Apple
15 iPhone 11 Camera Tips & Tricks
The iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are all about the camera upgrades this year. There’s more to these new iPhones than just another lens to use. These are the iPhone 11 camera tips and tricks that you need to take full advantage of your new iPhone.
You’ll need to change a few iPhone settings to take full advantage of your iPhone 11 camera and learn how to use the new camera app on the iPhone. We recommend doing this before you head out on a trip or pull your camera out to capture a birthday or soccer game.
Here are the best iPhone 11 camera tips, tricks and even a few hidden features that will take your photos to the next level.
- Experiment with the New UltraWide Camera
- Supercharge Your Selfie
- Record Video When Taking a Photo
- Learn the New Burst Photo Mode
- Take an Ultra-Wide Panorama
- Record More Than You See
- Take 16×9 Photos to Capture More
- Use the Volume Buttons to Take a Photo
- Use Night Mode
- Add a Tripod for Better Night Mode
- Record Super Smooth Ultra-Wide 4K 60 FPS Videos
- Use the Both Portrait Mode Lenses
- Take Pet & Object Portrait Photos
- Use More than The Standard Zooms
- Take A Slofie
Check out the cool things the iPhone 11 can do to learn more about what the iPhone is capable of. We also have a roundup of the best iPhone 11 accessories, iPhone 11 screen protectors the best iPhone 11 cases and best iPhone 11 Pro cases.
Experiment with the New Ultra-Wide Camera
Use the new ultra-wide camera.
The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro both include a new ultra-wide camera that can capture more of the scene around you. This is amazing for sharing a bigger view. It can capture the magnitude of a landscape or simply set the stage for a perfect moment. This also allows you to be closer to a subject and take a photo with more in the frame at once.
Tap on the 0.5x camera option to switch to ultra-wide using the stock camera app on the new iPhone.
Supercharge Your Selfie
A 7 MP selfie on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
The new selfie camera features a 12MP sensor, but when you take a selfie in portrait orientation as most of us do, the sensor crops into 7 MP and a tighter shot.
If you want to capture more of the background and zoom out a bit, you can rotate the phone to landscape and then it will use the 12MP sensor and take a wider selfie.
A 12MP selfie on the iPhone 11 Pro Max,
You can also tap on the arrows near the shutter to switch between 7MP and 12MP without changing the orientation.
Read: Best Selfie Apps in 2019
Record Video When Taking a Photo
Quickly record video when taking a photo.
If you are taking a photo and you decide that you would rather be taking video, simply hold the shutter button down and it will switch to video. From there, you can slide up or slide to the right to lock into video mode.
This is very handy when taking pictures of kids, pets and sporting events. The camera app appears to capture a little video from before the switch to video, likely pulling from the Live Photo start.
Learn the New Burst Photo Mode
How to use Burst Photo on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.
Since holding the shutter now turns into video, you need to switch up how you take burst photos on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. Instead of holding the shutter, simply swipe down from the shutter and hold the button in the lower or left area to take shutter photos.
Take an Ultra-Wide Panorama
You can take a panorama with the Ultra-wide camera on the new iPhones. This ends up with more distortion than the standard lens, but it is a somewhat hidden feature that allows you to switch up how you take photos on your iPhone.
Record More Than You See
Record outside of the frame for the ability to re-compose your shot later.
You can toggle on a new mode that will capture areas outside of the image when you take a photo with the standard lens. When recording with the wide lens, the ultra-wide can also record so you can slightly zoom out on a photo or video to bring someone or something back into the frame. If you don’t edit and use the extra image it is deleted after 30 days.
Take 16×9 Photos to Capture More
Take photos in 16:9 aspect ratio.
Typically photos are shot in 4:3 or a square for Instagram. On the new iPhones, you can switch to a 16:9 aspect ratio which lets you capture a slightly wider shot and new aspect ratio.
Tap on the arrow on the left of the screen or swipe to the left to open the additional settings then you can tap on the 4:3 option and then on 16:9.
Use the Volume Buttons to Take a Photo
My favorite iPhone camera trick is using the iPhone volume buttons to take a photo. This is easier than finding the on-screen button in many situations and it’s perfect for reaching the phone out for a better angle or simply better control over taking photos when you are trying to get quick shots.
Use Night Mode
Use night mode on the iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro.
The new Night Mode automatically turns on in low light, taking a longer exposure to bring way more detail into the photo. You’ll see a small moon-like yellow icon near the flash when this is active.
You can also tap on this icon and then slide the control dial on the right side of the screen to adjust how long you take a night mode photo. Below you can see an example of night mode vs non-night mode.
Add a Tripod for Better Night Mode
Add a Tripod to upgrade Night Mode.
If you add a tripod into the mix, you can boost Night Mode up to 30 seconds. This only works with a tripod, as the iPhone senses movement and limits the length until you put the phone in a tripod or rest it perfectly propped on something.
Record Super Smooth Ultra-Wide 4K 60 FPS Videos
https://twitter.com/ZachHonig/status/1174725901222862852
If you need to record super-smooth iPhone 11 video, use the ultra-wide lens and shoot at 4K 60 FPS. This creates a buttery smooth look even when you are holding the phone in your hand.
You need to make sure you have 4K 60 FPS turned on in your settings. Go to Settings -> Camera -> Record Video 60 FPS. When you switch to video mode, choose the 0.5x zoom option to use the ultra-wide camera.
Use the Both Portrait Mode Lenses
You can now take a Portrait mode photo using the telephoto lens or the wide lens on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. This lets you get more creative and use the portrait mode to blur out the background of a full person. Test this out when taking pictures of people by switching to Portrait mode and then tapping on the 2x in the lower left to switch to the 1x zoom and capture more of the person or scene.
Take Pet & Object Portrait Photos
Try a pet portrait on the new iPhones.
The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro now support using the portrait mode for objects and for pets. While you can force the portrait mode on older phones to sometimes work with pets, this is now more optimized and it can deliver amazing results. Just open the portrait mode, and point your phone at a pet or object instead of at a person. You can also apply many of the portrait mode effects.
Use More than The Standard Zooms
Use more than just the normal zoom options.
If you tap on the zoom options, you can switch between 0.5x and 1x on the iPhone 11 and 0.5x, 1x and 2x on the iPhone 11 Pro or Pro Max. These are the only zoom options available on the new iPhones.
Tap and hold for a second on the zoom options and then you can slide the dial to zoom between 0.5x and up to 10x. Once you get past 1X on the iPhone 11 or 2X on the iPhone 11 Pro you will be using digital zoom, which means losing quality.
Take A Slofie
#slofie #sneezie pic.twitter.com/zhDAWoPYV0
— Josh Smith (@Josh_Smith) September 27, 2019
You can take a slofie, aka a slow-motion selfie using the front-facing camera. Open the camera, switch to the front-facing camera and then tap on slow-motion. Now you can record a slofie. You can edit this just like a standard slow-motion video to adjust the timing and speed changes.
