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1 SUPERGUIDES Master iPhone PHOTOGRAPHY Snap, Edit, and Share Your Mobile Images

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  • 1SUPERGUIDES

    Master iPhonePHOTOGRAPHY

    Snap, Edit, and Share Your Mobile Images

  • ContentsGet Started Why Use an iPhone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

    Your iPhone as a Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

    Work with the Camera App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

    Snap PicturesAdjust Your Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

    Ten Rules for iPhone Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

    How to Shoot Anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

    Organize, Edit, and Share ImagesView and Organize Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

    Edit Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

    Share and Back Up Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

    Add Apps and Accessories Photography Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

    Editing Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

    Video Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

    Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

  • 3ForewordGrowing up, I spent my allowance on two things: books and disposable cameras . I went through the latter about as fast as the former, at times snapping a whole roll of pictures in a day .

    This resulted in a lot of terrible photos, sure . But it also got me in the habit of carrying a camera around just about anywhere; and when my dad bought his very first digital camera, you can bet it found its way into my knapsack, hidden away while I scouted for perfect shots and hilarious moments .

    Thanks to the iPhone, many more of us have a camera in our pocket . But, like any art, perfect photography takes time . (Maybe not so much money wasted on roll upon roll of 35mm film, but still .) Thats why we put together this bookour attempt to help you glide through the rough patches and on to photographic stardom .

    This book explains it all: the nitty-gritty bits of taking pictures (wheres the shutter button?), editing and sharing your work, and using third-party apps and accessories to move from mischief to mastery .

    We cant teach you to have fun or love your iPhone camera . But with any luck, this book will put you on that path .

    Serenity Caldwell San Francisco, June 2012

  • 4Master iPhone PhotographyEDITOR: Serenity Caldwell

    PRESIDENT AND CEO: Mike Kisseberth

    SVP, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Jason Snell

    EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Jonathan Seff

    ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Serenity Caldwell

    MANAGING EDITOR: Sue Voelkel

    COPY EDITORS: Gail Nelson-Bonebrake, Sally Zahner

    ART DIRECTOR: Rob Schultz

    Macworld is a publication of IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc ., and International Data Group, Inc . Macworld is an independent journal not affiliated with Apple . Copyright 2012, IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc . All rights reserved . Macworld, the Macworld logo, Macworld Lab, the mouse-ratings logo, MacCentral.com, PriceGrabber, and Mac Developer Journal are registered trademarks of International Data Group, Inc ., and used under license by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc . Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple . Printed in the United States of America .

    Have comments or suggestions? Email us at ebooks@macworld .com .

  • 5ContributorsKarissa Bell (@karissabe) is an app-obsessed writer based in San Francisco .

    Associate Editor Serenity Caldwell (@settern) helps run the Superguide program . After taking hundreds of pho-tos for this book, her new motto is always be snapping .

    Alexandra Chang (@alexandra_chang) writes about all sorts of gizmos and gadgets for Wired. She loves her iPhone camera .

    Lauren Crabbe (@crabbeypants) is a freelance writer living in San Francisco . She has a degree in photojournal-ism and a black belt in awesome .

    Senior Editor Jackie Dove (@jackidove) runs Macworlds Create channel, which covers software, hardware, and services that help Mac users in creative pursuits .

    Senior Editor Dan Frakes (@danfrakes) authors the Mac Gems column; covers the audio/video, accessory, and input-device beats; and writes about OS X and iOS, troubleshooting, and hardware .

    Dave Johnson covers a variety of consumer and business technology topics, though he focuses on digital imag-ing and mobile computing .

    Heather Kelly (@kelly_heather) loves photography, bunnies, cheese, and arguments . She is currently a tech re-porter for CNN .com and lives in San Francisco, where she is probably cold right now .

    Senior Editor Dan Moren (@dmoren) isnt presumptuous enough to take pictureshe much prefers to give them to others .

    Senior Editor Tim Moynihan (@aperobot) has used nearly every pocket camera released in the past four years, and yet he usually reaches for his iPhone when he needs to take a photo .

    Senior Contributor Derrick Story (@Derrick_Story) teaches digital photography on Lynda .com and runs a virtual camera club at The Digital Story .

    Macworld Contributor Marco Tabini (@mtabini) runs a development and publishing company based in Toronto, Canada .

    Macworld Assistant Editor Leah Yamshon (@leahyamshon) would like to thank iPhoto for iOS and her eight favorite photo apps for sprucing up her shots .

  • 5Get Started

    FROM THE BEGINNING Lets start with the basics, so you can learn to take beautiful iPhone photos like this one.

    Digital photography is as much about our technical gear as it is about art, making our digital cameras one of the most unique gadgets in our day-to-day lives . You dont need to have an expensive DSLR or to lug around a point-and-shoot to capture good photos . If you have a smartphone with a built-in camera, you may already have the only camera you need in your pocket . The iPhone makes a surprisingly robust camera, thanks in large part to the built-in apps that let you shoot, manage, and sync your images .

    If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, chances are youve used it to take a photograph or two before . But you can use your device for so much moreif youre willing to give it a shot . In this chapter, we explain why you might want to use an iPhone for such tasks, in what cases a digital camera might work better, and some good basics to know when it comes to iPhone photography .

    C H A P T E R 1

  • 6C H A P T E R 1 Get Started

    Why Use an iPhone?An iPhone isnt perfect for your every photographic need . But it can serve awfully well in many situations where you might once have needed a digital camera .

    When you look at basics, it doesnt get any simpler than a camera phone . Smartphones are constantly upgrad-ing the quality of their built-in cameras . Many even shoot high-definition (HD) video . While the image caliber of smartphones is still catching up with that of the most basic point-and-shoots, their popularity has skyrocketed .

    The iPhone also has features that other cameras dont, including access to fun and creative editing apps . The phone stays in your pocket, so you always have a camera handy when unexpected moments come up . Its also in-credibly small, which makes it easy to capture scenes without drawing attention to yourself . You can edit images and share them instantly with friends and family . Finally, the simplicity of its camera tools makes a smartphone the ultimate entry-level camera .

    True, with an iPhone you lack some settings controls . The gadget also sports smaller image sensors and a fixed aperture (the depth of field in an image) . Digital cameras and SLRs may allow you greater flexibility in that arena .

    So yes, there are still situations where you might want a heftier piece of equipment, such as in low-light areas or when youre trying to capture fast motion . But for many others, the iPhone can be just as good asif not better thanyour DSLR . As the popular saying goes, The best camera is the one you have with you .

    THE iPHONE VERSUS A DIGITAL CAMERA: WHICH IS BETTER?iPHONE DIGITAL CAMERA

    Kids Fast movement may result in blurry pictures, but quick access to the camera allows you to capture moments otherwise forgotten .

    Takes higher-quality pictures, but you risk kids moving before you set up the shot or freezing up at the sight of a proper camera .

    Food Its always in your pocket, and you can quickly whip it out at the dinner table, though shooting dishes in low light may prove difficult . The iPhones lack of white balance controls may also over-color images; try a third-party app to warm up your food photo .

    Has better focus than a fixed-lens camera like the iPhone, but is clunky to bring out at the table .

    Landscapes May not capture detail as well as a camera with a larger sensor, but colors and apps can augment photos . Try third-party panoramic apps for extra fun .

    Lenses and better, bigger sensors result in a richer picture .

    Motion and Sports Often produces blurry images due to the iPhones automatic shutter speed controls and sensor size .

    Cameras either have a dedicated sports setting or allow you to set custom aperture and focus settings to achieve blur-free motion .

    Live from the Scene The iPhones small size and common form factor means you may be able to surreptitiously capture images and video .

    Digital cameras may be bulkier and can draw unwanted attention .

    Underwater You can often get cheap waterproof housings for the iPhone, though pictures may end up with a light halo .

    Underwater casings for digital cameras are often expensive and require custom rigs, though you can purchase dedicated underwater cameras .

    Low Light The iPhone 4S sensor is better than that in previous iPhones at handling low-light situations, but its still not as good as that of a dedicated camera . LED flash is subpar .

    Bigger sensors and custom flash options result in better low-light pictures .

    Macro Use apps and external accessories to aid in focusing and framing, and you can take stunning macro shots .

    Lenses and manual focus give digital cameras a leg up, but the result depends on the lens and the camera .

  • 7C H A P T E R 1 Get Started

    Your iPhone as a CameraSo youd like to use your iPhone as your primary camera . Before you start, its good to know your device inside and out and understand just what it can do in terms of photography .

    A) Front Camera

    If you have an iPhone 4 or 4S, you have a VGA-quality camera (0 .3 megapixels) on the front of your device . This isnt particularly good for serious photography, but can be fun to use with third-party photo-booth apps .

    B) Shutter Button

    When you have the Camera app open, your iPhones Volume Up button can also act as a physical shutter for either your front-facing or your rear-facing camera . This is true as well for the Volume Up button on your head-phones; if you have Bluetooth headphones with volume controls, you can trigger your iPhones camera remotely .

  • 8C H A P T E R 1 Get Started

    C) Camera App Shortcut

    If your iPhone is running iOS 5 or later, when you wake it you can quickly access the Camera app by swiping up-ward on this icon, so as not to miss any sudden memorable moments .

    D) Rear Camera

    The rear camera is your iPhones main photography feature . If you have an iPhone 4, this consists of a 5-mega-pixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor and a 3 .85mm camera lens with a fixed aperture of f/2 .8; the iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor and a 4 .28mm camera lens with a fixed aperture of f/2 .4 . Both devices automatically adjust the shutter speed and ISO to get the best exposure .

    In nontechnical terms, this means that your iPhone 4 or 4S can take photos at print-quality resolution with de-cent low-light exposure, and though you can focus the lens through the Camera app and other third-party apps, you wont be able to manually zoom it or alter how much light it sees . (You can, however, use a digital zoom . You can also attach lens accessories that give you more flexibility; see the Add Apps and Accessories chapter for more information .)

    The iPhone 4 and 4S can also take HD video; on the iPhone 4, youre limited to 720p, whereas you can take full 1080p on the 4S .

    E) LED Flash

    Both the iPhone 4 and the 4S have an LED flash to help illuminate low-light situations . While LED flashes arent traditionally as useful as full-form bulb flashes, your iPhones flash can illuminate a scene well up to five feet; at ten feet, it projects some light but wont illuminate the full picture .

  • 9C H A P T E R 1 Get Started

    Work with the Camera AppTo shoot photos and video with your iPhone, its simplest to use Apples built-in Camera app . You can launch it in one of two ways: Swipe up on the camera icon from the iPhones lock screen, or unlock your device and tap the Camera apps icon (which looks like a camera lens against a gray background) .

    ITS A SNAP! You can line up, snap, and view pictures within the Camera app.

    The app launches by default in still image mode; you can take a shot by tapping the camera icon at the bottom of the screen or by clicking the Volume Up button .

    Switch between the front and back cameras by tapping the camera icon with the circular arrows in the top right corner . For help in composing your shots, tap the Options button at the top of the apps screen and turn on Grid; this overlays a three-by-three grid on the screen . Thats also where you can turn on the cameras high dynamic range (HDR) feature, which combines three separate exposures to create a single image with optimal lighting . HDR is best for landscape and outdoor portrait shots; dont use it for action photos .

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    C H A P T E R 1 Get Started

    OPTIONS, OPTIONS Set your flash choices and any extra camera tweaks before snapping your shot.

    If youre in a low-light setting, tap the flash button in the upper left corner to turn the flash to On or Auto; turn it to Off if you want to ensure that theres no flash in your shot .

    To shoot video, tap the photo/video toggle in the bottom right corner . A round red light replaces the camera icon . Tap this button to start recording and tap it again to stop . While youre recording, a time code appears in the upper right corner . Tap the toggle in the lower right corner again to return to still mode .

    The Camera app automatically sets exposure and focus points, but it doesnt always do so correctly . To focus and set the exposure level on a specific part of an image, tap that area on the screen . If you move your iOS device, or if you have moving subjects in your photo, the Camera app recalibrates and picks new focus and exposure points . To prevent this from happening, tap and hold on the part of the image where you want the camera to focus and set the exposure; this creates an AE/AF (autoexposure/autofocus) Lock . You can tap the screen again to reset that selection .

    To view images youve recently snapped, you can either swipe on the live image to the right, or tap the square thumbnail icon in the lower left corner of the app .

    While the built-in Camera app is fine for most users, more serious photographers will want a third-party app with more features . Tap tap taps Camera+ ($1) and Jens Daemgens ProCamera ($3) are excellent choices: Both let you lock the exposure on one part of an image and focus on anothersomething Apples Camera app cant do . They also provide more advanced features, including stabilizing modes, self-timers, and burst modes to take quick suc-cessive photos . (For more information on third-party apps, see the Add Apps and Accessories chapter .)

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    C H A P T E R 1 Get Started

    TIP: BETTER iPHONE PHOTOGRAPHSNow that you know your way around the iPhones Camera app, you can start snapping away . These tips will help you take better photos .

    KNOW YOUR CAMERA Any camera is better than no camera, but there is a difference between the various iPhone gen-erations . If you are set on taking the best possible photos with your device, opt for the latest hardware . An iPhone 4S will take more print-friendly pictures than previous iPhones because it delivers images with a higher pixel count . Increased pixel count manifests itself as a slight improvement in an images overall sharpness . Also, because the iPhone 4 and 4S allow selective focus and metering, they offer more shooting flexibility . But even if youre working with an earlier-genera-tion iPhone, you can still take decent shots .

    PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT If you are using an iPhone 4S, use its back camera . While the front-facing camera makes shooting self-portraits much easier, it also yields substantially lower-quality images than the back camera .

    SHOOT HORIZONTALLY When you hold your iPhone for games and reading, you generally hold it in portrait view . When you shoot pictures, however, you should rotate your phone into landscape mode; youll fit more into the frame and have a steadier shot .

    KEEP IT LIGHT Remember that the iPhone likes to have as much light as possible, so if youre shooting indoors in low light, try to brighten the scene by switching on more lights or by enabling your LED flash . If you have an image with both very dark and very bright spots, turn on the iPhones HDR feature, which composites three separate images at different settings for a final shot with a wider dynamic range . This is especially useful when you are shooting night shots, such as cityscapes, or a backlit subject indoors .

    GO EASY ON THE FLASH As with any illuminator, overdoing it with the iPhone 4Ss LED flash will leave your images overexposed . The iPhone doesnt offer any kind of flash exposure compensation, so the only control you have is distance . The farther away you are, the less intense the flashs effect will be . While the use of digital zoom isnt usually recom-mended, with the iPhone its worth using the zoom and risking a little pixelation to get your flash exposure under control . If you want a tight shot of someone, try standing farther away and zooming in to reduce the flash exposure .

  • 14

    Snap Pictures

    READY TO ROLL Get your trigger finger ready to snap some great photos.

    Thanks to the iPhone cameras automatic adjustments, you dont need to know much about f-stops and focal length to get decent shots; you just point and shoot . But if you want to go beyond decent to get truly beauti-ful and unique shots, you need to understand how your iPhone sees the world . You may not be able to manually adjust your devices camera settings, but you can still make smart choices about light, exposure, and focus .

    In this chapter, well walk you through different situations, explain effects, and give you strategies for taking control . Well also help you master the most essential element in photography: lighting . Once youve gotten the basics down, you can troubleshoot challenging photo situations and experiment with unusual shots .

    C H A P T E R 2

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Adjust Your SettingsUnlike a compact camera or DSLR, your iPhone doesnt allow you to adjust the most popular camera settings: aperture, lens length, shutter speed, and white balance . That said, several tools available within the Camera app (and other third-party programs) can aid you in taking the best pictures possible .

    Exposure and Focus

    On your iPhone, setting your exposure (how bright the image is) is as simple as tapping once on whatever part of the image youd like to source . If you move, or if the view changes too much, the Camera app also automatically recalibrates and picks a new focus and exposure point .

    LOCKED AND LOADED Tap and hold anywhere in the frame to lock your exposure and focus.

    If youre taking a macro picture (one object in sharp focus, with the background blurred out), or if youre trying to keep your iPhone from focusing on a bright area and leaving the rest of the picture washed out, you can lock the exposure and focus on a specific point . Just tap and hold on that point until the blue focus box appears and

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    pulsates, and then release; the words AE/AF Lock appear at the bottom of the app . To clear the lock and focus somewhere else, tap anywhere else on the screen .

    Keep in mind that the Camera app forces you to lock exposure and focus together; you cant set an exposure on one object and focus on something else . There are third-party apps that allow you to set each separately, how-ever . (For more information, see the Add Apps and Accessories chapter .)

    HDR (High Dynamic Range)

    When using the iPhones rear-facing camera, you can enable HDR (high dynamic range) for your photos by tap-ping the Options button and toggling HDR mode . Dynamic range is the light spectrum that an eyeor a camera sensorcan read, and can be really great for shots with multiple light levels . Your sunset-portrait shot, for ex-ample, will capture both your subject and the fire-red sky . Landscapes also shine with HDR . Apples HDR setting takes three images at different exposures (underexposed, overexposed, and in the middle) and combines them for an image with increased dynamic range . The resulting photos have more details in the shadows and highlights than a standard single-exposed image would have .

    STRETCH THE RANGE Enable HDR when you want to balance photos that have both dark and light areas in the frame.

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Because the iPhones HDR setting frequently results in improved images, its tempting to leave it on all the time . After all, you can set the camera to save regular and enhanced copies of each photo to your Camera Roll (Set-tings -> Photos) . That way, if the HDR shot doesnt wow you, you still have the original photo as well . Unfortu-nately, each HDR photo takes several seconds to save . And if youre short on storage space, the data that results from saving an additional larger version of each image file can add up fast .

    There are many situations in which HDR can be effective, but here are a few quagmires to watch out for .

    When Youre Capturing Motion In HDR mode, the iPhone camera takes three photos in quick succession . If youre taking a photo of a fast-moving subject or if you move the iPhone while shooting, the final HDR image shows ghostingthats when the multiple shots arent aligned and objects appear in more than one place . If you experience this problem frequently with your HDR images, consider mounting the phone on a tripod .

    When Contrast Is Key A successful photo can create a sense of drama by contrasting light and dark . For ex-ample, an image might play up the impact of a strong shadow cast on a light surface, or of a completely black silhouette against a bright background . HDR shots decrease an images contrast, which can diminish its impact .

    TOO BLUE We used HDR in this photo to keep the windows from blowing out, but as a result the colors are oversaturated.

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    When Youre Recording Vivid Colors The HDR mode can bring colors back into blown-out or dark areas . But when youre photographing brightly colored subjects that are properly exposed, the iPhones HDR mode results in a disappointing desaturation . If the allure of your image is that it shows vivid colors, turn off the HDR mode . For example, if youre taking a picture of a horizon where the blue sky is the focus and you dont mind a dark foreground, turn off HDR and tap to focus on the sky so you keep the vivid blues in your image .

    When You Need a Flash If youve used your iPhones HDR setting before, you may have discovered that the iPhone cant use the flash when HDR is enabled . If you turn the flash on manually, HDR automatically switches off . To use HDR in a situation where you also need a flash, youll need an external light source .

    Flash

    The flash: Its saved many a nighttime picture from complete darkness, but often at the expense of adding red-eye and temporarily blinding your subjects or making them close their eyes in the shot . Your iPhone comes equipped with a bright LED flash, which can illuminate subjects well up to 6 feet or so . After that, it peters out, so youll want to use it only in close quarters . Additionally, the iPhones LED flash will often add an odd blue glow to illuminated subjects, although it can be fixed with third-party editing apps that adjust color balance .

    FLASHY FLASH You can set the iPhones flash to Auto, On, or Off.

    When youre first starting out in photography, you may feel the urge to set the flash to Auto or On for every photo, but that may do your images more harm than good . Here are a few tips for sane flash usage that will keep your pictures looking great (and your friends from hating you) .

    No-Nos at Large Events When youre out at a sports event, a concert, or any large space, your flash is essentially useless unless youre snapping a photo of the friend next to you . If youre worried about the consequences of low light, use HDR instead .

    Avoid Flash and Glass If theres a mirror, a TV or computer screen, or any kind of glass nearby, your flash will bounce off it and create a floating white light mote in your picture . Its better to keep the flash turned off in this situation .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Framing

    Photographers and artists alike trust in the rule of thirds, which tells us that photos (and videowatch TV and movies for proof) look better when the subject is off-center, aligned about a third of the way from the right or left side . According to the rule of thirds, the most visually interesting parts should be along any one of the lines, or at any of the points at which the lines intersect .

    GRID RELIANCE Use the grid to line up your shots using the rule of thirds.

    While many seasoned photographers can imagine invisible grid lines when composing a shot, your iPhone makes it a bit easier: Just turn on the Grid feature in the Camera app by tapping the Options button . This overlays a three-by-three grid on your frame, allowing you to use the rule of thirds with ease even if youre a beginner .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Ten Rules for iPhone PhotographyThe big challenge when you shoot images with an iPhone is getting great-looking photos from a gadget thats primarily designed for chatting . If you keep these tips in mind, though, you can take some pretty sharp pictures .

    1) Get a Head Start

    To make sure youre always ready to take a snapshot, stick the Camera app on your first home screen, or even in your Dock along the bottom of the screen .

    DOCKED AND READY Put the Camera app in the Dock for easy access.

    If you have a passcode on your lock screen, use the Camera shortcut button to open the app quickly rather than taking the time to first unlock your phone .

    2) Compose Your Photos with Care

    Capturing a good photo isnt merely about knowing the right settings . Compose your photos as the pros do . Use the iPhones Grid mode to divide the frame into horizontal thirds and put your subject on one of those lines, rather than in the middle of the screen .

    KEEP IT LEVEL Use the grid to keep your pictures from tilting.

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Be careful to keep the camera level, too; nothing ruins a photo like a tilted horizon . Also keep an eye on the back-ground to make sure that you dont see anything growing out of the top of someones head .

    3) Keep Your iPhone Steady

    One reason you may tend to get blurry photos with your iPhone is that its light and thin, and hence rather awk-ward to hold compared with a full-size camera . Hold the phone as still as you can, with both hands, and keep your elbows tucked into your sides for support . Take a deep breath and let out a slow, steady exhale as you gently release the shutter . You can also use the Volume Up button on your phone or headphones to trigger the shutter rather than the on-screen shutter buttonthat should keep your iPhone from shaking too much .

    4) Know How Long the Shutter Takes

    Since your iPhones shutter controls are digital, youll inevitably run into software shutter lagthe time that elapses between taking the picture and the actual recording of the picture on your iPhones sensor . Additionally, if you use the on-screen shutter button, it trips after you lift your finger, not when you press down .

    SHUTTER SPEED Time how long the shutter takes so that you know how long you need to hold your camera steady while the picture exposes.

    You can compensate for this by holding the camera steady during exposure, counting off how long your shutter takes . And if you use the touchscreen button, dont jab at the screentouch it lightly, or the shake will blur your photo .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    5) Let the Sun Shine In

    Your phone can handle a lot of situations with aplomb, but it cant shoot every scene you encounter . Your teeny image sensor craves light and does best outdoors, in daylight . For the best exposures, follow the same advice that photographers have kept in mind for decades: Try to put the sun behind you or over one of your shoulders .

    THERE GOES THE SUN With the sun behind you, you can expose both the highs and lows of the frame, rather than underexposing your picture with direct sunlight.

    Avoid shooting directly into the sun, or youll radically underexpose your subject . If youre shooting indoors, put your back to the window and turn on the lights .

    6) Use the Flash to Reveal Daytime Details

    Its counterintuitive, but in daylight, a fill flash can be your secret weapon . It provides a burst to reduce the shadows that bright sunlight causes . Although the flash isnt powerful enough to fill every shadow, if youre close enough to your subject, it can provide pleasant, even lighting on your subjects face .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    HIDDEN GEMS Use the flash outdoors to reveal your subject when shes in the shade.

    Of course, the tiny LED flash works only at very close range, so dont expect it to help unless youre within a few feet of your subject .

    7) Use HDR over Flash

    The iPhone 4 and 4S both provide an HDR mode that melds several exposures together to create a single picture with an impressive amount of detail and a range of tones and colors . Try it instead of the flash when faced with tricky lighting .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    FORGET THE FLASH Some low-light situations look much better when taken in HDR modeespecially if glassware is involved.

    8) Dont Use Digital Zoom

    Your iPhone cant magnify the image by using an optical zoom, like many compact or professional cameras . Instead, it has a digital zoom, which merely makes the pixels big and blocky, obliterating fine detail . Zooming in digitally also makes it even harder to take a steady photo .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    ZOOM OUT If you can avoid it, dont use the iPhones digital zoominstead, move closer to your subject.

    Want to fill the frame? Walk closer to your subject . If you really need to zoom, you can always produce the same effect with an image editor later .

    9) Stock Up on Software

    One of the best reasons to carry an iPhone is for the scores of apps you can install . Photography on the iPhone has plenty of them .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    APP IT UP Visit the App Store app to download third-party camera and editing apps.

    Check out the App Store for programs that can improve the way the camera works, as well apps that can en-hance the photos you take . (See Add Apps and Accessories for more information about third-party apps .)

    10) Turn Your iPhone into a Photo Lab

    After you snap your photo, you can use the Photos app and other third-party apps to tweak your shots . You can use most of these controls as if you were adding spices to a soup: Experiment and apply to taste . The satu-ration control, for example, adjusts the intensity of colors in your photos . Its usually best to stick with low or medium, since high saturation levels tend to make everyone look like an overcooked turkey . Image effects like negative, sepia, and black and white can also help you take charming photos .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    TWEAKED Third-party apps like Instagram (free) allow you to overlay filters on your photographs and post them to the Web.

    How to Shoot AnythingHere are a few common situations and tips on how to best photograph them . Weve suggested a couple of basic approaches, but dont be afraid to get creative and capture something unique .

    Sunsets and Bright Windows If you find yourself observing a beautiful sunset, and youre itching to take some-ones picture in front of it, remember that the sun is still very bright even when its setting . This means youre shooting in a backlit situation, so you need to take the same steps that you would if you were shooting in front of a sunny window .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    ANGLED SUNSETS Angle the setting sun behind an object (like a tree branch) and lock your focus on one of the buildings to properly expose your scene.

    Even though it may seem odd, when shooting backlit portraits use your iPhones flash to illuminate your subject . The camera will expose for the background, so the result should be a nice, even exposure . You can alternately tap to set the exposure on your subject, and then use the iPhones HDR function to flesh out the sunsets shades . HDR mode is perfect for capturing sunset landscapes .

    Landscapes When you see a grand vista or vast landscape, you might assume that you need the widest angle possible to capture this breathtaking view . The problem with wide angles is that when you zoom out, distances get stretched and details in your image get smaller . The result can be an image with no discernible subject .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    TRACE A PATH Use the foregroundin this case, ferns, and how they curve into the background along the beachand frame your photo around it to get a good landscape

    shot.

    For great landscape photos, layer your shot: Find something evocative in the foreground, middle ground, and background that you can unify in an image . Sometimes, less is more: Get in close and capture just a sliver of that broad vista, or find an evocative detail in the scene and shoot that . Some scenes are simply too big to fit in a photo; in that case, go for the details, and enjoy the bigger view while youre there .

    Crisp Motion Capturing fast-moving subjects such as athletes or kids can seem nigh impossible when youre us-ing an iPhone; by the time you frame the shot and push the shutter button, youve already missed the action .

    While compact and professional cameras allow you to increase your shutter speed, you cant do that on your iPhone . Instead, try a few of these tricks . If youre close to the action, turn on the flash to help you freeze action . Set your flash to On, which forces it to fire even in well-lit situations .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    MOVING TARGETS Take multiple shots of a fast-moving target (say, a kitten), and youll likely end up with one or two great images.

    Your chances of getting a good shot will increase if you can capture the subject at the peak of the action . How-ever, developing good timing takes practice . Complicating the process is the problem of shutter lag, the time be-tween when you press the shutter button and when the camera actually records the image . To combat this, you can try putting your iPhone on a tripod to stabilize it and using the Volume Up button of your headphone cord (or a Bluetooth remote) to fire the shutter without shaking the camera . You also want to keep the focus on your subject . For example, if you manually set the focus to the left of your frame and the subject moves to the right, there is a chance that the camera will focus on the background instead of your model . Try locking your focus on your subject ahead of time so that you can have more flexibility with your movement . Another trick of the pros is to focus on an area that you expect the action to move to .

    If youre still having trouble getting the shot, try a third-party app like SmugMugs Camera Awesome (free), which offers a burst mode . When you press the shutter, your iPhone snaps five pictures in a row . Odds are that one or two of those frames will be good .

    Night Scenes First, put your iPhone on a tripod to steady it and use an external release button (on your head-phone cord or Bluetooth remote) . Since your device has a set aperture, you cant fiddle with it to let in more light in a low-light situation, but if youre taking a picture of a sign or a bright starry sky, you might get lucky .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    STEADY, FREDDY Put your iPhone on a tripod and you can capture a crisper night scene.

    Kids The best way to shoot kids is to get on their level . Getting down on your knees is a good option (balancing children on high surfaces, however, is not recommended) .

    KIDDIE TIME Crouch down at eye level to get the best picture you can.

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Once youre at eye level, mix it up . Go in really close and shoot with a wide angle; if your children are skittish, you can shoot from further away by trying to zooming in a little bit with the digital zoom or using an external iPhone lens accessory .

    Group Shots When it comes time to shoot the entire family, dont just line everyone up against the wall, execu-tion style . Instead, try some more complex or natural compositions . Mixing up sitting and standing postures can be a nice option . Not everyone has to be on the same plane . Lines of people stretching toward the camera can be an interesting effect to play with .

    Your iPhone 4S has a face-detection setting, which locates the people in a shot, and then fine-tunes the focus and exposure for those faces . Face detection is also a boon for flash photography . With face detection turned on, the flash doesnt try to illuminate the whole room, just the people within range .

    FACE OFF The iPhone can track faces when youre snapping pictures of multiple people.

    Face detection is much more effective when the camera can see both eyes of the subject; its accuracy diminishes greatly with profile shots . Also keep in mind that although face detection is fast, it isnt instantaneous .

    If you have an older iPhone with no face-detection feature, you can get the same results with a bit of extra work . First, to better control your cameras focus, point your device directly at the person you want to focus on so that he or she is in the middle of the frame, tap to lock in the focus, and then recompose the shot and take the pic-ture . Photographers have been using this tried-and-true focusing method (called focus locking) for years .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Outdoor Portraits Despite the fact that youre shooting on a bright, sunny day, everyone in the foreground of your photos appears to be lost in the shadows . What gives? Your shots look gloomy precisely because its so bright outside . This problem, known as backlighting, is the monster waiting to prey upon outdoor shots . It can cast strong shadows on a persons face and create dark circles around the eyes . It also bounces off skin and accentuates shiny spots . The iPhones HDR setting can minimize the effect of these two extremes and create a more evenly lit portrait .

    LIGHT LOCK Turn HDR on and train your exposure on a different part of the frame to expose the shot properly.

    However, if the subject is completely backlit, the limited powers of HDR mode might not be enough to brighten his or her face . To shoot a usable backlit portrait, first tap to focus on the darkest part of the persons face . The background then looks extremely blown out . After you take the shot, the final HDR photo combines the properly exposed person with a slightly toned-down background .

    You can also cure a bad backlighting situation by turning on your flashas long as your subject is within range . Your camera will do its best to expose properly for the background while producing enough light with the flash to illuminate nearby subjects . This simple technique can transform a disappointing photo into a stunning one .

    Another way to achieve the same result is to lock your iPhones exposure while pointing it at an area of the scene that has about the same amount of light hitting it as your subject does and that is about the same distance from you say, a patch of grass . Tap and hold on the grass on screen to force the camera to lock in the meter reading . Then compose your shot and take the picture .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    Wildlife Animals pay very little mind to cameras mounted on a sturdy tripod as long as theres no human being crouched down behind that tripod . If you have Bluetooth headphones, or you dont mind paying a bit for some, consider picking a pair up . With such a control, you can be at a distance (or even inside a tent, cabin, or house), firing away as the animals go about their business . (If youre shooting this way, switch off the cameras beeps, clicks, and flash if possible, unless youre keen on taking pictures of an animals backside .)

    SECRET SHOT Set up the iPhone outdoors and trigger it with a Bluetooth remote to capture a stubbornly shy creature.

    If the area youre shooting is soon to be populated with skunks, raccoons, bears, or badgers, you dont really have the freedom to waltz outside and adjust your iPhones exposure once the action begins . Take a few test shots in a critter-free environment with similar lighting conditions, adjust your devices exposure, and then try the real thing once your guests arrive .

    Events Parties, weddings, holiday celebrations, and other events tend to take place in low lighting . The mood lighting makes for great atmosphere, but trying to capture that in your photos isnt easy . When your flash goes off, your shots can look like you took them in a dungeon .

    While your flash does a good job of illuminating the subjects within range (sometimes too good a job, in fact), everything farther than 6 feet away fades to black . Instead, try using HDR mode on still subjects, or lock your exposure on a dark object before the party to compensate for the lighting .

    And keep shooting . Youll end up with lots of shots that are too blurry . Try not to worrymany of the remaining shots will be striking and unique .

    Party Candids Staged shots, like group portraits, may be the staple of event photography, but candids provide the spice . If you capture a special moment in the lens, it can provide a cherished memory for years to come .

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    C H A P T E R 2 Snap Pictures

    PARTY TRICKS Use HDR mode at a party for in-the-moment low-light candids.

    Unless you absolutely need it, put the flash away and rely on existing light for candid shots . This lets you work quickly and from a greater distance . Keep in mind that candids rely less on perfect lighting than they do on hu-man interaction and emotion . So dont worry too much about a little added noise .

    Its also great to get close to your subjects and shoot often . Tightly framed candid shots have a more intimate feel . While shooting, dont forget to change your angle . Get down low for children and pets . Look for high angles when people are bunched together, so you can get a clean shot . Try to position yourself so you can make the composition as uncluttered as possible . Isolating the defining moment makes it even more powerful .

    Behind Glass Whether its an exotic land seen from an airplane window or a shark cruising inside a public aquar-ium, some of the worlds most interesting subjects are on the other side of glass . But if youre not careful when setting up the shot, youll end up with a self-portrait insteador worse, a picture of your flashs reflection .

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    GLASSY-EYED By putting the iPhone flush against this trophy case, we avoided any excess reflection.

    The mistake many people make in this situation is to stand too far from the glass . When you do this, you pick up all the light sources in the room, reflected in the shiny surface . The key is to eliminate these reflections by turning off your flash and placing the back of your phone as close to the glass as possible . This turns the glass into just another lens filter .

    One exception to the rule of getting close to the glass is if youre shooting from a helicopter . Because of the ro-tor vibration, you shouldnt place your device against the window . Instead, hold your iPhone away from the glass while you shoot .

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    Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    As any good photographer knows, taking the pictures is just the first step: After that, you still have to decide how to sort, tweak, and share them . Luckily, your iPhone can do it allyou dont need a computer or external device unless you really want one .

    In this chapter well run down the best ways to find and organize your images, discuss how to edit them in the built-in Photos app and iPhoto, and show you where you can disseminate your pictures once theyre ready for public viewing .

    View and Organize PhotosAs we discussed briefly in the Snap Pictures chapter, you can access all images youve snapped previously from the Camera Roll, an album built into the Camera app . This album also shows up in your Photos app (and, if youve purchased Apples $5 iPhoto app, there as well) .

    C H A P T E R 3

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    View Images from the Camera Roll

    To see images youve recently taken, open the Camera app and do one of two things: Swipe to the right to go to the most recently snapped photo, or tap the thumbnail button in the lower left corner of the screen .

    ROLL ON Your Camera Roll provides basic viewing of your snapped photos.

    You can view your Camera Rolls images by swiping back and forth one image at a time, tap the play button in the toolbar to create a simple slideshow, or tap the Camera Roll button in the top left corner to see them all at once . The latter returns you to thumbnail view, where you can view all the images and video youve taken together or divided by type . To return to the Camera app, tap the blue camera icon in the lower left corner .

    View Images from the Photos App

    Though you can view and share your Camera Roll from the Camera app, those photos and images are technically part of the Camera Roll album, located within the Photos app . This app holds these photos along with any others you may have synced from iPhoto, Aperture, or your Pictures folder on your computer .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    Depending on whether youve synced older photos from your computer, you may see up to four different tabs along the bottom of the Photos app for viewing your images: Albums, Events, Faces, and Places .

    CHOICES, CHOICES iPhoto divides your images into tabs depending on what youve taken and what youve synced from your computer.

    Your Camera Roll is listed as an album in the Albums section, along with any others youve synced; you can only designate events and faces as such from your computer, while Places uses every pictures geotagged information (a rough GPS location of where you were when you snapped the photo) to place pins in a map .

    You can view all of your synced photos, along with your Camera Roll images, by tapping on thumbnails, swiping through individual images, or organizing pictures into a slideshow .

    Organize by Album You can file any of your imageswhether you synced them from a computer or snapped them on an iPhoneinto albums . You can create an album in two ways: by going to the Albums section and tap-ping Edit in the upper right corner, or through the thumbnail view of any album, event, face, or place .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    NEW START Tap the Edit button, and then tap Add To create a new album.

    If you create an empty album through the Edit button, you have to name it before saving it . After that, it appears at the bottom of the albums list, below any synced collections . You can reorganize the album order by tapping Edit again and dragging up or down on the three parallel lines at the right side of each entry . This is also where you can delete albums youve made on the iPhone, by tapping the red Delete button to the left of the relevant entry (this doesnt delete the original images from your Camera Roll) .

    You can only add photos to albums youve created on the iPhone; albums youve synced will be grayed out on the selection list . If you tap Add To New Album, you need to give it a name (like Dans Birthday), and then tap Save .

    You can edit or delete images from your iPhone-made albumsor even the albums themselveswithout acci-dentally deleting the source material . Just tap the Add To button in the upper right corner, select the photos you wish to remove, and click Delete . To delete an image for good, remove it from the Camera Roll .

    You cant edit photos in synced albums, unfortunatelyonly those youve created directly on your iPhone . You can add synced photos to an iPhone-created album, however: Just visit the thumbnail view of any album, event, face, or place and tap the Add To button (the arrow in a box) in the upper right corner of the screen . Select the photo(s) youd like to usea little red checkmark appears on those youve selectedand at the bottom of the screen youll see several options, including Add To . Tap that, and youll see Add To Existing Album (if youve made an album on your iPhone already) and Add To New Album .

    Synced imagessuch as those from iPhoto or Aperture on your Maccant be deleted on the iPhone; instead, you can alter your sync settings in iTunes if you want to remove certain images or albums . (See Sync Pictures from Your Mac or PC for more information .)

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    DELETION SQUAD If you delete an image from your Camera Roll that youve used in an album, you also remove that image from your album.

    Unfortunately, you cant sync your iPhone albums with iPhoto or Aperture on your Mactheyre designed to help you organize photos on your device and on your device only .

    Edit PicturesFraming, focusing, and filing your photos is all well and good . But sometimes your images dont come out just the way youd like them to . Using editing tools, you can often improve the look or framing of your photos . There are basic options built into both the Camera and Photos apps, but you can also visit the App Store for more compre-hensive fare .

    Edit Images in the Camera and Photos Apps

    You can perform basic edits on any photo stored in your iPhone by going to the Camera or Photos app, tapping on a photo thumbnail to enlarge it, and then tapping the Edit button in the upper right corner . The Add To and Slideshow (a right-facing arrow) buttons along the bottom of the photo disappear to reveal an editing bar with the following tools: Rotate (a circular arrow), Auto-Enhance (a magic wand with stars), Red Eye (a red circle with a slash through it), and Crop (a pair of overlapping corner angles) .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    EDIT IN PLACE Tap the Edit button to perform some basic tweaks to your image.

    The Rotate button turns your images 90 degrees counterclockwise with each tap; Auto-Enhance instantly improves an image by tweaking settings like sharpness, levels, and contrast, and automatically reducing red-eye . (A nifty animation shows you that Auto-Enhance has detected and removed incidents of red-eye .) You can also manually remove red-eye with the Red Eye tool . When cropping images with the Crop tool, you can choose a manual crop ratio or select from nine preset crop sizes; in Crop mode, you can also straighten an image by rotat-ing it with two fingers .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    LIKE MAGIC The Auto-Enhance tool instantly balances and corrects any major issues with your image, though it may not fix everything.

    Once youre done editing a photo, tap Save . If youve been editing an image from the Camera Roll, this version replaces your original; all edits are nondestructive, however, so you can easily remove these changes by tapping Edit again and reverting to the images original form . If youre editing an image youve synced to your iPhone, the Photos app saves the edited version to the Camera Roll .

    Edit Images with the iPhoto App

    Unlike the Photos and Camera apps, Apples iPhoto app does not come bundled with your iPhone; instead, you must download it for $5 from the App Store . There are many third-party image-viewing and -editing apps avail-able, but iPhoto has a few nice tools .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    iPHOTO BASICS Apples advanced image editor shows your iPhone photographs and any images you may have synced from your computer.

    When you first start it up, the app appears divided into four tabs: Albums, Photos, Events, and Journals . It sourc-es your synced albums and events, so any image you have in the Photos app also appear here .

    In the Albums pane, youll find your collections bound into books, resting atop skeuomorphic glass shelves . These books are color-coded to signify where the images within them came from: Brown albums contain edited iPhoto images, blue albums (like the Camera Roll) contain images from your iPhone, and gray albums have been synced with your computer or created through the Photos app .

    View Photos Tap an album or the Photos or Events tabs to find the photo youd like to edit . Images take up the majority of the screen, with a toolbar along the top; you can choose to display the thumbnails along the left side or bottom of the screen depending on your iPhones orientation .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    THE LONG VIEW View images one at a time with optional thumbnails below or to the left.

    The toolbars top buttons allow you to view or hide album and event thumbnails (a grid icon), share the image (a right-pointing arrow), see its specs and read comments if youve shared it (a lowercase i), view the unedited ver-sion of the picture if youve edited it (a notepad with a turned-up corner), and enter Edit mode .

    Enter Edit Mode Tap the Edit button in the upper right corner, and an editing toolbar appears along the bottom of the screen . To keep the interface simple, the iPhoto edit toolbar has several modes for editing images, found by tapping the Toolbox icon: the basic Toolbox, Crop (the icon with overlapping corner angles), Exposure (the shutter icon), Color (the palette icon), Brushes (the brushes icon), and Effects (the cluster of stars) .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    SPECIAL TOOLS Once youve applied an effect from a tool, a blue glow appears over that tools icon.

    After youve applied an edit in one of those modes, a blue glow appears above the corresponding tools icon in the list . To go back to Toolbox mode, double-tap the button of the tool you are currently using .

    The Toolbox (iPhotos default editing space) offers an Auto-Enhance button (the magic wand tool), along with tools to flag, favorite, or hide an image . This way, you can quickly categorize and make a note of images youd like to come back to later on . Unlike in the Photos app, in iPhoto rotation doesnt even have a button except in landscape mode; in portrait, you can just rotate your image in one direction or the other by using two fingers in a clockwise twisting motion .

    Each mode also has a Gear button with varied options; the Toolbox modes settings allow you to select multiple images to edit or flag, copy and paste editing adjustments from one photo to the next, and select the thumbnail photo for your albums .

    Crop mode offers a straightening dial for adjusting the angle of your image (and, in landscape mode, an auto-straightener); within settings, you can access various premade crop adjustments, such as 3 by 2, 4 by 3, 5 by 7, and 16 by 9 .

    Exposure mode allows you to set the whites and blacks of an image, change its brightness and contrast, and copy and paste exposure settings .

    You can set saturation, blues, greens, and skin tones in Color mode, along with settings for white balance and whether to preserve skin tones when making color adjustments .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    If youd prefer to fine-tune your editing experience, you can use Brushes mode to manually swipe over areas to repair, remove red-eye from, saturate, desaturate, lighten, darken, sharpen, and soften them . Tap the Gear button to change the brush pressure from low to high, show or hide strokes, or apply the effect to or remove it from the entire image .

    Lastly, Effects mode allows you to choose from six filmstrips: Warm & Cool, Duotone, Black & White, Aura, Vin-tage, and Artistic . These are all various filters you can apply to your image, and each has a level of control from within the strip itself .

    Make Quick Fixes Most images dont need many edits before you can share them with others; the fastest way to give your photo an all-over edit is to rotate it and tap Auto-Enhance . If enhancing your image isnt enough and you want to come back and apply more-comprehensive edits later on, you can flag images, choose them as favorites, and hide them .

    TOOLBOX MODE Apply basic Auto-Enhance effects or tag an image by using tools in Toolbox mode.

    Rotate does exactly what its name states: It rotates your image in 90-degree increments . To change the orien-tation of your image, use a two-finger rotation gesture to twist it to the left or right . (You can even rotate the image 180 degrees if you put on enough speed .)

    The Auto-Enhance button in Toolbar mode is similar to the one in the Photos app: It lets the app take care of the editing magic . Tapping the button automatically adjusts the exposure and color of your image so it looks its best . If you dont like what Auto-Enhance has done, you can always shake to undo the effect, or reset enhancements from the Gear button . To see exactly what iPhoto has done, open the toolbar and tap the Exposure and Color tools (using Auto-Enhance makes both of these tool buttons glow, notifying you that youve made an edit) .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    Crop and Straighten You can crop and straighten your photo with Multi-Touch gestures, using the Crop & Straighten tool on the far left of the editing toolbar . When you launch the tool, you see a dial in the center of the toolbar . Swipe left or right on the dial to straighten your image . You can also activate your iPhones gyroscope by tapping the dial; this way you can straighten your photo by rotating your device . (Its perhaps a bit clumsier than using the swipe gesture, though .)

    CROP MODE Straighten your image with the dial, manually resize, or tap the Gear button to access crop presets.

    To crop your photo, use the pinch-to-zoom gesture . A grid automatically overlays the photo, letting you crop according to the rule of thirds, if you like . You can also choose from preset crop ratios by tapping on the Gear button .

    Adjust Exposure If you use the Auto-Enhance tool and arent totally satisfied with the results, you can make changes by entering Exposure mode . The Exposure tool lets you adjust shadows, contrast, brightness, and high-lights . When you tap the Exposure button, a slider appears in the middle of the toolbar . There are two ways you can adjust the image: You can use Multi-Touch gestures directly on the image or you can adjust the slider itself .

    Tap and hold on an area of your image, and the corresponding exposure controls appear . For instance, if you tap and hold on a shadowy part of your image, you see arrows pointing up and down for adjusting shadows, and ar-rows pointing left and right for adjusting contrast . You can then drag your finger up and down or left and right to adjust these controls .

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    UP UP DOWN DOWN Tap and drag your finger in one of four directions to adjust any of the highlighted exposure controls.

    Often, its hard to find the spot in your photo that will reveal specific controls when youre using Multi-Touch gestures . This is where the slider helps . You can adjust shadows and highlights by sliding the far left and right controls (the black and white squares) closer together or farther apart . Sliding the contrast circles further away from each other creates more contrast . Sliding the brightness control (the sun icon) to the right makes your photo brighter .

    Perfect Your Images Color Thanks to Color mode, you can easily adjust the color balance in your photo . As with the Exposure tool, you can alter color by using Multi-Touch gestures or the four slidersSaturation, Blue Skies, Greenery, and Skin Tonesfrom the edit menu . For basic edits, Saturation is probably the only adjustment you need to make . This adds or decreases the overall richness of color in your image .

    BALANCING ACT Use the white-balance settings to alter the color tone of your image.

    You can also quickly change the white balance of your photo from the Gear button in Color mode . Nine white-balance options are available, each representing a different lighting environment . The first option is to keep the

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    C H A P T E R 3 Organize, Edit, and Share Images

    original white balance of the image . Other options include Sun, Cloudy, Flash, Shade, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Custom, and Face Balance . The Custom option brings up a magnifying loupe that lets you select a white or neutral color in the photo; the app adjusts the rest of the color accordingly . In the settings section, you can also switch the Preserve Skin Tones button on or off to adjust a photos colors without affecting skin tones .

    Advanced Editing with Brushes Once youve mastered the apps basic editing features, youll want to explore some of the more in-depth editing capabilities the program has to offer . iPhoto for iOS provides an array of photo-enhancement tools in Brushes mode that help bring out the best of an image youve already captured .

    In the apps Edit mode, tap the Brushes icon at the bottom left side of your screenthe icon with a trio of paint-brushes between Color and Effects . Eight large paintbrushes pop up . From top to bottom, these brushes are: Repair, Red Eye, Saturate, Desaturate, Lighten, Darken, Sharpen, and Soften .

    TIP: BRUSH DYNAMICSBrushes mode has many useful brushes, but how do you know when to use which brush and where to apply it? Below, we break down the qualities of each brush and describe how to use it to its best advantage .

    REPAIR Repair looks like a magic wand, complete with star animation . This brush patches up areas of a photo by blend-ing in pixels from the surrounding area and is great for fixing blemishes and wrinkles . You cant apply this brush tech-nique to the whole image, only to certain spots . Select the Repair brush and brush or tap the area on the photo you want to fix . Keep tapping or brushing until youve blended it to your liking .

    RED EYE This brush, which looks like a red felt-tip marker, removes unwanted red-eye from the subjects of your photos . To apply, tap the brush, and then highlight the eyes that youd like to fix . To zoom in for more precision, use the pinch-to-zoom gesture .

    SATURATE AND DESATURATE Use the Saturate and Desaturate brushes to play around with the color intensity of your photosthe Saturate brush increases the strength of colors, while the Desaturate brush decreases it . Saturating a photo can make certain colors pop, while desaturating can restore color balance for a more natural look or a classic grayscale effect .

    LIGHTEN AND DARKEN Two complimentary brushes in your palette are Lighten and Darkenthe Lighten brush is a thick white paintbrush, and the Darken brush is black . Use these to lighten or darken areas of a photo . For example, if part of your photo has heavy shadows, or if you captured a night photo without the right flash settings, Lighten can help fix that . If youve taken a photo with bright overhead or natural lighting, resulting in a washed-out look, you can darken the light areas .

    You can apply these effects to the entire photo or brush certain spots to lighten or darken them up . Once youve applied the brush strokes, change how dark or light youd like them to appear via the settings, or blend them together .

    SHARPEN AND SOFTEN The Sharpen brush increases clarity in a photo by strengthening hard edges to give your photo a crisp finish . The Soften brush blurs and softens edges, such as the area surrounding the subject of your photo, placing more focus on that subject . In combination with both the Sharpen and Soften brushes, the Detect Edges tool helps you apply brush strokes in the right places; just tap the button next to the Erase tool to enable it .

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    THAT BRUSHED LOOK Use iPhotos brushes to polish your image.

    This group of tools uses your iPhones touch interface to easily tweak small sections of a photo . These effects are intuitivejust brush the area of the photo youd like to enhance with your fingertip . Youll likely see the differ-ence immediately . If you dont, you can always tap the Show Original button (in the top toolbar next to the Edit button) to toggle between the original and the edited version to view the effects and undo what you dont like .

    Once you select your brush, you can choose to apply the effect to the whole photo by tapping the Gear button in the bottom right corner and selecting the Entire Image option for that tool . You can alternatively apply the effect to just a portion of a photo by dragging your finger over the part of the image you want to change .

    BRUSHED IN RED Enable Show Strokes to see just what part of the image youre correcting.

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    You can also enable the Show Strokes feature, which highlights the areas of the photo youve edited . Erasing brush strokes is also simpletap the Gear button and choose to erase strokes from the selected brush or from all brushes you used on that picture . To remove a single stroke, use the Eraser tool .

    GUSSY UP PICTURES WITH EFFECTS iPhoto for iOS offers several kinds of special effects, and adding such effects is a fun and easy way to enhance your photos without spending hours tinkering at your desk . Tap the Effects tool from the toolbar; it looks like a cluster of stars . This brings up a fan of effects strips in different cat-egories .

    EFFECTS REEL Choose one of six strips to begin layering effects.

    There are six effects strips to choose from . Some only subtly change the look of your photo, while others are more dramatic . The first four types of effectsWarm & Cool, Duotone, Black & White, and Auraallow you to control the color and tone of your photos in different ways, while the last twoVintage and Artisticallow you to add lo-fi filters and other artistic looks .

    To select an effect, tap the corresponding strip . Each strip has a series of thumbnails that gives a quick overview of the effects provided in each strip . Some strips contain only one kind of effect, while others have multiple ef-fects .

    Gradients (which apply color gradations to your images), tilt shift (which blurs out certain sections of your photo to bring your subject into the forefront), and vignettes (which highlight your subject by putting a frame around it) are all controlled with gestures . To adjust gradients, swipe vertically across the part of the photo where you want to apply the gradient . Pinch or zoom with two fingers to adjust the size of the area affected by vignettes and tilt shift .

    You may notice some overlap between effectsfor example, there are four different ways to add a vignette . This

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    is because you can only work with effects from one strip at a time .

    Warm & Cool is one of the subtler effects: Drag your finger over the strip to the left to emphasize warmer tones; drag to the right to emphasize cooler tones .

    Duotone also changes the color tones of your photo, though much more noticeably, by applying a colored tint . Drag along the strip to change the hue of the tint you apply . Dragging to the left adds purple, blue, or gray tints, while moving to the right adds green, yellow, or pinkish tints . A color-wheel button at the end of this strip subtly mixes in colors from the original photo .

    The Aura effect also plays with strong colors in your photo, but instead of adding additional colors, this effect either isolates or reduces the strongest colors in your photos . Drag along the strip to the right to isolate the strongest colors in the photo and to the left to reduce the strongest colors . This creates an effect very similar to what you can achieve with Pocket Pixels $2 Color Splash or the selective color function in Photoshop .

    The Artistic strip contains several effects and differs from the others in that each thumbnail offers a completely different effect . The first three effects on this strip are gradient toolsDark, Warm, and Cool; these add different gradients to your photo . The next two effectsVignette and Tilt-Shiftallow you to emphasize one area of your photo . The more dramatic Oil Paint and Watercolor make a photo look like an oil or watercolor painting, respec-tively .

    Each of the thumbnails on the Vintage strip represents a different filter that gives your photo a lo-fi weathered look . Filters include Early Chrome, Sixties, Saturated Film, Neutral Film, Vivacious, and Muted . This strip also has its own dedicated Vignette button so you can add a vignette to your photo in addition to a lo-fi filter .

    The Black & White strip provides another way to give your photo a vintage look . It uses the same drag and but-ton controls as some of the other strips . Just drag across the strip to adjust the levels of black and white in the photo, and watch the effect dynamically change . Three additional buttons on the side of the strip allow you to add sepia tones, grain, or a vignette to the photo .

    The End Result Once youve made your basic edits and are satisfied with the results, you can exit Edit mode by tapping the Edit button at the top right . The edit toolbar disappears and youre back in View mode, looking at your newly edited photo . iPhoto for iOS saves each edited image as a copy to the iPhoto app; it doesnt overwrite your original image . To get it back to the Camera Roll, you need to share it by tapping the Add To button .

    Share and Back Up PhotosSpending time taking and fine-tuning that perfect photo is great, but sharing it with the worldand making sure it doesnt get accidentally deletedis the real reward . Heres a quick rundown of your options for sharing and backing up your images from the Camera and Photos apps, as well as from iPhoto .

    Share Pictures from the Photos and Camera Apps

    Sharing images from the Photos and Camera apps is fairly straightforward: Tap the Add To button in thumbnail view for an album, event, face, or place (to select multiple images), or use the Add To button to share an indi-

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    vidual photograph .

    You can email, message, print, copy, add to, or (if you took the photos on your device) delete multiple images .

    Tap to select the thumbnails of photos you wish to send, then tap the Add To button in the lower left corner of the screen to send them in an email or message or to print them .

    PICS AWAY! Choose one of several options in the Photos app to share your images with friends.

    Single images have several additional options for sharing: Tap the Add To button and you can email, message, and print your photos; you can also assign an image to a contact, use it as your iPhones wallpaper, or send it as a tweet (if youve added a Twitter account within your iPhones Settings app) .

    Tap Email Photo to place the image in a blank email message . Fill in the To field, add a subject, and type some text if you like . Tap Send, and your image is on its way . You have the option to reduce its size by scaling it down to one of three sizessmall, medium, or largeor you can keep it at its full size .

    The Message button allows you to send your image to another person via text message or iMessage (if you are sending the image to another iOS device) . Just enter a recipients phone number, or the email address tied to his

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    or her iMessage account, and then add some text if youd like, and your photo goes off to the recipients device .

    If you tap Assign To Contact, you can use the current picture as the thumbnail image for one of your contacts . When the Contacts screen appears, simply select a name . Once youve resized and oriented the picture as you like, tap Set Photo .

    Tap Use As Wallpaper, and youre offered the chance to move and scale the image . You do this with the usual swipe and pinch gestures . Once you have the image at the size and location you desire, tap Set Wallpaper . You can then set the image as your lock screen, home screen, or both . After you make a selection, the image appears as your wallpaper .

    Tap Tweet to send your image, along with your tweet, as a Twitter post . A window opens where you can type in your 140-character tweet; a thumbnail of your chosen image, clipped to the window, also appears .

    Share Images from iPhoto

    The iPhoto service offers a few more options than the standard Photos app for disseminating your images across the Internet . Like Apples built-in apps, it allows you to email and print photos, and send them as tweets, but you can also add images to Flickr, Facebook, and a new Apple photo service called Journals . (There are also options to send your images to iTunes or beam them to your computer; see Back Up Images to Your Mac below .)

    SERVICES SHANGRI-LA You can share your images with several additional services via iPhoto.

    Though you can share a single photograph via Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook, the tools are designed to let you highlight multiple photos if you so choose . Unlike Photos, iPhoto doesnt have an Add To button in thumbnail view, so you need to tap on the Add To button from a single image . From here, choose the service youd like to

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    upload your images to .

    Tap Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook, and youll be asked to choose what images to send: the currently selected one, your flagged images, all your images, or specific images of your choosing . Selected, Flagged, and All automati-cally bundle every image within that category, so make sure you know what youre tapping and dont accidentally upload your 3000-image collection .

    If you havent linked your accounts to iPhoto yet, you may receive a prompt to do so after selecting your pictures; without a permissions link, your app cant interact with your services . Luckily, you only have to do this once .

    NAME YOUR CHOICE Upload images to a new album or pick a current album for them to reside in.

    After setting up and choosing your images, its time to select which album youd like to upload your photos to (if youre uploading to Flickr or Facebook) . You can even create a new album from this tool, though you have to name it before tapping Share .

    Share an image to Facebook or Flickr, and you can view comments on that picture from within iPhoto . Tap the info button (represented by a lowercase i in the top toolbar) when viewing an image, and tap the Comments tab to view comments and post your own .

    Unfortunately, there doesnt seem to be a way to update or stop sharing an image once youve uploaded ityou have to manually delete it from the service in question .

    Make iPhoto Journals

    A new feature linked to Apples iCloud service, iPhoto Journals allow you to put together a collage of images that others can view online . As with the other sharing features in iPhoto, you can create a journal by tapping the Add To button, then tapping Journal . After selecting the images youd like to include, you can add them to a preex-isting journal or a new one, give the journal a name if its new, and choose what template youd like to use . Six templates are currently available: Cotton, Border, Denim, Light, and Dark have colored borders, while Mosaic puts your images flush together .

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    SCRAPBOOKING If youre making a new journal, you need to name it and choose its theme.

    Once youve finished choosing your theme, tap Create Journal to compile the images . After a few moments, the new journal appears on a faux-glass shelf under the Journals tab . Tap the journal to open it .

    By default, iPhoto automatically flows your images into the template youve chosen, so you can get a general idea of what your journal will look like once youve published it . If you like the way everything looks, tap the Add To button and share it to iCloud; chances are, however, that youll want to make some tweaks . And boy, does Jour-nals ever let you do so .

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    DRAG AND SNAP Use the blue edit handles to resize images within your journal.

    Tap the Edit button to take control of your journals layout . Though your images snap to a square grid, you can still dynamically resize them horizontally or vertically; you can also drag them around to change their order, de-lete them outright, or edit individual images .

    You can also stick extra bits into your journal to make it more scrapbook-like . Tap on the plus-sign button (+) in the toolbar; here you can add headers, text, sticky notes, a memory, empty space, an extra page, a map location, a day, a quote, a food icon and caption, and the days weather .

    EXTRAS, EXTRAS If photos arent enough, add some other content by tapping the plus-sign button and choosing from the options that appear.

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    Unfortunately, you cant change the fonts for your headers, captions, or text boxesyoure limited to the tem-plates choice . (You can change templates at any point, however, by tapping the Gear button while in Edit mode .)

    Export Your Journal When youve finished tweaking the look of your journal, exit Edit mode by tapping on the Edit button again, and then tap the Add To button to share your creation . You can send your journal directly to iCloud, which uploads it to the Web; start a slideshow of these pictures on your iPhone; or export the journal to iTunes as a series of folders and HTML files, which you can upload to your own Web server (if you have one) .

    Choose iCloud and toggle the Publish To iCloud switch on to upload your creation . Depending on the size of your journal, this may take a few minutes .

    FINAL PRODUCT Open your published journal in Safari to see how it looks online.

    Once your journal has uploaded, you can email a friend with the link, view it in Safari on your iPhone, or copy the link for pasting elsewhere .

    Back Up Images to Your Mac

    Youve taken beautiful pictures, edited them, and shared them with friends . Make sure they dont disappear by keeping them backed up to your Mac, iPad, or another source .

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    The easiest way to sync images is to physically connect your iPhone to your Mac via USB sync cable . (You can also offload images to your iPad by connecting your iPhone via USB cable to Apples $29 Camera Connection Kit .) You can copy images to your desktop via Image Capture, or to iPhoto or Aperture through each respective program .

    HELLO, iPHOTO Upload the contents of your Camera Roll to iPhoto or Aperture to make copies of your images.

    On a Windows PC, when you plug in an iPhone containing new pictures, Autoplay appears and asks what youd like to do with your devices pictures . One option is to import them . In Windows Vista Home Premium, the pic-tures are imported into Windows Photo Gallery .

    Once youve offloaded your images, you should make additional copies on an external hard drive or cloud service so as to have multiple duplicates .

    Swap Images between iOS Devices

    As weve seen, the iPhoto app is primarily an editing workstation, with options for sharing your photos to the Web . But you can also use it to send images wirelessly to your other iOS devices .

    The beaming feature uses a shared Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection to allow users to share photos between de-vices that have the iPhoto app installed .

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    While beaming is a simple process, its important that you set up both devices properly, with the correct settings enabled; otherwise the feature will not work . Both devices must have the iPhoto for iOS app installed and both must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network . Both devices must also have Location Services (found in the devices main settings) turned on and wireless beaming enabled in iPhotos settings .

    To enable wireless beaming in iPhoto, tap the Gear button on iPhotos main screen and select Wireless Beaming . Once you have the appropriate settings enabled and have the iPhoto app open on both devices, youre ready to start . Open a photo you wish to beam, tap the Add To button, and select Beam . Choose any other photos you wish to send over; you can select up to 100 images .

    Once you have selected the photos you want to beam, tap Next, and your iPhoto app finds the other iOS device with iPhoto installed and beaming enabled . Select that device and tap Beam Photos to begin the process .

    You should get a push notification on your other iOS device asking if you would like to allow the photos to be beamed to that device . Tap yes, and the photos start transferring to the second device .

    The time it takes to beam photos largely depends on your Internet connection and how many photos youre beaming . Sending a large number of photos at once can take a while, and its important to keep in mind that pho-tos stop beaming if the device you are sending them to goes into sleep mode .

    Once the beaming process is complete, the photos show up in a separate album called Beamed in your iPhoto for iOS library .

    Back Up Images with Photo Stream

    If you want a more seamless way to get your iPhones photos onto your computer, you can activate Apples iCloud-based photo-syncing service, Photo Stream .

    With Photo Stream, you can snap a picture from your iPhone and have it pushed to all your other devices and computers . To do so, you need a free iCloud account . (Visit icloud .com for more information on Apples service .) Turn on Photo Stream by going to Settings -> iCloud and toggling the Photo Stream switch on .

    For Photo Stream to sync with your Mac, you also need to turn on Photo Stream in iPhoto or Aperture . Once you enable it, any new photos you take with your iPhone automatically upload to iCloud and download on any of your other Photo Streamenabled devices .

    Photo Stream also auto-imports newly added photos on your computer to your Photo Streamenabled iOS de-vices . The service works with the Photos app on iOS devices, and with iPhoto and Aperture on Macs . (If you use a PC, you can sync your photos to a designated Picture Library folder .) Photos are stored in the cloud for 30 days; you can view those images on your iOS devices, computers, and even an Apple TV . Your iPhone syncs a maximum of 1000 photos to save space, while the number of photos a computer can sync is unlimited .

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    INSTANT IMAGE Photo Stream adds copies of images youve taken on your iPhone, uploaded to your Mac, or added on your iPad or other iOS device.

    On your iPhone, Photo Stream photos appear under a separate album in the Photos app titled Photo Stream . You can edit these images from your Photos app, but you must save any changes you make to your Camera Roll, not to Photo Stream itself .

    Your iCloud-enabled computer imports all of your Photo Stream photos to either iPhoto or Aperture on the Mac, or to your designated photo library folder on a PC . In iPhoto, the photos appear under Events, with a default name that includes the month and year, along with the words Photo Stream . You can, however, change the event name .

    If you have an Apple TV, you can view your Photo Stream images directly on your HDTV as well . The Apple TV can access and stream your photos from iCloud to display on your television screen, though it only displays your most recent Photo Stream images . The feature is only compatible with second-generation Apple TVs .

    Photo Stream works only for still photos, not videos, and it doesnt give you any real control over what syncsall your photos make the move . If you have an image you didnt want synced, you can delete individual photos within your Photo Stream from your iPhone, or you can head to icloud .com and reset your Photo Stream, which deletes all your photos .

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    TIP: SYNC PICTURES FROM YOUR MAC OR PCThis book may be primarily about taking photos on your iPhone, but heres a quick tip if you want to sync your comput-ers images (or older iPhone images) back to your iPhone .

    Your photos and personal video files are linked through iTunes . To sync, go to the Photos pane and choose the applica-tion or folder iTunes should link from . If you have iPhoto or Aperture installed (or, on a PC, Adobe Photoshop Elements), the Photos pane lists those programs as well . Choose one of these programs and you can sync images according to how they are organized in that application . Otherwise you can only select your Pictures folder or a custom folder of your choice .

    Unfortunately, you cant sync your iPhone with more than one program or with multiple folders: You have to choose one . As with all the other media