Most of us are walking around with some pretty powerful cameras right in our pockets. The camera capacities on iPhones have improved greatly in the last few years, so much so that they can almost compete with expensive, heavy-duty photography equipment. With these powerful iPhone cameras, gone are the days of blurry photos or bad lighting ruining a shot. Now, capturing the best smiles of summertime is a cinch. Try these simple photography and editing tips to maximize your iPhone’s camera. 
Live Mode
With an iPhone, you can take the best possible photograph without having to snap the shot over and over again. If you take pictures in “live mode,” your camera will create a short video clip that is then automatically broken down into individual picture frames. Then simply open up the “burst” of a live mode picture, and you’re able to scroll through the images to pick the best one.
In-App editing
After you’ve picked your favorite photo, you can make adjustments from within the photos app – no fancy editing software needed! Simply click the word “edit” in the top left of the picture you’ve selected, and then click the adjust icon on the bottom left of the screen and scroll through the different tools. Don’t be scared to play around with them! Some of the best basic tools are:
- Auto: The auto feature allows for a simple fine-tuning of your photos. Your device will automatically adjust exposure, brightness, tint, etc.
- Exposure: Exposure brightens or darkens your photograph.
- Brilliance: This tool helps you play around with contrast, highlights and shadows, and will make details pop or fade into the background.
- Brightness: This tool is great for lightening up a dark photo.
- Saturation and vibrance: Use saturation or vibrance to make colors brighter and richer.
- Warmth and tint: By altering the warmth and tint, you can make colors appear warmer or cooler – great for bringing out the golden glow of a summer afternoon.
- Sharpness and definition: This helps bring the details and textures of your picture into focus.
Cropping and depth adjustments
Once you’ve tweaked the color and lighting of your photo, you can turn to cropping and adjusting the perspective by selecting the adjust icon on the bottom right. Your phone will automatically straighten your photo once you open the cropping editor, and you can adjust it further by playing with the scrolling bar at the bottom. You can also adjust the perspective to level out the photo, altering it vertically or horizontally with the central and right buttons on the bottom toolbar.
By using the software that is included with your phone, you can transform any quickly snapped picture into a high quality, frame-worthy photograph. Play around with the software, and remember that if you over-edit, you can always remove the changes you’ve made by going back to the editing app. Capturing life-long memories was never this easy!