iPhones are often the first choice for people who want a reliable camera but prefer to stay within Apple’s ecosystem. Over the years, Apple has introduced several camera features that have revolutionized smartphone photography — like LOG capture, 4K 120fps videos, and audio mixing.
However, the iPhone’s powerful camera setup is not without its flaws. As Apple has increasingly leaned into computational photography and its own technologies (like Deep Fusion), image processing has become more algorithm-driven. While this isn’t necessarily bad, it often gives photos an unnatural look, especially because of aggressive color processing and shadow control. Fortunately, there are a few settings and tools you can adjust to keep your photos looking natural and sharp.
Night Mode
When it’s dark, Night Mode turns on by itself. You’ll see a small circle with a crescent moon icon in the top-left corner of the camera screen. This feature helps brighten the picture and shows details you might not see with your eyes.
It works by blending several photos taken with different light settings. But sometimes, the final photo can look blurry or have too much noise. If you want a clean and natural photo in the dark, it’s better to turn off Night Mode and take the picture as you see it on the screen.
Fast Shooting: Yes or No?
Another important feature is Prioritize Camera Faster Shooting, which is mainly tied to burst mode, allowing you to take several photos in rapid succession. This increases the chances of capturing the perfect moment, but the trade-off is reduced image quality compared to regular shots.
The issue with burst shooting is that the iPhone prioritizes speed over post-processing, skipping steps like HDR, color tuning, and bokeh refinement, to free up system resources for rapid shooting. While this difference may not be noticeable in daylight, it becomes quite apparent in low-light conditions.
Experts have found that burst photos taken in dark places often look grainy, have fewer colors, and lose details. To get better photo quality, go to Settings > Camera > Quick Shooting and turn this off.
Style vs. Substance
Apple’s Photographic Styles is one of the most exciting features introduced in recent models, especially the iPhone 16 series. It allows you to fine-tune undertones, color, and intensity, creating beautiful, social media–ready images. But here’s the catch — it can hide the true, natural color profile of a scene.
If you’re someone who prefers clean, accurate shots, you should turn this feature off by going to Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles > Reset to Standard.
Portrait Mode Reality
The iPhone camera's greatest strength is its stunning portrait shots. Apple has added a feature where the camera automatically switches to Portrait mode when it detects a person or animal, even in standard Portrait mode. But automatic results aren't always perfect, even if you adjust the focus later.
A better approach is to manually swipe to Portrait mode in the camera app and fine-tune the composition yourself. You can also disable the automatic portrait detection by going to Settings > Camera > Portraits in Photo Mode.
Should You Disable Live Photos?
If you like carefully adjusting exposure, tones, and focus for each shot, you might want to turn off Live Photos. Not only do they take up more storage, but they can also complicate image quality. While you can extract a frame from a Live Photo, it usually won’t be as sharp or perfectly exposed as a regular still image.
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