Take photos
You can take photos and videos with the front-facing and rear cameras. To quickly get to the camera, swipe left from the Lock screen.
Choose a photo mode. Camera has several photo modes so you can shoot standard and square-format photos, and panoramas. To choose a mode, swipe the screen left or right, or tap Photo, Square, or Pano.
On iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus, you can also choose Portrait mode, which uses a depth effect to focus on your subject and blur the background.
Take a photo. To open Camera, swipe left from the Lock screen, or tap Camera. Choose a photo mode (for example, Photo, Square, or Pano), then tap the Shutter button, or press either volume button.
If you started from the Lock screen, return to it by swiping up (iPhone X) or pressing the Home button (other models).
3D Touch. In Control Center or on the Home screen, press then choose a quick action.
Ask Siri. Say something like:
- “Open Camera”
- “Take a photo”
Capture a portrait. (iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus) Choose Portrait mode, frame your subject, then tap the Shutter button.
On iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus, you can highlight your subject with a stunning Portrait Lighting effect (beta). In Camera, choose Portrait mode, then drag 
to choose the lighting.
- Natural Light: The face is in sharp focus against a blurred background.
- Studio Light: The face is brightly lit, and the photo has an overall clean look.
- Contour Light: The face has dramatic shadows with highlights and lowlights.
- Stage Light: The face is spotlit against a deep black background.
- Stage Light Mono: The effect is like Stage Light, but the photo is in classic black and white.
On iPhone X, you can take a Portrait mode selfie with a Portrait Lighting effect. Switch to the front-facing TrueDepth camera, choose Portrait mode, then frame your face.
Turn Depth Effect on or off for a photo shot in Portrait mode. (iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus) In the Photos app, view a photo that was shot in Portrait mode, tap Edit, then tap Portrait to turn the blurred depth effect on or off.
Tip: It’s easy to find photos you captured in Portrait mode that have Depth Effect turned on. In the Photos app, tap Albums, then tap the Portrait album.
Zoom in or out. (iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus) The Dual 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras capture full-resolution video and stills at 1x and 2x zoom. To quickly switch, toggle 
or 
You can zoom even further with digital zoom—up to 10x for photos and up to 6x for videos. For finer zoom and to zoom beyond 2x, touch and hold the zoom control, then slide left and right. You can also pinch the screen to zoom in and out. On other iPhone models, pinch the screen to zoom in and out.
The telephoto camera on iPhone X has optical image stabilization, which allows you to capture great zoomed video and stills in low light.
Keep it straight. To display a grid that can help you align shots, go to Settings > Camera, then turn on Grid.
Take a Live Photo. A Live Photo captures what happens just before and after you take your photo. Tap 
to turn on Live Photos (yellow is on), then tap the Shutter button. You can edit Live Photos in the Photos app. In your albums, Live Photos are marked with “Live” in the corner.
Add a photo filter. You can apply a filter before you take a photo in Photo, Square, and Portrait mode. Tap t
hen below the viewer, swipe the filters left or right to preview and choose one. You can remove or change a photo’s filter in Photos.
Adjust shutter-sound volume. Adjust the volume of the shutter sound using the Ringer and Alerts settings in Settings > Sounds . Or mute the sound using the Ring/Silent switch. (In some countries, muting is disabled.)
Take Burst shots. With the camera in Photo or Square mode, touch and hold the Shutter button to take rapid-fire photos in bursts. Lift your finger to stop. The counter shows how many shots you’ve taken. You can take burst photos with the rear and front-facing cameras. To select the photos you want to keep, tap the burst thumbnail, then tap Select. Gray dots below the thumbnails mark the suggested photos. Tap the circle in the lower-right corner of each photo you want to save as a separate photo, then tap Done. To delete the burst of photos, tap the burst thumbnail, then tap
To choose which burst photos to upload to your Photo Stream, go to Settings > Photos.
Take a selfie with Retina Flash. Turn on the flash, switch to the front-facing camera, then tap the Shutter button (the display flashes on exposure).
Take a panorama photo. (rear camera) Choose Pano, tap the Shutter button, then pan slowly in the direction of the arrow, keeping the arrow on the center line. To finish the pan, tap the button again. To pan in the other direction instead, first tap the arrow. To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too.
On iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus, toggle between and to shoot a panorama at 1x and 2x zoom at full resolution.
Use the capture timer. Use the capture timer to give yourself time to be in the shot. First stabilize iPhone where you want, then frame your shot. Tap
tap 3s or 10s, then tap the Shutter button.
Preserve camera settings. You can preserve the last camera mode and photo filter settings you used so they’re not reset when you next open Camera. Go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings, then turn on Camera Mode. You can also preserve Live Photo settings.
Compress photos to save space. (iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus) To save space, iPhone captures photos and videos in new high-efficiency formats called HEIF and HEVC automatically. To change image and video format settings, go to Settings > Camera > Formats, then choose either High Efficiency (saves more space) or Most Compatible.
Take a screenshot. To capture what’s displayed on your screen:
- iPhone X: Simultaneously press and then release the side button and volume up button.
- Other models: Simultaneously press and then release the Home button and the side button or Sleep/Wake button (depending on your model).
Tap the screenshot, then tap Done and choose Save to Photos or Delete Screenshot. If you save the screenshot, you can view it in the Screenshots album or All Photos album (if you’re using iCloud Photo Library).
Read a QR code. Camera automatically detects a QR code when it’s in the picture frame. Tap the notification that appears to go to the relevant website or app.
