Three iPhone camera tricks you wish you’d known sooner

Smartphone cameras are getting better and better, plus they are easy and very intuitive to use. This is why many of us rely on them for taking photos in everyday situations. However, because of their ease of use, some camera options remain hidden and unknown to users. In this video, Evan Ranft shares three lesser-known iPhone camera features. You may not have known about them, yet they can help you take better photos with your phone camera.

https://youtu.be/C63Q5CCbXDI

1. Exposure compensation

The first feature is hidden in plain sight. When you click on the area you want to focus, you’ll see a square and a small sun icon next to it. This sun icon is exposure compensation. Click on in and drag your finger up or down to brighten and darken the image and have more control over the exposure. To be honest, I discovered the same feature on my Huawei P8 Lite a few months ago, although I’ve had this phone for a year and a half. I feel a bit silly because it’s been there all along, but oh well, at least I know it now.

2. Cross sections for flat lay photos

Another feature you may not have known about involves a grid setting on your phone. When you’re taking a flat lay photo, it’s difficult to tell when your phone is perfectly parallel to the ground. When you enable the grid, you’ll see two small cross-sections. When they align, they’ll tell you when your phone is perfectly parallel to the ground.

3. Autofocus lock

When you tap on a certain area of the photo, your phone will focus there. However, if you tap and hold, the phone will lock autofocus. This enables you to recompose the shot without losing your selected focus point. I found a similar feature on my Huawei; it’s called object tracking. You have to enable or disable it every time, so it’s not that user-friendly like iPhone’s AF lock.

Did you already know of these iPhone camera features? Are there any other features you find useful, yet it took you a while to discover them?

[3 iPhone Camera Tricks I Wish I Knew Sooner | Evan Ranft]