Take photos with the camera on iPhone
Learn how to take great photos with Camera on your iPhone. Choose from camera modes such as Photo, Video, Pano, Time-lapse, Slo-mo, and Portrait (on supported models). Enhance your photos with camera features such as Night mode, Live Photos, filters, and Burst.
Ask Siri. Say something like: “Open Camera.” Learn how to ask Siri.
![Camera in Photo mode, with other modes to the left and right below the frame. Buttons for Flash, Night mode, and Live Photo appear at the top of the screen. The photo and video viewer is in the bottom-left corner. The Shutter button is at the bottom center, and the camera chooser button is in the bottom-right corner.](https://help.apple.com/assets/5F1904F50946226D7189D604/5F1904FE0946226D7189D62A/en_US/55438310d59371a8063353d90ab126c3.png)
Take a photo
Photo is the standard mode that you see when you open Camera. Use Photo mode to take still photos. Swipe left or right to choose a different mode, such as Video, Pano, Time-lapse, Slo-mo, and Portrait.
Tap
on the Home screen or swipe left from the Lock screen to open Camera in Photo mode.
Tap the Shutter button or press either volume button to take the shot.
Turn the flash on or off
Tap , then choose Auto, On, or Off.
On iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, tap to turn the flash on or off. Or, tap
, then tap
below the frame to choose Auto, On, or Off.
Set a timer
Frame your shot and stabilize your iPhone, then tap at the top of the screen.
On iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, tap , then tap
.
Zoom in or out
On all models, open Camera and pinch the screen to zoom in or out.
On iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus, toggle between 1x or 2x to zoom in. To zoom in beyond 2x, touch and hold the zoom control, then drag the slider to the left.
On iPhone 11, toggle between 1x or 0.5x to zoom out. To zoom in beyond 2x, touch and hold the zoom control, then drag the slider to the left.
On iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, tap 2 to zoom in and .5 to zoom out. To zoom in beyond 2x, touch and hold the zoom control, then drag the slider to the left.
Adjust the camera’s focus and exposure
Before you take a photo, the iPhone camera automatically sets the focus and exposure, and face detection balances the exposure across many faces. If you want to manually adjust the focus and exposure, do the following:
Tap the screen to show the automatic focus area and exposure setting.
Tap where you want to move the focus area.
Next to the focus area, drag
up or down to adjust the exposure.
To lock your manual focus and exposure settings for upcoming shots, touch and hold the focus area until you see AE/AF Lock; tap the screen to unlock settings.
Take low-light photos with Night mode
On supported models, use Night mode to capture more detail and brighten your shots in low-light situations. The length of the exposure in Night mode is determined automatically, but you can experiment with the manual controls.
![Camera in Photo mode. Buttons for flash and Night mode appear in the top-left corner of the screen. The flash button is turned off and the Night mode button is active. The Live photo button is in the top-right corner. The photo and video viewer is in the bottom-left corner. The Shutter button is at the bottom center, and the camera chooser button is in the bottom-right corner.](https://help.apple.com/assets/5F1904F50946226D7189D604/5F1904FE0946226D7189D62A/en_US/ef57ae1271b86d233413ce3f8699e02c.png)
Night mode is turned on automatically in low-light situations. When the button at the top of the screen turns yellow, Night mode is on. A number appears next to the
button to indicate how many seconds the camera will take to shoot.
Tap the Shutter button, then hold the camera still to take your shot.
To experiment with Night mode, tap , then use the slider below the frame to choose between the Auto and Max timers. With Auto, the exposure time is determined automatically; Max uses the longest exposure time.
Take a Live Photo
A Live Photo captures what happens just before and after you take your photo, including the audio.
Choose Photo mode.
Tap
to turn Live Photos on or off.
Tap the Shutter button to take the shot.
You can edit Live Photos in Photos. In your albums, Live Photos are marked with “Live” in the corner.
Take a selfie
Use the front camera to take a selfie in Photo mode or Portrait mode (on supported models).
Tap
to switch to the front camera. On iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, tap
.
Hold your iPhone in front of you.
Tip: On iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, you can tap the arrows inside the frame to increase the field of view.
Tap the Shutter button or press either volume button to take the shot.
Take a panorama photo
Use Pano mode to capture landscapes or other shots that won’t fit on your camera screen.
Choose Pano mode, then tap the Shutter button.
Pan slowly in the direction of the arrow, keeping it on the center line.
To finish, tap the Shutter button again.
Tap the arrow to pan in the opposite direction. To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too.
Take a photo with a filter
Choose Photo or Portrait mode, then tap
. On iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, tap
, then tap
.
Below the viewer, swipe the filters left or right to preview them; tap one to choose it.
You can remove or change a photo’s filter in Photos.
Take Burst shots
Burst mode takes multiple high-speed photos so that you have a range of photos to choose from. You can take Burst photos with the rear and front cameras.
On iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, swipe the Shutter button to the left to take rapid-fire photos. On all other models, touch and hold the Shutter button.
The counter shows how many shots you took.
Lift your finger to stop.
To select the photos you want to keep, tap the Burst thumbnail, then tap Select.
Gray dots below the thumbnails mark the suggested photos to keep.
Tap the circle in the lower-right corner of each photo you want to save as an individual photo, then tap Done.
To delete the entire Burst, tap the thumbnail, then tap .