iPhone 16 & 16 Pro (Max) Camera & Photo Settings Beginner Tutorial

There are many useful features hidden behind 
the simple interface of the iPhone Camera   app. Today I will explain the 20 most 
important features and show you how to   get the best possible results with your 
iPhone 16, 16 Plus or 16 Pro or Pro Max.   I will focus on the photo settings. For the 
video settings there will be another video. You can open the camera app in different 
ways: Of course by tapping the app icon,   in the control center you will find it in 
the lower right corner, from the lock screen   by swiping to the left or by pressing the 
camera icon, and of course there is now also   the option to open the camera by pressing the 
camera control button.

But this button can do   much more than just open the camera – I'll 
show you all its features a little later. Let's start simple, with the 
basic operation of the app.  When you start the camera app, you will see the 
last image you captured in the lower left corner.   In the middle there is the shutter button and 
with this little circle of arrows on the right   you can switch between the back camera, which 
is your main camera, and the selfie camera,   which is the front camera.
In the line above you can switch   between the different modes. On the right there 
are the four photo modes Photo, Portrait, Spatial   and Pano. on the left you find the four video 
modes Video, Cinematic, Slo-Mo and Time-Lapse.   While photo and video are self-explanatory, you 
can use Portrait to create a blurred background.   Although this actually also works with objects, 
the mode is called Portrait, because this effect   is especially well suited for portraits.

With 
Spatial you can not only take photos but also   videos with a spatial 3D effect and then play 
them back on the Vision Pro. If you do not have   a Vision Pro, this mode is currently useless.
In Panorama mode you can capture images with a   field of view that is much wider than the camera 
lens would actually allow. This is especially   suitable for landscape photography, for example. 
The Cinematic Mode is a kind of Portrait Mode for   video. In Slo-Mo mode you can capture slow-motion 
shots, and in TimeLapse mode the camera captures   images at certain intervals, which are then 
merged into a video file. The result is a kind   of accelerated video. This is an excellent 
way to capture passing clouds, for example.  But as I said, today we are 
talking about the photo modes.  Let's first have a look at the different 
functions of the shutter button.

If you   want to take a simple photo, of course 
you tap the shutter button briefly. You   can achieve the same result by using the 
volume buttons. It makes no difference   which of the two buttons you use. If you want 
to quickly capture several photos in a row,   you can swipe the shutter button to the left. Now 
your Iphone will capture photos in an extremely   fast sequence until you lift your finger. This 
is called the Burst Mode. This feature is often   used for photographing action. But it can also 
help when taking portraits, for example to avoid   closed eyes. You simply take several photos in 
quick succession and then select the best one.  By the way, in the settings you can also set the 
Burst Mode to be activated by using the Volume Up   button. This would be especially interesting 
if you want to use this mode frequently. If you press and hold the Shutter button, 
the Iphone automatically starts to capture   a video.

The recording ends as soon as you 
release the Shutter button. This way you   can quickly capture a video without having to 
switch to video mode first. Apple calls this   QuickTake. If you want to capture a longer 
video then drag the shutter right onto the   lock. Now the Iphone will continue recording 
even if you release the shutter button. While   recording you can also continue to take pictures 
by tapping on the shutter button that appears on   the right. And here on the left you can pause 
and resume the recording. You can also start   capturing a QuickTake video by pressing 
and holding one of the two volume buttons. Now let's take a look at the zoom and the lenses.
Above the menu bar you can see a small 1x. It is   yellow. This means that the main camera is 
currently active. By tapping on the 0.5 to   the left of it, you activate the ultra-wide camera 
and via the 5 the camera with the telephoto lens.   However, the latter is only available on the two 
Pro models. The 2x does not stand for a fourth   camera, it is a digital crop of the main camera. 
This is made possible by the high-resolution   48 megapixel sensor of the main camera.

And the 
high-resolution sensor also makes another feature   possible: if you tap on the 1, you can activate 
a focal length of 28mm, that is 1.2x, and 35mm,   that is 1.5x. Yes, this is also a digital 
crop, but similar to the case of the 2x zoom,   there is hardly any loss of quality compared to 
the native focal length of 1x, certainly also   because the images are digitally processed again.
The default field of view of the main camera is   relatively wide at 24mm, or 1x. If you prefer 
that the main camera is set to 1.2x or 1.5x by   default when you start the camera app, you 
can set that in the settings of the camera   app under FusionCamera and Default Lens. This 
is a useful option because, for example, 35mm,   which is 1.5x, is considered the 
most flexible focal length to use.  When choosing a lens, one thing should 
be clear to you. Even if it does not look   like this on the display, the different 
lenses have different technical properties.  The main camera produces less distortions 
than the ultra-wide camera and it has the   largest aperture. It can therefore achieve better 
results in low light conditions.

The telephoto   lens produces the least amount of distortion and 
is therefore best suited for portraits. However,   it has the smallest aperture and therefore 
achieves the worst results in low light. If you now tap and hold one of the numbers, a 
kind of zoom slider appears and you can swipe   left and right to zoom in and out more precisely. 
For this tutorial I use an iPhone 16 Pro,   so you can see 0.5, 1,2, 5 and 25 as numbers. 
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have only a 10x digital   zoom range.These numbers of course stand for 
the different cameras of your iPhone. If the   quality of your photos is important to you, 
you should avoid a zoom factor between the   numbers.

And you should also avoid a zoom 
factor above 5, because in all these cases   it results in a digital crop of the image.
You can also zoom in and out by using two   fingers. In this case you can always 
read the current zoom factor here. When you capture a picture with your Iphone, 
you will of course determine the framing on   the display. So what should be on the picture, 
how should the picture composition look like.   Basically the framing of your picture 
will correspond to this outer frame. In   many cases you can also see the area outside 
this frame.This exceeding part is slightly   darkened. It is supposed to help you to find 
the right framing, but it is not captured.  For the right composition the grid also helps 
you. So you can stick to the Rule of Thirds,   for example, which is important for a good 
composition. And this white line is supposed   to help you keep your iPhone straight 
when taking a photo and avoid a crooked   horizon.

It appears when you rotate your 
iPhone. As soon as the line turns yellow,   you can be sure that the horizon is straight.
You can activate and deactivate the grid,   the level and also the dimmed area 
outside the frame in the settings. In addition to the right framing, focus 
and exposure are crucial for a good photo.   The iPhone's camera sets focus and exposure 
automatically and does an excellent job. Faces   are recognized perfectly. You can see this by the 
yellow frame that appears when the camera detects   a face. And actually, with the iphone you can also 
get a blurred background or foreground naturally,   for example when you capture objects in the near 
foreground and the background is far away. So   it is quite possible that certain areas of the 
image are in focus and others are not.

Therefore   it can sometimes be necessary to adjust the 
focus manually. You do this by tapping on   the object or person in the image that should 
be in focus. Now your iPhone also adjusts the   exposure to the new focus. You can also correct 
the exposure manually. You do this by tapping on   the sun next to the focus square and by swiping 
up or down. Upwards the image becomes brighter,   downwards it becomes darker.

You can also lock 
the focus and the exposure. Suppose you set the   focus and/or the exposure manually and want them 
to stay locked even when you move the phone. You   can do this by tapping and holding on the 
appropriate area. Now the AE/AF Lock sign   appears in yellow at the top. You can now move 
your phone without changing focus and exposure.   This can be useful for example if you want to 
change the framing after setting the focus. The ultra-wide camera of the iPhone 16 & 16 Pro 
has a very special feature. It can focus extremely   close. Apple calls this Macro Mode, because 
by getting very close, you can capture small   subjects greatly magnified. You don't need to 
have the ultra-wide camera activated for this. The   iPhone automatically switches to Macro Mode when 
the distance to an object becomes less than 14   cm. So if the ultra-wide camera is not active, the 
iPhone automatically switches from the main camera   or the telephoto lens to the ultra-wide camera. 
You will notice this when there are strange   image jumps. This happens automatically. If you 
want to have more control over the Macro Mode,   you can activate the Macro Control feature in 
the settings of the camera app.

Now, whenever   the Macro Mode is active, a yellow flower appears 
at the bottom left. By tapping on the flower,   you can now also deactivate the Macro Mode.
Personally, I think that the macro mode is   a great feature. You should try 
it out – the results are amazing. Apart from these basic features there are a few 
additional settings and features. To use them   you have to open an additional menu. You do this 
by using the arrow at the top in the middle or by   slightly swiping up with your finger.

Instead of 
the different shooting modes, you will now see a   series of icons that stand for different features. 
The icons at the top of the screen indicate which   of these features is currently active.
On the far left you will find the flash.   You can set it to automatic, on or off. Notice how 
the flash symbol at the top of the screen changes. If it is very dark, the symbol for the night 
mode appears right next to it. To show you this,   I hold my hand in front of the lens. The Night 
Mode will dramatically change the results in low   light conditions. Normally the Night Mode will 
activate automatically when it is very dark.   When the yellow night mode icon appears at the 
top, you know that the night mode is now active.   In NightMode your IPhone uses longer exposure 
times. Depending on how dark it is, your iPhone   will need a shorter or longer exposure time to 
get a good result. You can see the duration of   the automatically set exposure time right next to 
the icon, for example 1 or 2 seconds.

During the   exposure you should hold your iPhone as still 
as possible. Above the Shutter button a timer   appears which counts down the remaining time. 
If you shake or move the iPhone, the device will   recognize this and two crosshairs will appear, 
one yellow and one white. You should move the   iPhone in a way that the yellow crosshair lies 
directly on top of the white one. This helps to   reduce movements and you can get a better result.
You can also change the exposure time yourself by   tapping on the Night Mode icon and moving 
the slider to the left or right. By moving   the slider all the way to the left you can also 
disable the Night Mode. A longer exposure time   will not lead to a brighter result but it could 
lead to better image quality. It makes sense to   increase the exposure time when your iphone is 
on a tripod. There will be no movement and you   can achieve optimal results. However, if you 
want to adjust the exposure and brightness of   the image when the night mode is active, you 
can do this by moving the sun icon up or down.  By the way, if you are interested in 
which MiniTripods or other accessories   I use for my iPhone, check out the 
links in the video description.

The next icon to the right refers to Live Photos, 
one of my favorite iphone photo features. Here,   too, the automatic is normally active. You can 
also turn LivePhotos on or off permanently here.  With LivePhotos your iphone captures a clip 
of one and a half seconds before and after   the photo was taken. Therefore a short video clip 
of three seconds is created. You can watch this   miniclip by tapping and holding on the screen 
while viewing your photo. You can change the   so-called Key Photo within your clip and you 
can also add cool effects to your Live Photo.   It's very easy to do. To add effects, you open 
your Live Photo and tap on the Live icon in the   upper left corner. You can add a loop to repeat 
your shot continuously or bounce to repeat your   shot alternately forwards and backwards.


find Long Exposure especially interesting.   This simulates a long exposure. It works well 
with moving lights or for example with water.   If you tap on the settings icon at the bottom and 
then on the Live icon you can also change the key   photo and shorten the duration of the shot. It 
can be extremely useful to change the key photo,   for example if your subject has closed his or 
her eyes in the previous key photo.

We will take   a look at the other editing features later.
You can tell that your iphone is capturing   a Live Photo by the yellow Live 
icon at the top of the screen. This icon stands for the photographic styles. 
This feature has been significantly revised for   the iPhone 16 and since it can be an extremely 
useful feature, we should take a very close look   at it. PAUSE The Photographic Styles are not to 
be confused with filters. In its default setting,   the iPhone produces a relatively natural look that 
is relatively close to reality. Other smartphone   manufacturers, for example, prefer a more vivid 
look with more saturation or more contrast.

With   the Photographic Styles you can now change the 
general look of your iPhone photos. Unlike a   filter, it does not simply apply a color to 
the whole image. Photographic Styles adjust   specific colors in certain parts of your photos 
to create the exact look you want. And unlike   with older iPhone models, the iPhone 16 allows 
you to change and customise the photographic   style even after the photo has been taken. There 
are basically two types of styles: undertones,   which mainly influence the undertone of the 
skin, and mood styles, which give the whole image   a special look.

Undertones include Cool Rose, 
Neutral, Rose Gold or Amber, while under Mood you   will find for example Vibrant or Dramatic, Cosy 
or Stark Black & White for a very high-contrast   black and white photo. You can use the slider at 
the bottom to adjust the intensity of the effect,   whereby the effect is neutralised, at least as far 
as the colour is concerned, if you drag the slider   all the way to the left. You can then make further 
adjustments using the field in the centre. To   put it simply, the further you drag the slider to 
the right, the more saturated the effect becomes;   if you drag it upwards, parts of the image 
are brightened and the contrast is reduced;   if you drag it downwards, the image appears 
darker and the contrast is increased.

One thing   should be clear: the style remains active for 
a certain time, but is then reset to default,   for example when the iPhone is restarted. So 
if some of your photos look a bit strange,   this could be due to an unintentionally active 
photographic style. And Apple has come up with   a guide to help you find your ideal style and 
set it as the new standard. When you open the   settings in the Camera app, you can select 
4 photos under Photographic Styles, ideally   photos that have different subjects, and can 
now see at a glance what effects the respective   photographic style has on your photos.

You can 
then select your favourite style, adjust it if   necessary and save it as the new default. This 
allows you to define your own personal style for   your iPhone photos. However, only the undertones 
are available here in the settings. And as I said,   if you don't like a photo with a certain style, 
you can now, in contrast to older iPhones, open   the photo and adjust the photographic style later 
via the settings and styles. A cool new feature! With the icon to the right of the Photographic 
Styles you can change the aspect ratio of your   photos. A normal photo sensor delivers a 
photo in a 4:3 format. You can also set   a square aspect ratio or a 16:9 aspect ratio 
which is more typical for video recordings.

You   should not forget that you can also change 
the aspect ratio when editing your photos. Right next to it there is a very important 
feature, the Exposure Slider. With this   feature you can make your image brighter 
or darker, that means you can overexpose   or underexpose your image a little bit in 
relation to the settings of the automatic   exposure control and this for a maximum of 
2 stops. But wait, wasn't there already the   sun icon for that? Yes, but with the exposure 
slider you can make smaller and more precise   adjustments and you have a little more control. 
In addition, the exposure correction will be kept   and will stay the same if you take more photos. 
I have to say that the automatic of the iPhone   protects so-called highlights very well and there 
are hardly any overexposed areas in the pictures.   So for such cases you hardly need any exposure 
correction.

It's more that you might want to   capture a darker or brighter image to create a 
certain mood. For example, many people believe   that the iPhone exposes the images too brightly 
and prefer a slightly negative value here. The next icon is a timer. This allows you to set 
that the image is not taken until three , five or   ten seconds after pressing the shutter button. 
This can be useful if you want to take a group   selfie and place your iPhone on a tripod or in low 
light with longer exposures to avoid any shaking. Before we take a look at the portrait mode, 
I would just like to point out that basically   the same features are available when 
using the Selfie camera.

For example,   there is also the night mode or the live photo 
mode. What there is not, is a real zoom feature.   You can only slightly zoom in or out by tapping 
the two arrows or by using two fingers. It is   also interesting that the Selfie-camera 
shows you a mirrored image in the preview,   but captures the image without mirroring it. The 
picture then looks different from the preview.   If this bothers you, you can change this 
in the settings. When capturing selfies,   remember that you can use the volume buttons 
as shutter.

This is especially useful here. If we now switch to portrait mode, we find 
the usual settings for flash, eventually   the night mode, aspect ratio, photographic 
styles, format, exposure correction and timer   in the menu. LivePhoto is not available. 
However, there are two new settings here,   different portrait lighting effects, which 
you can select here by swiping to the left   and right and the F-Stop or Depth Control as 
Apple calls it. As explained in the beginning,   in portrait mode your iPhone creates a blurred 
background, as if you had taken the picture with   a Mirrorless or DSLR and a fast lens. In general, 
the smaller the number of the F-stop the stronger   the effect will be, that means the blurrier the 
background will be. The bigger the number the   smaller the effect will be. Just like it would be 
on a bigger camera. Basically the feature works   incredibly well. Only in very small details, 
such as protruding hairs, can you sometimes   spot imperfections. As already mentioned the 
portrait mode also works with objects. But   especially with objects you have to make sure 
that there is an appropriate distance between   camera and object to activate the feature.

The 
camera tells you this at the top of the screen. And Portrait Lighting is also a great feature. 
It is designed to simulate professional lighting   techniques. If you've been into photography, 
you'll know that good lighting often makes a   bigger difference than the actual camera. You can 
select different lighting effects by swiping to   the left and right. You can also see the effect 
in the preview. With Studio Light the face is   well exposed by a soft light. It reminds you of 
a beauty filter, with Contour Light the external   areas of the face or the object are darkened 
a bit. This gives the picture a little more   depth and drama. With Stage Light the subject 
is isolated in the spotlight. The outer area   is completely darkened. Stage Light Mono creates 
the same effect in black and white and High-Key   Light Mono does not darken but lightens the outer 
area, for example like a portrait against a white   background.

If you find the effect exaggerated 
or too weak, you can adjust the intensity. In   the menu tap on the Portrait Lighting icon and 
now you can adjust the effect by dragging the   slider to the left or right. Also note that you 
can change and adjust the Portrait Lighting and   F-Stop when editing your portrait. And not only 
that – when you edit your portrait, you can even   move the focus point using the yellow frame.
Here on the left, you can also switch between   the main camera, the 2x Crop and the telephoto 
lens on the 16 Pro and Pro Max. For best results   of close-ups of faces, I recommend using 
the telephoto lens. And there's something   else you should know. If you are in the normal 
photo mode and your iPhone recognizes a face,   an F icon appears at the bottom left.

This means 
you can activate the portrait feature in normal   photo mode with a simple tap and don't have 
to switch to portrait mode. And you can even   activate the portrait feature when editing the 
photo – it's only important that your iPhone has   detected a face when taking the picture. By 
the way, this also works with dogs and cats. With the Panorama mode you can capture an 
extremely wide field of view. As the name   suggests, this is great for capturing 
landscapes or cityscapes. Because of   the ultra wide lens this feature may have 
lost some of its importance. Nevertheless,   it still produces results that would not 
be possible with a simple shot.

Basically,   several images are combined. To do this, start 
recording and move your camera along the arrow   from left to right. If you tap on the arrow 
you can also change the direction and capture   the panorama from right to left. Make sure that 
the arrow is moving along the yellow line during   the recording. If you do not succeed, you will 
see unsightly waves in the image. Apart from   that there are hardly any settings in this 
mode. You can change the lens and that's it. Now that we've learnt about most of the features 
of the camera app, it's time to take a closer look   at the camera control button. And the button 
has some very interesting features. PAUSE As   mentioned at the beginning, you can use it to open 
the camera app. When the camera app is open, you   can take a photo or start and stop a video with a 
single press.

If you press and hold the button in   photo mode, you can record a QuickCapture video, 
similar to the Capture button of the app. But   that's not all. The brilliant thing is that if you 
swipe with light pressure up or down on the button   or to the left or right, depending on how you 
hold the iPhone, you can change various settings.   As you can see, I change the exposure by swiping 
up and down, just like with the Exposure Control   feature. You can also change other settings with 
the camera control button. To do this, lightly   press the button twice and a menu will appear. You 
can now select the feature you want to adjust by   swiping.

In addition to the exposure, you can 
change the F-Stop for portrait shots, the zoom   factor, whereby the zoom for all values between 
the various cameras leads to a digital crop and   a reduction in image quality. This is why it is 
also possible to switch only between the cameras,   which is clearly the better option. At the bottom 
you can change the styles and even adjust the tone   of your style. And with new updates, Apple is sure 
to add even more features to the Camera Control   Button.The button is a cool new feature, but in my 
opinion it has one disadvantage. It has happened   to me several times that I have unintentionally 
changed settings by holding the iPhone with my   thumb. Especially when the exposure control 
is active, this can unintentionally ruin your   photos. I therefore usually leave the button on 
Camera as the default setting. And another thing:   when you change settings with the camera control 
button, all other information disappears from   the screen – so you can better assess the 
effects on your photo. Apple calls this Clean   Preview – you can deactivate this feature in the 
settings of the camera app.

As you can see here,   you can also use the camera control button to open 
other apps – apps that have access to the camera.   You can set it to open Instagram, for example, if 
you frequently take photos with the Instagram app. Now let's have a quick look at the editing tools. 
If you tap on the small image of your last shot   in the lower left corner, you will see your 
last image in full size and can edit it in many   different ways.

Today I will only give you a brief 
overview and point out a few important things. If   you swipe through your last photos, you can see in 
the upper left corner if your photo is a portrait   photo or a live photo. If not, this area remains 
blank. This is important because portrait photos   and live photos allow different editing steps. 
Generally, the editing menu opens by pressing the   settings button here below. As already explained, 
here you can subsequently change or customise   the style used.

With the adjust icon you can make 
basic adjustments to the photo. You can adjust the   colors, exposure, white balance, saturation, 
sharpness and so on. And by clicking the icon   on the right you can rotate, crop or adjust the 
aspect ratio of the photo. Via the pen icon you   can add markups, sticker, text, and so on. What 
is missing in my case is the Clean Up feature,   which allows you to remove objects from 
a picture with a few taps using AI. Well,   that's because the feature is not yet 
available here in Italy, so in the EU.  If your shot is a portrait, as mentioned 
before, you can use the editing tools to   change the portrait lighting and the 
depth of field, that is, the F-stop. Now let's have a look at the most important 
settings of the Camera App. With preserve   settings you can for example set the camera 
to remember certain settings. For example,   you always want to use the same photographic 
style, the same exposure correction or you always   want to start the app in video mode. Then you can 
enable here that the app remembers your settings.

The camera of your iPhone can automatically 
detect text and you can then copy and edit   this text. You don't even have to take a photo 
for that. When your iPhone detects a text, you   can see this by the yellow borders and the small 
text icon. If you tap on the text icon, you can   select parts of the detected text, copy it, use 
it for a search, translate it or even share it.   This feature can be very useful. If you don't need 
it, you can deactivate it here in the settings. The ultra-wide lens and the front camera 
create unattractive distortions. They   are automatically corrected and removed. 
You can also disable this feature here. Now a few very important settings. Under Formats 
you can choose between High Efficiency and Most   Compatible. If High Efficiency is activated, your 
iPhone saves the photos in the HEIF format. This   saves a lot of storage space and the quality 
is said to be even better than that of a JPEG   file. However, older computers and operating 
systems cannot handle this format.

In this case,   your iPhone will convert the files into a JPEG 
file when you transfer them. If you want to save   the photos in the JPEG format already on 
your iPhone, then choose most compatible.  The main camera of your iPhone has a 
sensor with 48 megapixels. Nevertheless,   to save storage space, in the default settings 
the photos are saved in a resolution of 12   megapixels. If you often want to view your 
photos on a larger screen, you can set a   higher default resolution of 24 megapixels 
here. I would definitely recommend this. And you can also save your photos in the full 
resolution of 48 megapixels. To do this, activate   ProRAW & Resolution Control. HEIF is used as the 
standard format here as well.

But be careful –   according to Apple itself, the 48 megapixel 
photos have more resolution, but they also   lose dynamic range. So for a better dynamic range 
you should better take photos with 24 megapixels. If, on the other hand, you want to edit your 
photo heavily and therefore want to save as   much information as possible in the photo 
file, then you should activate Apple Pro   Raw. The photos require considerably more storage 
space, but contain more information for editing.  If you use ProRaw, you have the choice between 
JPEG Lossless, JPEG-XL Lossless and JPEG XL   Lossy. JPEG Lossless generates the largest files, 
but is supported by more devices and platforms,   JPEG-XL on the other hand generates smaller 
files, whereby JPEG XL Lossy in particular   results in significantly smaller files 
but also in a slightly reduced quality.  This feature is only available on the 
Pro models. Whether in Pro RAW or HEIF,   high-resolution 48MP photos can only be 
taken with the 1x main camera and the 0.5   ultrawide camera.

In addition You always have to 
activate the feature in the camera app as well. And with this I want to say goodbye for today. 
If the video was interesting or helpful for you,   give me a Like as feedback. If you want 
to support this channel you can use the   link in the video description to buy me a coffee.  If you want to learn even more about how to 
get the best results with your iPhone camera,   check out my tutorials on iPhone photography 
or editing photos on the iPhone. You can also   find a list of my best iPhone Camera 
Tutorials in the video description.

There will be more videos about the IPhone 16 
and 16 Pro. So stay tuned and see you next time!.

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