Use iPhone camera tools to set up your shot

Before taking a photo, you can use Camera tools to customize and improve your shot. Turn the flash on or off, set a timer, adjust your camera’s focus and exposure, straighten your shots with a grid, or add a filter.

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:

Open Camera.
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.

On iPhone 11 and later, you can precisely set and lock the exposure for upcoming shots. Tap , tap , then move the slider to adjust the exposure. The exposure locks until the next time you open Camera. To save the exposure control so it’s not reset when you open Camera, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings, then turn on Exposure Adjustment.

Turn the flash on or off

Your iPhone camera is set to automatically use the flash when needed. To manually control the flash before you take a photo, do the following:

On iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and later: Tap to turn the automatic flash on or off. Tap , then tap below the frame to choose Auto, On, or Off.
On iPhone X and earlier: Tap , then choose Auto, On, or Off.

Take a photo with a filter

Use a filter to give your photo a color effect.

Open Camera, choose Photo or Portrait mode, then do one of the following:
- On iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and later: Tap , then tap .
- On iPhone X and earlier: Tap at the top of the screen.
Below the viewer, swipe the filters left or right to preview them; tap one to apply it.

You can remove or change a photo’s filter in Photos. See Revert an edited photo.

Use the timer

You can set a timer on your iPhone camera to give yourself time to get in the shot.

To set a timer, open Camera, then do one of the following:

On iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and later: Tap , tap , choose 3s or 10s, then tap the Shutter button to start the timer.
On iPhone X and earlier: Tap , choose 3s or 10s, then tap the Shutter button to start the timer.

Use a grid to straighten your shot

To display a grid on the camera screen that can help you straighten and compose your shot, go to Settings > Camera, then turn on Grid.

After you take a photo, you can use the editing tools in the Photos app to further align shots and adjust horizontal and vertical perspective. See Straighten and adjust perspective.

Helpful?

iPhone User Guide