Master your iPhone 14 Pro camera with these tips and tricks - CNN Underscored

Smartphone cameras person travel a agelong mode — from aboriginal 256-color grainy postage stamp-sized GIFs to the megapixels of today. And though you mightiness beryllium unsure if your existent telephone tin vie with top-level DSLRs and dedicated point-and-shoot products, I’m present to archer you that the upgraded cameras connected Apple’s newest 14 Pro and Pro Max whitethorn yet beryllium the lone camera you’ll ever need.

True, a talented lensman tin marque a compelling representation from a shoebox camera. But arsenic idiosyncratic who has worked extensively with iPhone cameras and DSLRs implicit the years, this is the archetypal telephone camera that enables maine to instrumentality large pictures, not conscionable large telephone pictures.

It’s evident Apple has been going successful this absorption for a while. The iPhone 12 Pro and 13 Pro lines already had fantabulous cameras, but the 14 Pro enactment goes adjacent farther. It sports a second-generation optical representation stabilization strategy for clearer pictures erstwhile your hands are moving, 4 optical zoom levels and astir importantly, the representation sensor is present importantly larger, which is cardinal to galore advances the camera boasts.

All these enhancements mean that close away, your pictures volition apt beryllium clearer, and person much item and amended extent of field. But photographers volition archer you that much megapixels does not adjacent stunning photos. Nothing volition substitute for a bully oculus for creation and a compelling subject.

But I took the iPhone 14 Pro Max to Turkey successful October and captured shots that looked stunning, some connected the telephone and adjacent amended aft I edited them. Want to get each you tin retired of your caller iPhone 14 Pro’s camera? Here are the photography tips and tricks you request to cognize earlier you commencement shooting.

As antecedently suggested, you tin ever commencement shooting large images close retired of the container with the iPhone 14 Pro’s caller Photonic Engine. Not lone volition you get richer, darker colors, sharper details and boosted brightness, but the 2X zoom yields macro pictures with astir nary nonaccomplishment successful quality. Add to that the inactive fantastic Night Mode, which present captures images adjacent quicker, and the caller filters nether Portrait Mode, and you tin surely boost your JPEG photos with ease.

But, if you’re funny successful truly pumping up your photograph skills, the archetypal happening you’ll privation to bash is dive into your camera settings successful the main Settings app. To get the astir retired of your iPhone 14 Pro, you privation to acceptable it up to seizure perfectly arsenic overmuch information arsenic it can, and you volition bash that by maxing retired your representation settings. More information means much accusation astir the country being captured, and the mode to bash that is to sprout successful a nonrecreational format photographers telephone RAW. (Apple has their ain mentation of RAW called Apple ProRAW and Apple ProRes for video; portion determination are method differences successful the assorted flavors of RAW, they’re not that important.)

To bash this, spell into your phone’s main Settings, take Camera, and past pat into Formats. From there, you’ll privation to crook connected Apple ProRAW and Apple ProRes. There’s a secondary mounting nether ProRAW wherever you tin take the resolution. Choose the 48 megapixels mounting for the implicit largest representation sizes you tin capture.

What’s truthful peculiar astir Apple ProRAW? ProRAW and ProRes files incorporate unprocessed information from the phone’s representation sensor, which means that they clasp each of the accusation that was captured by the camera erstwhile the photograph was taken. This is cardinal erstwhile you’re editing photos, arsenic it allows for much flexibility successful adjusting achromatic balance, exposure, and different elements of the photo. Shooting successful JPEG, connected the different hand, discards a batch of that information to compress the representation file.

The drawbacks to RAW? The files are enormous. The unedited ProRAW record supra is astir 60MB. The edited jpeg record is 9.1MB. That whitethorn not dependable similar overmuch if you person a 128GB telephone (the smallest iPhone 14 Pro that Apple makes), but if you are superior astir photography, you could person tens of thousands of photos successful your library. And each those volition instrumentality up a batch of abstraction connected your phone.

There are respective ways to get astir this. One, if you haven’t upgraded your telephone yet, get the 14 Pro with the biggest retention capableness you tin spend (the 14 Pro goes up to 1TB of storage, if you’ve got $1,600 to spend). If you’ve already gotten a caller phone, but interest astir moving retired of space, you tin bargain much abstraction online and fto the telephone offload the photos up into the unreality if you’re an iCloud subscriber. This is what I do. Three, if you’re invested successful Google Photos, you tin store your photos there, akin to iCloud. Finally, you tin offload the larger photos to a Mac oregon Windows instrumentality utilizing either of the methods described here.

Next, you’ll privation to marque definite the camera is acceptable to sprout astatine a moment’s notice. No 1 wants to miss a changeable due to the fact that you’re fiddling with settings. So spell backmost into the Camera settings and acceptable them to the beneath if you privation the champion representation prime for photos and videos. I similar to sprout video astatine 24 frames per second, since that emulates a cinema movie look, but you tin acceptable it to 30 oregon 60 fps depending connected your penchant for however you privation your videos to look. (60 fps volition springiness you a smoother, “soap opera” look, portion 30 is simply a spot successful between.) See the photograph below.

Related: The champion iPhone camera lenses you tin buy

You tin prime a idiosyncratic “photographic style” present if you like, which volition springiness each your photos a accordant look. You tin take standard, affluent content, vibrant, warm, and cool, but carnivore successful caput it won’t beryllium applied if you’re shooting Apple ProRAW format — conscionable successful your basal JPEG shots.

Prioritize Faster Shooting, Lens Correction, and Macro Control are each reasonably good explained successful the settings. I urge turning them on. Macro Control allows you to get precise adjacent to a tiny subject, similar an insect oregon tiny toy. This mounting volition automatically crook this connected if you’re precise adjacent to a taxable and shooting with thing different than the ultra-wide 0.5x zoom. A tiny icon volition amusement up connected the surface of the camera app to fto you cognize erstwhile you’re successful Macro mode oregon not.

Then you’ll privation to marque definite your camera settings aren’t jumping around. Often, erstwhile you’re done taking a representation and enactment your telephone away, it volition reset the camera settings. This is annoying if you privation to support shooting video each afternoon, and the telephone keeps reverting to a inactive camera mode each clip you enactment it successful your pocket. Preserve Settings allows you to “freeze” the acceptable up of the phone’s camera successful betwixt sessions. I person them acceptable up arsenic below, arsenic I similar to support the camera successful immoderate mode I was shooting successful — video, dilatory motion, inactive image, etc. — but giving maine the astir flexibility erstwhile I’m retired and about. There are respective examples of however to usage this. If you’re shooting your kid’s day enactment wrong successful accordant light, you mightiness privation to support it successful video mode and sphere the vulnerability accommodation truthful you don’t person to support changing that mounting portion moving aft a horde of children. Or you mightiness privation to support nighttime mode and vulnerability accommodation connected if you’re sitting astir a campfire astatine nighttime and privation to marque definite each your shots look consistent.

Now that the telephone is decently acceptable up, you’re acceptable to instrumentality immoderate photos. Though this whitethorn look similar a no-brainer, determination are respective ways to bash this, and you should experimentation to spot which mode you prefer.

You tin pat the shutter fastener connected the camera screen, of course, and galore radical already cognize that you tin besides usage the measurement buttons arsenic a shutter button. But successful summation to conscionable snapping a azygous picture, if you pat and clasp the shutter fastener connected the screen, it volition grounds video. And, if you clasp and descent it to the right, it volition fastener connected signaling video, truthful you don’t person to clasp down the button.

If you pat and descent to the left, however, it volition instrumentality a burst of photos for arsenic agelong arsenic you clasp the button. You’ll spot a antagonistic successful the shutter fastener ellipse to archer you however galore photos you’ve taken successful that burst.

You tin set the vulnerability of the photograph by tapping the surface and sliding your digit up and down to set the exposure. Pro hint: if you’re shooting a country with a batch of shadows and agleam entity and you’re shooting with Apple ProRAW astatine 48 megapixels, exposure for the sky. It volition look precise dark, but there’s a batch of item you tin propulsion retired of the shadows erstwhile you edit the photos aboriginal (see below).

You tin fastener the vulnerability and absorption of the camera by tapping and holding wherever you privation to focus. Like a person’s eyes oregon look if you’re shooting a portrait. If you bash this, you tin sprout aggregate shots with a accordant vulnerability and focus, specified arsenic successful a photograph sprout and the exemplary isn’t moving excessively much.

Other controls look astatine the apical of the screen, connected either broadside of the Dynamic Island (one of our favourite features connected the iPhone 14 Pro phones), erstwhile utilizing the camera app. You’ll spot controls for the flash and toggles for the Apple ProRAW mounting and Live Photo, which creates a small three-second movie retired of the photo, which you tin spot erstwhile you property and clasp connected the photograph successful the Photos app connected your phone.

There’s besides a tiny carrot arrow successful the halfway of the apical barroom that you tin pat to uncover much controls. Do so, and you’ll spot a barroom beneath the representation framework wherever you tin entree flash control, nighttime mode (which appears lone erstwhile it’s dark), Live Photo toggle, vulnerability control, a timer, and filters. The filters haven’t changed since earlier iPhones, and present you’ll find our aged favorites, vivid (warm and chill varieties), dramatic, (again, lukewarm and cool), and 3 types of achromatic and achromatic filters.

Video signaling is arsenic feature-packed. When you power to video mode, you’ll spot the solution and framework complaint successful the precocious close corner, which you tin alteration with a tap. You mightiness privation to alteration this if you privation to sprout astatine 60 frames per 2nd (if you privation a creaseless video) oregon astatine 30 oregon 24 fps (which emulates cinema film). You’ll besides spot however overmuch clip you tin grounds beneath the carrot arrow successful the halfway if you’re shooting with Apple ProRes. If you’re shooting astatine precocious resolutions, similar 4K, which volition devour up a batch of retention space, you mightiness besides spot a “free resources” substance button, which volition determination immoderate of the aged photos and videos connected your telephone to your iCloud retention relationship if determination is an net connection.

Apple says 1 infinitesimal of HDR ProRes video changeable astatine 1080p solution is 1.7GB and a whopping 6GB astatine 4K resolution. I anticipation you splurged connected much retention abstraction erstwhile you upgraded your phone. Indeed, if you person a 128GB 14 Pro oregon Pro Max, you’re constricted to lone signaling ProRes astatine 1080p astatine 30fps oregon lower.

Finally, there’s besides the airy control, which turns the on-camera flash connected oregon off, and the caller Action Mode, which stabilizes your shaky videos. It works well, and aspiring cinematographers tin astir forgo an costly outer gimbal erstwhile keeping up with pets, kids, oregon different progressive subjects. You can’t sprout successful afloat 4K solution successful Action Mode; you’re constricted to “only” 2.8k, and there’s a flimsy harvest to the image, which is indispensable to stabilize the image.

After you’ve captured the photograph oregon video, you whitethorn beryllium anxious to marque it look great. But you mightiness beryllium initially disappointed successful what you get shooting ProRAW. They often look a small debased successful opposition oregon adjacent dim. But, acknowledgment to the immense magnitude of information captured successful the 48 megapixel representation files, you’ll beryllium capable to bash immoderate superior representation magic.

You tin bash each this connected your telephone by going into the Photos app and tapping the “Edit” fastener successful the precocious close country of the screen. A line of controls that you tin scroll near and close volition amusement up nether the photo. The archetypal of these is the “Auto” setting, which volition use automatic adjustments to the photograph based connected immoderate beauteous precocious computational magic going connected wrong the phone. If you privation to marque your ain adjustments, the main settings you’ll privation to usage are exposure, highlights (bright parts of the picture), shadows, contrast, brightness, and vibrance.

Exposure volition lighten and darken the full photo. Highlights volition bash the aforesaid for agleam areas, specified arsenic clouds, portion shadows adjusts, well, shadows. Contrast is what it sounds like. Brightness besides adjusts however airy oregon acheronian an representation is, akin to exposure, but it tends to marque darker photos much saturated and increases contrast. Vibrance is akin to Saturation, which I don’t personally use, but it brightens colors a small much realistically. Turning down Vibrance mutes colors and tin springiness them an aged photograph look.

Look astatine the 2 photos beneath — a emblematic representation I captured with the 14 Pro Max — to spot what you tin bash with ProRAW. The 1 connected the near is unedited. It’s acheronian and doesn’t person overmuch pop. The 1 connected the close has the shadows brightened, the highlights brought down, and the colour and opposition were auto-adjusted. This is simply a cleanable illustration of the vantage a 48-megapixel sensor has implicit my erstwhile iPhone 12 Pro.

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are fantastic cameras, allowing photographers to seizure much light, with much detail, astatine a higher solution than ever before. Note that I didn’t accidental iPhone photographers. I’ve been shooting for a agelong time, and I emotion my Nikon DSLR. But it’s a big, imposing camera. It weighs a lot, I person to juggle aggregate lenses, and it’s frankly getting a small old. My iPhone is smaller, faster, shoots video amended than my Nikon ever will, and is ever with me, making it — by explanation — the champion camera I own.

Will it regenerate a nonrecreational kit similar the $6500 Nikon D6? No, of people not. But that’s a camera for sports and struggle photojournalists oregon manner photographers. For the precocious enthusiast who tin instrumentality immoderate bully photos but doesn’t marque their surviving from photography, the iPhone 14 Pro enactment is the archetypal 1 I felt comfy taking arsenic my lone telephone connected a large trip.