iPhone Photography For Dummies
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The camera lens that comes on newer iPhones has perks for photographers, including a large aperture and highly accurate sensor, which make for better images all around. In addition, auto image stabilization makes up for any shakiness in the hands holding the iPhone, and autofocus has sped up, thanks to the fast processors being used. For videographers, you’ll appreciate a fast frames-per-second capability as well as a slow-motion feature.
  1. To capture a video, tap the Camera app on the Home screen. In iPhone, two video cameras are available for capturing video, one from the front and one from the back of the device. (See more about this topic in the next task.)
  2. The Camera app opens. Tap and slide the camera-type options above or next to the red Record button (depending on how you’re holding your iPhone) until Video rests above or next to the button; this is how you switch from the still camera, or Photo, mode to the video camera, or Video, mode.
    iPhone Camera app
  3. If you want to switch between the front and back cameras, tap the Switch Camera button in the top-right corner of the screen when holding your iPhone in landscape mode or in the bottom-right when holding the iPhone in portrait mode.
  4. Use the Quick toggle buttons in the upper-left of your screen (holding landscape) or upper-right (holding portrait) to easily change the resolution and frame rates for your video. Tap HD or 4K to switch between those modes, and tap the number to switch between 30 and 60 frames per second in HD or 24, 30, or 60 frames per second in 4K.

    Quick toggles only automatically appear with iPhone 12 models, the iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11 models, iPhone XS models, and iPhone XR. For other models, go to Settings→Camera→Record Video and enable Video Format Control.

  5. Tap the red Record button to begin recording the video. (The red dot in the middle of this button turns into a red square when the camera is recording.) When you’re finished, tap the Record button again to stop recording. Your new video is now displayed in the bottom-left or bottom-right corner of the screen, depending on how you’re holding your iPhone. Tap the video to play, share, or delete it. In the future, you can find and play the video in your Camera Roll when you open the Photos app.

Use QuickTake for videos

QuickTake videos are videos that you can record while you’re in Photo mode. So, if you’re taking a picture of someone but feel like recording part of the action, QuickTake is a great feature to take advantage of. To invoke QuickTake:
  1. Open the Camera app.
  2. While in Photo (still picture) mode, touch and hold the white Shutter button. The Shutter button will turn red and the recording will begin. To stop recording, simply remove your finger from the screen.
  3. If you’d like to continue recording hands free, touch and hold the Shutter button, and when recording begins, slide the Record button to the right to lock it into recording mode, as illustrated.
    QuickTake
  4. You can still take photos while locked into recording mode by tapping the white Shutter button to the right.
  5. Tap the Record button to stop recording and return to Photo mode.
QuickTake is only supported for iPhone 12 models, the iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11 models, iPhone XS models, and iPhone XR.

Before you start recording, remember where the camera lens is — while holding the iPhone and panning, you can easily put your fingers directly over the lens! Also, you can’t pause your recording; when you stop, your video is saved, and when you start recording, you’re creating a new video file.

How to edit videos on iphone

iPhone Photos (where your videos are stored) isn’t Final Cut Pro, but it does provide a few handy tools for editing videos.
  1. Tap the Photos app on the Home screen, locate your video, and tap to open it.
  2. Tap the Edit button in the upper-right corner of the screen; the Edit screen appears. The one shown is for a video shot in landscape mode.
    Edit button
  3. At this point, you can take several possible actions with the tools provided:
    • Crop: To crop the video to a portion of its original area, tap the Crop button. You can then tap any corner of the image and drag inward or outward to remove areas of the video. Tap Crop and then Save to apply your changes.
    • Filters: Apply any of nine filters (such as Vivid, Mono, or Noir) to change the look of your video images. These effects adjust the brightness of your video or apply a black-and-white tone to your color videos. Tap the Filters button on the left side of the screen and then scroll through the list on the right side to view available filters. Tap one to apply the effect to your video.
    • Adjustments: Tap Light, Color, or B&W to access a slew of tools that you can use to tweak contrast, color intensity, shadows, and more.
    • Auto-enhance: The icon for this feature looks like a magic wand, and it pretty much works like one. Tapping the wand allows your iPad to apply automatic adjustments to your video's exposure, saturation, contrast, and so on.
    • Trim: Use the trim tool to remove parts of your video you no longer want to view.
  4. If you’re pleased with your edits, tap the Done button. A copy of the edited video is saved.

Each of the editing features has a Cancel button. If you don’t like the changes you made, tap this button (in the upper-left corner) to stop making changes before you save the image. How about if you make changes you later regret? Just open the video, tap Edit, and then tap the red Revert button in the upper-right to discard changes to the original.

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