The iPhone just seems to get better with every new iteration of the
device - seemingly leaving the humble compact camera far behind in its
wake. But it's not all just Apple hype, the iPhone 6 has recently been heralded as the best smartphone camera to have ever existed by respected independent industry bod DxO Labs. Apple
has shied away from chasing huge pixel counts, sticking with the same
8MP resolution that has been featured on the camera since the iPhone 4S. There's also the same f/2.2 lens and processor - the majority of new changes are "under the hood". Perhaps
the biggest new change is the addition of Focus Pixels (in camera
terminology that's the addition of phase detection pixels) and in real
terms means that the camera is capable of focusing at twice the speed of
the iPhone 5S. One
of the most interesting new features is the ability to change the
exposure of a photo manually - we'll talk about that more later. There's
also improved face detection, to include blink and smile detection for
best shots in burst mode. Here's 10 ways you can get the most from your iPhone 6 camera.
1. Change Exposure Manually
Photographing
something a little dark, or a little bright? That's no problem with the
new manual exposure control option. First you'll need to tap the area
on the photo that you want to be the main subject and therefore base the
exposure on. If
the camera doesn't accurately guess the exposure, use the slider to
make adjustments by dragging your finger up and down the screen. You can
use it to creative effect by producing high key or low key looks too.
2. Better Group Shots with Timer Mode
Co-ordinate
your friends with three or ten seconds notice from the new timer mode
or just use it to set up awkward shots, angles or even selfies. What's
more the camera will fire off a burst when the countdown timer reaches
zero, giving you the opportunity to choose the best photo from the bunch
- great for weeding out blinkers and grumpy faces.
3. Time lapse mode
One
of the new fun modes is the time lapse setting. Simply select this and
the camera will take a new photo every few seconds. When you're ready,
press stop and a video will be created showing a time lapse of the event
you've just photographed. It's great for sports, sunsets, or just your
dog fooling around. For
best effect though, you'll either need an extremely steady hand, or
something sturdy to rest the phone on - such as a stand or tripod
adaptor.
4. Get better shots with burst mode
There are
lots of ways to utilise burst mode to make sure you get the shots you
need. It's not just for group shots, it could be used when you're
photographing a sports event and want to make sure you capture the
crucial part, or maybe something like a wedding or a party. Hold
down the shutter icon on screen, or either of the volume buttons, to
take a burst. A number will appear on screen showing you how many shots
you've taken. Once you're done, click the picture in the corner of the
screen. You'll
now notice that you can press select - the one which the iPhone has
deemed to be the best will have a grey circle underneath it, but you can
choose a different one if you prefer. Make your selection and press
done. You can opt to keep all of the shots, or only the ones you want to
save memory.
5. Add filters to your images
You may already be
familiar with the filters icon in the bottom of the screen which appears
when you're shooting a fresh image, but you can also add these filters
after the image has been taken. From
the gallery, or the preview screen, simply press edit and tap the same
filters icon on the bottom of the screen to choose from different filter
options. The good thing here is that you can change your mind at a
later date. Go back to the original photo by tapping the word revert in
the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
6. Quickly collect your best images together
There's
a big difference between the photos that we instantly know are
long-term keepers and the snapshots of your morning cup of coffee. A
handy way to filter out the dross when you want to flick through your
best work is to tap the heart icon that appears at the bottom of the
screen when previewing an image you've just taken. These photos will be
collected together in an album handily called favourites. If you fall
out of love with any of the shots, you can simply tap the heart again to
ditch it from the collection.
7. Edit photos without the need for third party apps
Although
there are some great editing apps on the iTunes store, being able to
make quick changes without leaving the camera app is more convenient. You
can now alter a fantastic array of different parameters, including
exposure, highlights, saturation and contrast. Once again, you can
revert to your original image at any time by clicking revert. Though
it's worth saving a spare copy of any image that you've done a lot of
editing work on.
8. Create beautiful black and white images
Apple
hasn't left us with a one-size fits all simple black and white
conversion tool here, which is great news. Head to black and white under
the editing tab and you can alter the intensity, grain, tone and
neutral areas in your black and white shot to get it looking exactly the
way you want to. Of course you can revert the image at any time.
9. Crop and rotate for better compositions
It's
easy to take a snap in a hurry and not worry too much about framing but
luckily you can correct any problems later with the simple to use crop
and rotate tools. Click
the edit icon, then tap the crop icon. Scroll the dial at the bottom of
the frame to rotate the image by up to 45 degrees either way. Minute
changes are good for fixing wonky horizons, while bigger angles make for
good abstract shots. You can also use pinch to crop into the image,
removing any distracting elements.
10. Find your photos quickly
With many of us taking dozens, if not hundreds, of snaps a day it can be tricky finding the one you need in a hurry. Luckily,
the new search function allows you to quickly jump to certain places,
including "nearby", "home" and specific locations that you have visited.
So if want to see all of your photos from a specific holiday or trip,
simply start typing the location. You
don't need to have tagged them with this information yourself, the
iPhone will do it automatically if you have location services enabled
(go to settings > privacy > location services). You can also view
your photos by collections, with a neat bonus being the ability to view
your images on a map. Simply click the location name to be shown a map
of your images.
