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How to Improve Photo and Video Composition Without Cropping on iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro

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Apr 12, 2001
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With the arrival of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, Apple has introduced an optional new camera feature in iOS 13 that's designed to allow you to correct the alignment of photos and videos without having to resort to cropping.

capture-shot-outside-frame-iphone-11-camera-2.jpg

Basically, when you take pictures or video using either the wide lens or (on the 11 Pro series) the telephoto lens, the camera will simultaneously shoot or record using the next widest sensor. So the wide lens is active when you shoot with the telephoto lens, and the ultra-wide is active when you shoot with the wide.

With the feature enabled, you can take your shot, tap Edit in the preview window, tap the Crop tool, then select Straighten, and you'll be able to use the area captured outside the frame of the photo or video to fix the horizon and improve the composition of the shot without needing to crop it.

The toggle switches that control this behavior can be found in the Settings app, under Camera -> Photos Capture Outside the Frame and Camera -> Videos Capture Outside the Frame.

capture-shot-outside-frame-iphone-11-camera-1.jpg

Apple has disabled it by default for photos, so you'll need to turn it on to take advantage of it. Note that it is enabled by default for video, so you may want to disable it if iPhone or iCloud storage space is a concern. That said, if the area around the frame isn't used to make corrections, it will be automatically deleted after 30 days.

Article Link: How to Improve Photo and Video Composition Without Cropping on iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/fix-photo-video-horizon-no-crop-iphone-11/
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metalsiren said:
I have to watch a video on this I can’t seem to figure it out lol
Click to expand...
There's nothing complicated. Click 'Edit' on a photo, click the third icon (crop/rotate icon) and then from the circle buttons select either the second or the third one to change the perspective.
 
alpi123 said:
There's nothing complicated. Click 'Edit' on a photo, click the third icon (crop/rotate icon) and then from the circle buttons select either the second or the third one to change the perspective.
Click to expand...

option isn’t there. Taken in 1x. I saw the outside content before I shot the photo.

Update:

It appears to be ”selective” with what you can and can’t edit outside content with.
 
alpi123 said:
There's nothing complicated. Click 'Edit' on a photo, click the third icon (crop/rotate icon) and then from the circle buttons select either the second or the third one to change the perspective.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but crop outside the frame doesn’t work at all for many of us with new phones.
 
MacRumors said:
Apple has disabled it by default for photos, so you'll need to turn it on to take advantage of it.
Click to expand...

Why would they do that?! The average user will not know such feature exists or how to turn it on but could greatly benefit from it. Specially since the “unused” wider picture gets deleted after 30 days so unless you are taking a ton of pictures/videos at once, it wouldn’t be an issue with storage.

Edit: a word
 
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WilliamG said:
As I mentioned earlier, the cropping feature doesn’t work for most people, so it’s funny that Macrumors is touting a guide rather than pointing out it doesn’t work at all for most.
Click to expand...

I thought I didn’t get it after awhile but figured this was probably a bug. Haven’t gotten it working once on countless shots/tries on 11 Pro Max. Also have to say iOS 13 didn’t seem so buggy on my XS Max but feels like a train wreck on the 11 Pro Max, so there’s that too.
 
AgentElliot007 said:
I thought I didn’t get it after awhile but figured this was probably a bug. Haven’t gotten it working once on countless shots/tries on 11 Pro Max. Also have to say iOS 13 didn’t seem so buggy on my XS Max but feels like a train wreck on the 11 Pro Max, so there’s that too.
Click to expand...

I agree. Also not capitalizing the first letter of paragraphs in many places, too, like replying to this message. I hit “Reply” and then “Enter” once and it removes the capital letter. Wtf.
 
Working here on iPhone Pro Max. Nice feature.

Guessing that’s what the little icon is in the upper right when activated.

D05D23EF-5769-4580-9F79-97E57297DE17.jpeg
 
AgentElliot007 said:
I thought I didn’t get it after awhile but figured this was probably a bug. Haven’t gotten it working once on countless shots/tries on 11 Pro Max. Also have to say iOS 13 didn’t seem so buggy on my XS Max but feels like a train wreck on the 11 Pro Max, so there’s that too.
Click to expand...

I was only able to get it working by going into the crop mode, and then tapping the “...” at the top right. Kind of a hidden feature at the moment.
 

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Saipher said:
Why would they do that?! The average user will not know such feature exists or how to turn it on but could greatly benefit from it. Specially since the “unused” wider picture gets deleted after 30 days so unless you are taking a ton of pictures/videos at once, it would be an issue with storage.
Click to expand...
Probably an issue with storage. I didn't take a look at the UI if it actually provides a warning but it would be a valid concern.
 
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netnothing said:
Working here on iPhone Pro Max. Nice feature.

Guessing that’s what the little icon is in the upper right when activated.

View attachment 861630
Click to expand...

Same for me. That icon only appeared after I turned the capture outside the frame off and back on again in camera settings.article says it’s off by default but mine was on. Now icon shows up on all pics taken with wide and tele.

Had same issue with messages in cloud. On by default but not working after 24 hrs. Turned off then back on and all syncd in 5 minutes.
 
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The irony of this article being that no photographer or videographer worth their salt would crop that image in anything but landscape.

The curse of vertical video continues.
 
For those who can't get it to work, take the camera outside and photograph something far away. It won't activate unless the focus is at infinity or close to.

This is because of the parallax between the lenses. For example, observe the step on the edges of live view when aiming at something close. It appears that the feature isn't smart enough to correct for that which has confused a lot of people.

Video isn't automatic either. It has to be far away and you have to select the option from the (...) menu. When you do, it simply switches to the wider video, rather than blending.

In all, a very confusing implementation that only works in specific cases. It's also notable, but not surprising, that reviewers didn't at least try this feature indoors to discover the limitations.
 
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Upon further testing: it's slightly more complicated than focus. It appears to actually try to measure the parallax on the photo edges. If there's too much close content in your photo, it won't activate the expanded capture.

TL;DR: It only works for photos where everything is far away. It almost never works indoors.
 
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