Chapter 16

Playing with Photos

Get ready to …

arrow Take Pictures with the iPhone Cameras

arrow Save Photos from the Web

arrow View an Album

arrow View Individual Photos

arrow Edit Photos

arrow Organize Photos

arrow Share Photos with Mail, Twitter, or Facebook

arrow Share a Photo Using AirDrop

arrow Share Photos Using iCloud Photo Sharing

arrow Work in iCloud Photo Library

arrow Print Photos

arrow Run a Slideshow311

arrow Delete Photos313

arrow Create Time-Lapse Videos from Photos

With its gorgeous screen, the iPhone is a natural for taking and viewing photos. It supports most common photo formats, such as JPEG, TIFF, and PNG. You can shoot your photos by using the built-in cameras in iPhone with built-in square or panorama modes. If you have an iPhone 4.5 or later, you can edit your images using smart adjustment filters. You can also sync photos from your computer, save images that you find online to your iPhone, or receive them by email, MMS, or iMessage.

The Photo Sharing feature lets you share groups of photos with people, including your family, using iCloud on an iOS device or on a Mac or Windows computer with iCloud access. Your iCloud Photo Library makes all this storage and sharing easier.

When you have photos to play with, the Photos app lets you organize photos and view photos in albums, one by one, or in a slideshow. You can also view photos by the years in which they were taken, with images divided into collections by the location or time you took them. You can also AirDrop (iPhone 5 and later), email, message, or tweet a photo to a friend, print it, share it via AirPlay, or post it to Facebook. Finally, you can create time-lapse videos with the Camera app, allowing you to record a sequence in time such as a flower opening as the sun warms it. You can read about all these features in this chapter.

Take Pictures with the iPhone Cameras

  1. The cameras in the iPhone are just begging to be used, so no matter which phone model you have, get started! Tap the Camera app icon on the Home screen to open the app.
  2. If the camera type at the bottom of the screen (see Figure 16-1) is set to Video, slide to the left to choose Photo (the still camera).

    tip.eps iPhone’s front- and rear-facing cameras allow you to capture photos and video (see Chapter 17 for more about the video features) and share them with family and friends. iPhone 6 and 6 Plus offer an 8-megapixel iSight camera with features such as Phase Detection Autofocus, image stabilization to avoid those fuzzy moving targets, and True Tone Flash, a sensor that tells iPhone when a flash is needed.

  3. You can set the Pano (for panorama) and Square options using the slider control above the Capture button. These controls let you create square images like those you see on the popular Instagram site. With Pano selected, tap to begin to take a picture and pan across a view, and then tap Done to capture a panoramic display.
  4. Tap the Flash button in the top-left corner of the screen when using the rear camera and tap On if your lighting is dim enough to require a flash, Off if you don’t want iPhone to use a flash, or Auto if you want to let iPhone decide for you.
  5. If you want a time delay before the camera snaps the picture, tap the Time Delay button at the top right of the screen and then tap 3s or 10s for a 3- or 10-second delay.
  6. Move the camera around until you find a pleasing image. You can do a couple of things at this point to help you take your photo:
    • Tap the area of the grid where you want the camera to autofocus.
    • Pinch the screen to display a digital zoom control; drag the circle in the zoom bar to the right or left to zoom in or out on the image.
  7. Tap the Capture button at the bottom center of the screen (the big, white button). You’ve just taken a picture, and it’s stored in the Photos app gallery automatically.

    tip.eps You can also use a Volume button (located on the left side of your iPhone) to capture a picture or start or stop video camera recording.

  8. Tap the Switch Camera button in the top-right corner to switch between the front camera and rear camera. You can then take selfies (pictures of yourself), so go ahead and tap the Capture button to take another picture.
  9. To view the last photo taken, swipe to the left or tap the thumbnail of the latest image in the bottom-left corner of the screen; the Photos app opens and displays the photo.
  10. Tap the Share button (it’s the box with an arrow coming out of it, located in the bottom-left corner of the screen) to display a menu that allows you to AirDrop, email, or instant message the photo, assign it to a contact, use it as iPhone wallpaper, tweet it, post it to Facebook, share via iCloud Photo Sharing, or print it (see Figure 16-2).
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    Figure 16-1:

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    Figure 16-2:

  11. To delete the image, have it displayed and tap the Trash Can button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  12. Tap Delete Photo in the confirming menu that appears.

tip.eps To go to the camera with the Lock screen displayed, swipe the Camera icon up to go directly to the Camera app.

tip.eps You can use the Photo Sharing feature to automatically sync your photos across various devices. Turn on Photo Sharing by tapping Settings on the Home screen and then tapping Photos & Camera.

Save Photos from the Web

  1. The web offers a wealth of images that you can download to your Photo Library. Open Safari and navigate to the web page containing the image you want.
  2. Press and hold the image. A menu appears, as shown in Figure 16-3.
  3. Tap Save Image. The image is saved to your Recently Added album in the Photos app, as shown in Figure 16-4.

tip.eps For more about how to use Safari to navigate to or search for web content, see Chapter 10.

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Figure 16-3:

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Figure 16-4:

tip.eps A number of sites protect their photos from being copied by applying an invisible overlay. This blank overlay image ensures that you don’t actually get the image you’re tapping. Even if a site doesn’t take these precautions, be sure that you don’t save images from the web and use them in ways that violate the rights of the person or entity that owns them.

tip.eps If you want to capture your iPhone screen, the process is simple. Press the Sleep/Wake button and Home button simultaneously. The screen capture is saved in PNG format to your Recently Added album. To save a picture sent as an email attachment in Mail, tap the attachment icon and the picture opens. Press the screen till a menu appears and then tap Save.

View an Album

  1. The Photos app organizes your pictures into albums, using such criteria as the folder or album on your computer from which you synced the photos or photos captured using the iPhone camera (saved in the Recently Added folder). You may also have albums for images that you synced from other devices through iTunes or shared via Photos. To view your albums, start by tapping the Photos app icon on the Home screen.
  2. Tap the Albums tab to display your albums, as shown in Figure 16-5.
  3. Tap an album. The photos in it are displayed.
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    Figure 16-5:

View Individual Photos

  1. Tap the Photos app icon on the Home screen.
  2. Tap Albums (refer to Figure 16-5).
  3. Tap an album to open it; then, to view a photo, tap it. The picture expands, as shown in Figure 16-6.
  4. Flick your finger to the left or right to scroll through the album to look at the individual photos in it.
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    Figure 16-6:

  5. You can tap the Back button and then the Albums button to return to the Album view.

tip.eps You can place a photo on a person’s information record in Contacts. For more about how to do this, see Chapter 5.

tip.eps You can associate photos with faces and events; when you do, additional tabs appear at the bottom of the screen when you display an album containing that type of photo.

Edit Photos

  1. iPhone Photos isn’t Photoshop, but it does provide you with some tools for editing photos, with some that arrived in iOS 8. Tap the Photos app on the Home screen to open it.
  2. Using methods previously described in this chapter, locate a photo you want to edit.
  3. Tap the Edit button; the Edit Photo screen shown in Figure 16-7 appears.
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    Figure 16-7:

  4. At this point, you can take three possible actions with these tools:
    • Crop: To crop the photo to a portion of its original area, tap the Crop button. You can then tap any corner of the image and drag inward or outward to remove areas of the photo. Tap Crop and then Save to apply your changes.
    • Filters: Apply any of nine filters such as Fade, Mono, or Noir to change the feel of your image. These effects adjust the brightness of your image or apply a black-and-white tone to your color photos. Tap the Filters button in the middle of the tools at the bottom of the screen and scroll to view available filters. Tap one and then tap Apply to apply the effect to your image.
    • Adjustments: Tap Light, Color, or B&W to access a slew of tools that you can use to tweak contrast, color intensity, shadows, and more.
  5. If you’re pleased with your edits, tap the Done button, and a copy of the edited photo is saved.

tip.eps Each of the editing features has a Cancel button. If you don’t like the changes you made, tap this button to stop making changes before you save the image.

Organize Photos

  1. If you want to create your own album, display the Recently Added album.
  2. Tap the Select button in the top-right corner and then tap individual photos to select them. Small check marks appear on the selected photos (see Figure 16-8).
  3. Tap the Add To button and then tap New Album. (Note: If you’ve already created albums, you can choose to add the photo to an existing album at this point.)
  4. Enter a name for a new album and then tap Save. If you create a new album, it appears in the Photos main screen with the other albums that are displayed.

tip.eps You can also choose the Share or Delete buttons when you’ve selected photos in Step 2 of this task. This allows you to share or delete multiple photos at a time.

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Figure 16-8:

View Photos by Years and Location

  1. You can view your photos in logical categories such as by date or a location where they were taken. These so-called smart groupings let you, for example, view all photos taken this year or all the photos from your summer vacation. Tap Photos on the Home screen to open the Photos app.
  2. Tap Photos at the bottom of the screen. The display of photos by date appears (see Figure 16-9).
  3. Tap Collections in the top-left corner; you see collections of photos by location and date (see Figure 16-10).
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    Figure 16-9:

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    Figure 16-10:

  4. Tap a collection and you can view the individual “moments” in that collection broken down day by day.

tip.eps To go back to larger groupings, such as from a moment in a collection to the larger collection to the entire last year, just keep tapping the Back button at the top left of the screen (which will be named after the next collection up in the grouping hierarchy, such as Collections or Years).

Share Photos with Mail, Twitter, or Facebook

  1. You can easily share photos stored on your iPhone by sending them as email attachments, via iMessage or MMS (text message), by posting them to Facebook, sharing them via iCloud Photo Sharing or Flickr, or as tweets on Twitter. (You have to go to Facebook or Twitter using a browser and set up an account on those services before you can use this feature.) Next, tap the Photos app icon on the Home screen.
  2. Tap the Photos or Album tab and locate the photo you want to share.
  3. Tap the photo to select it and then tap the Share button. (It looks like a box with an arrow jumping out of it.) The menu shown in Figure 16-11 appears.
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    Figure 16-11:

  4. Tap the Mail, Message, Twitter, iCloud Photo Sharing, Facebook, or Flickr option.
  5. In the message form that appears, make any modifications that apply in the To, Cc/Bcc, or Subject fields and then type a message for email, or enter your Facebook posting or Twitter tweet.
  6. Tap the Send or Post button, and the message and photo are sent or posted.

tip.eps You can also copy and paste a photo into documents such as those created in the Pages word-processor application. To do this, press and hold a photo in Photos until the Copy command appears. Tap Copy and then, in the destination application, press and hold the screen and tap Paste.

Share a Photo Using AirDrop

AirDrop, available to users of iPhone 5 and later, provides a way to share content such as photos with others who are nearby and who have an AirDrop-enabled device (more recent Macs that can run OS X Yosemite). Follow the steps in the previous task to locate a photo you want to share; after you’ve located that photo, follow these steps:

  1. Tap the Share button.
  2. If an AirDrop-enabled device is in your immediate vicinity (such as within 30 feet or so), you see the device listed at the top of the screen (see Figure 16-12). Tap the device name and your photo is sent to the other device.

tip.eps Note that the other device has to have AirDrop enabled. To enable AirDrop, open the Control Center (swipe up from the bottom of any screen) and tap AirDrop. Choose Contacts Only or Everyone to specify who you can use AirDrop with.

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Figure 16-12:

Share Photos Using iCloud Photo Sharing

  1. iCloud Photo Sharing allows you to automatically share photos from the Moments screen. Tap Share to the right of a moment and then choose to share the whole moment or selected photos (see Figure 16-13).
  2. In the Share screen that opens, tap iCloud Photo Sharing.
  3. Tap Post, and the photos or moment are posted to your iCloud Photo Library.

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Figure 16-13:

Work in iCloud Photo Library

  1. iCloud Photo Library automatically backs up all your photos and videos to the cloud. Tap Settings, Photos & Camera and then tap the On button for iCloud Photo Library to post all your photos to this library in the cloud.
  2. Tap Home and then tap the Photos app to open it.
  3. Tap Albums in the bottom-right corner to view all photos and videos stored in the iCloud Library.

tip.eps With all these photos available to you, you’ll need to be able to search your library for the one you want. Tap the Search button at the top of the Photos screen. A list of so-called “smart” suggestions appears. Enter the date or time of the photo, a location, or an album name such as “Vacation” to locate the photo.

Print Photos

  1. If you have a printer that’s compatible with Apple’s AirPrint technology, you can print photos. With Photos open, locate the photo you want to print and tap it to maximize it.
  2. Tap the Share button, and on the menu that appears (refer to Figure 16-11), scroll in the bottom row of buttons to the far right and then tap Print.
  3. In the Printer Options dialog that appears (see Figure 16-14), tap Select Printer. iPhone presents you with a list of any compatible wireless printers on your local network.
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    Figure 16-14:

  4. Tap the plus or minus symbols in the Copy field to set the number of copies to print.
  5. Tap the Print button, and your photo is sent to the printer.

Run a Slideshow

  1. You can run a slideshow of your images in Photos and even play music and choose transition effects for the show. Tap the Photos app on the Home screen.
  2. Display an individual photo in an album that contains more than one photo.
  3. Tap the Share button and then tap Slideshow to see the Slideshow Options dialog, shown in Figure 16-15.
  4. If you want to play music along with the slideshow, tap the On/Off switch on the Play Music field.
  5. To choose music to play along with the slideshow, tap Music and, in the list that appears (see Figure 16-16), tap any selection from your Music library.
  6. In the Slideshow Options dialog, tap Transitions and then tap the transition effect that you want to use for your slideshow.
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    Figure 16-15:

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    Figure 16-16:

  7. Tap the Start Slideshow button. The slideshow begins. Tap the screen to stop the slideshow at any time.

tip.eps To run a slideshow that includes only the photos contained in a particular album, tap the Albums tab, tap an album to open it, and then tap the Slideshow button to make settings and run a slideshow.

Delete Photos

  1. You might find that it’s time to get rid of some of those old photos of the family reunion or the last community center project. If the photos weren’t transferred from your computer, but instead were taken, downloaded, or captured as screenshots on the iPhone, you can delete them. Tap the Photos app icon on the Home screen.
  2. Tap the Albums or Photos tab and then, if you’ve opened the Albums tab, tap an album to open it.
  3. Locate a photo that you want to delete and then tap the Trash Can icon. In the confirming dialog that appears, tap the Delete Photo button to finish the deletion.

tip.eps If you delete a photo in Photo Sharing, it is deleted on all devices that you shared it with.

Create Time-Lapse Videos from Photos

  1. New with iOS 8 is the Time Lapse feature of Camera. Capturing photos with this feature allows you to create a time-lapse photo show. iPhone captures photos at select intervals, making the capture of a dynamic scene such as a sunset possible. Tap Camera on the Home screen.
  2. Swipe the listing at the bottom of the screen until Time Lapse is centered over the Capture button (see Figure 16-17).
  3. Tap the Capture button. Leave the camera recording as long as you like and then tap the End button. Your new time-lapse images appear in the bottom-left corner. Tap the image and then tap Play.
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Figure 16-17: