manually adjusting the exposure, users can sometimes trigger HDR for better results, capturing more detail in both the highlights and shadows of the image.

Highlights

New exposure controls feature on iPhone 12 and iOS 14 devices provides more control over image exposure.

Exposure controls are best for high dynamic range scenarios with bright and dark areas in the image.

Locking focus and adjusting exposure compensation can improve image quality in challenging lighting conditions.

Using HDR in manual exposure mode can result in better images than automatic settings.

Accessories like cases and screen protectors are essential for iPhone 12 users.

Choosing the right aspect ratio for photos based on where they will be used, like Instagram Stories.

The field of view on the iPhone's ultra-wide lens is fixed at 120 degrees, regardless of aspect ratio.

Enabling grids in the camera settings helps with image composition using the rule of thirds.

Hidden feature: Crosshairs appear when shooting from above, indicating when the iPhone is level.

Live mode can be used to select the perfect image from a short video clip.

Live photos consume more storage due to the additional video data.

Portrait mode on iPhone 12 utilizes a new main camera lens for better depth of field in photos.

Adjusting the f-stop in portrait mode can affect the artificial blur and naturalness of the image.

Using a tripod at night allows the iPhone to take longer exposures for better night mode photos.

The Photos app offers various editing features to enhance and stylize images.

Editing photos can significantly improve their visual appeal and make them stand out.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to share their own tips and engage with the content.

Transcripts

here are your iphone 12 camera tips to

shoot better

photos i've got a bunch of tips on the

list that go for the iphone 12 in

particular but to be honest a lot of

these you can use on other iphones as

well

especially if you have ios 14 because

there are some different features that

you can use that

can really take your photos to the next

level so let's get into the first

iphone 12 camera tip we have the new

exposure controls this is really awesome

to be honest now this isn't just for the

iphone 12 if you have ios 14

you can get this at least my iphone 11

pro has it too

so this is really great now and you can

have much more control over your images

so

this definitely works best for higher

dynamic range scenarios so that

really means a really bright part of the

image and a really dark part so you can

expose for the area that you want to see

it also works really well if you have

maybe someone's face and then a really

bright background and the phone is kind

of switching between them not really

knowing what to expose for

so what you can do is either touch the

arrow at the top of the screen

and then the options will come up but

you can also just

swipe up on the screen anywhere on the

screen just swipe up and the same menu

will pop up for you

from there you can do a couple of things

the first is just tap and hold to lock

the focus

because whatever you're taking an image

of obviously you want your focus

on that and you don't want that to

change after that though when the focus

is locked you can then press all the

exposure controls

so this is not really full manual but

it's essentially

a way to change the exposure

compensation so you can basically tell

the phone

you want the image a little bit brighter

or a little bit darker it's not full

manual but

it's pretty good just to get the

exposure that you want so you can

basically swipe down to the left

for a darker image or to the right for a

slightly brighter image

sometimes the hdr on the iphone doesn't

work in those situations and so

if you can lock your focus and then

maybe make the exposure a little bit

darker

sometimes the hdr can kick in and that

means you can get a much better image

than

just letting the iphone do it

automatically and before we go on to the

next tip i will link some accessories

below for the iphone 12 that you may

need especially

cases and screen protectors i've got

these from totally you can see here

i've got four with me the map versions

are super thin and lightweight

they're almost like a skin the jelly

case is a little bit thicker and it does

also cover the buttons as well

which the matte skins don't totally

screen protectors are also pretty good

as well

very robust heavy thick just what you

need check those out and some other

accessories

for photo in the description but the

next tip is choosing your aspect ratio

and essentially there's three ways you

can do it on the iphone you can have a

4x3 which is the normal aspect ratio for

photos

you can also go to a 16x9 though so

depending on where you think you're

going to send

this photo or use it you might want to

choose this one if you want to go

and post an instagram especially stories

you're going to need 16 by nine

four by three isn't going to work for

you but you can also choose square so if

you want to post an instagram

you want to choose a square option and

basically get your photo right

and then not have to crop it and change

it when you're on instagram or

pretty much anywhere else one thing you

may assume is that by having a 16x9

picture which obviously takes up way

more of the screen

that you're gonna get more in the shot

but this actually doesn't happen

the field of view on the iphone is set

especially on that ultra wide i think

it's like 120 degrees so

whether you shoot a 4x3 or a 16x9

16 by 9 will take up more of the screen

but it won't go beyond the 120 degree

field of view of that ultrawide so just

to keep that in mind

then the next step is to use grids so

actually to get grids

on your iphone camera you have to go

into iphone settings it's kind of

annoying but you have to go into your

main iphone settings

then search for the camera settings and

when you scroll down there will be an

option for grids there so you can make

sure that that's turned on

and you can get grids on your iphone

camera app when you're shooting photos

this is just going to help you compose

images so maybe you want to take an

image where the subject is maybe off to

the side a little

bit so you can use the rule of thirds

basically so splitting the image

up into a grid of three by three for

example

so you can just get some better looking

shots like that but also kind of a

hidden feature

in the iphone is if you do use grids you

get these crosshairs that can really

help you out

so if you ever shoot images from

directly above so you're holding your

iphone down and you want to shoot

something directly below it

if you've got the grids feature turned

on then the iphone will give you this

crosshair and it'll only come up when

you do this

and it's basically going to tell you

when the iphone is perfectly level

this is obviously absolutely impossible

to do without this so you'll see the

crosshairs in the middle

then you can change it round and it's

basically telling you when exactly the

iphone is level by making it yellow in

the middle and then if you just

take it just a little bit off level then

those crosshairs will move

and they won't be yellow anymore it's a

really great feature

to basically tell you exactly when your

iphone is level if you're taking shots

from above

let me move on to live mode and live

mode is something that i usually turn

off because i just don't want those

movies before the images and i know a

lot of you guys i think turn it off as

well

but it can be a really great feature and

i think these days

it's kind of not used for the video but

more of actually choosing an

image from the video so if you have live

mode on

as you know it will take maybe a second

or two of

video around your image well you can go

into the photos app

go to that live image and then what you

can do is basically choose

a perfect photo from that video

you can literally just go and scroll

around and find the absolute perfect

image because you know a lot of the time

maybe

things get blurred or you're moving the

iphone or subject is moving

and they're kind of not in focus or a

little bit blurred because the shutter

speed was quite slow

i think live photo is way more useful

for basically choosing the perfect image

rather than having three seconds of

kind of useless video the downside of

live photo is that it does take up

way more memory and storage so depending

on how much you have if you want to use

it

you might want to turn it on or maybe

just leave it off

coming to portrait mode and this is

specifically in terms of the iphone 12

because the iphone 12 is different this

year

it has a new main camera at least the

lens is different it has

a wider aperture and so you may be able

to get much better portrait shots as

compared to other iphones

so if you do switch into portrait mode

on the iphone it actually switches to

the

2x telephoto lens at least on the iphone

12

pro and pro max it will do obviously if

you're on the

12 or 12 mini it won't do that because

you don't have a 2x

you can actually very easily switch it

from the 2x to the main

just in the bottom left-hand corner so

that's really easy you can definitely

play around with this as well because

obviously every situation is going to be

different but

the main lens on the iphone 12

especially has

a better lens and so you may want to

switch to the main lens for portraits

rather than using that 2x that it does

automatically especially if you're close

to your subject then i would just switch

to the main lens because the 2x is going

to be far too zoomed in

and the main lens because it has that

better lens

is going to give you much more natural

background blur

also when it comes to portrait mode you

can choose the

f-stop this basically is artificial blur

this only works in portrait mode

in my experience going anything below

about f4

looks super fake you can tell straight

away the background blur is

fake it's way too much it's way more

than even a professional camera would

have so

in my experience sticking above f4

it's gonna give a much more natural

image also really cool feature on the

iphone and again i don't think this is

just the iphone 12 i think it's

definitely iphone 11

maybe before that too is using a tripod

at night so the iphone can actually know

when it's on a tripod thanks to the

accelerometers inside so it knows when

it's locked off on a tripod

it will then give you way better night

time controls so there is a night mode

on the iphone

it will maybe take an exposure for a

couple of seconds if you're hand holding

it

but if you lock the phone off on a

tripod it will

expose a much much longer image and

you're going to get

way better night mode shots again i'll

link some

cheap tripods in the description you can

have a look at some small ones some big

ones

that you can use with the iphone or

pretty much any smartphone

but certainly if you want to take way

better night shots and astros you're

going to need a tripod or at least just

try and lock it off

so the iphone isn't moving at all and

the last tip is to take advantage of all

the new features in the photos app

apple's stock photos app is really good

now and

you have a ton of different features

that you can use to change the style of

your images

you can also download apps like

photoshop which are pretty good

snapseed which is really good but the

stock photos app pretty much has all of

these too

it's actually really really easy there's

auto features as well but if you want a

specific look there are other looks

within the photos app so you can make

things

look wintery or like they were shot in

summer and spring absolutely everything

else

so i would say just shoot everything in

the normal camera mode

first then you can go and edit your

pictures either in the camera app

or download something like photoshop

lightroom or snapseed to change the

style of your images it's going to

really make them pop and make them stand

out

because obviously the iphone is just

going to take normal standard images all

of the time

the way that you make them look really

great and stand out is by editing the

styles

but that is my iphone 12 camera tips if

you use any or not have any more

put them in the comments below so that

everyone can see them also check out

those links in the description

and for way more content as well thank

you for watching this one thumbs up if

you liked it

and i'll see in the next one