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When Apple announced the new iPhone 13 series, it also introduced several new camera features, including Photographic Styles for photos and Cinematic mode for shooting video. In this article, we take a look at what Photographic Styles are and how to use them.

photography-styles-iphone-13.jpg

Photographic Styles consist of a series of subtle filter-like adjustments that you can enable before you've taken any photos, allowing you to bring a stylistic effect to your shots beforehand that won't affect the skin tone of your subjects. These styles come in four presets: Vibrant, Rich Contrast, Warm, and Cool.

Vibrant captures the shot in bright, vivid, yet natural-looking colors, while Rich Contrast adds a more dramatic look that makes shadows darker and increases color and contrast. Warm adds a summery golden undertone to subjects, and cool uses blue undertones to achieve its signature cool look.

These styles work more intelligently than filters, since they capture certain elements of the photo as it's taken, rather than applying changes in post-processing. In addition, Tone and Warmth are customizable for each style, so you can get the exact look that you want, and keep it that way throughout your photo shoot. Photographic Styles can be used with the front-facing camera, too, so you can style up your selfies. Bear in mind though that a style can't be removed from a photo once it's shot.

Here's how to use Photographic Styles on all models of iPhone 13.
  1. Launch the Camera app on your iPhone 13.
  2. If you've not used Photographic Styles before, or you previously chose the Standard mode, swipe the horizontal menu below the viewfinder so that Photo mode is selected, then swipe up from the bottom of the viewfinder and tap the Photographic Styles icon (it looks like three cards lined up in a row).
    photography-styles-camera.jpg

    Swipe through the four presets (in addition to the Standard option) and you can preview each one applied to the scene currently in the viewfinder.
  3. Use the optional Tone and Warmth sliders below the viewfinder to adjust the look to your preferences.
    photography2-styles-camera.jpg

    When you're ready, hit the Shutter button.
  4. Now that your style is active, you'll see the Photographic Style icon appear in the top-right corner of the Camera interface. Tap it to change the style at any time.
By default, the Photographic Style you select will remain active the next time you launch the Camera app until you select another one or return to the Standard style. You can also change which Photographic Style is active using the Settings app.

photography-styles-setting.jpg

In Settings, tap Camera, then under "Photo Capture" select Photographic Styles.

Taken a shot with your favorite Photographic Style? Why not share it in the comments below.

Article Link: iPhone 13: How to Use Photographic Styles in the Camera App
 
Last edited:

Octavius8

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2016
840
1,217
“We don’t know what to do with the camera app” option.
Sorry, but the skin tones DO seem to change. Just a soft filter. What a waste of CPU power. A million things the cameras in Chinese phones can do, and Apple only can think in color filters… I see why USA banned X company… fear of losing leadership in innovation.
 

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,145
17,479
Florida, USA
Does this feature allow you to get rid of the default sharpening that iOS applies to every photo? It's one of my gripes about the iPhone 11 series (and supposedly the 12 series does it too).
 

Mimiron

macrumors 6502
Dec 12, 2017
369
389
How much space do the new videos/photos take up? Will a 256 gb iphone suffice?
 

severe

macrumors 6502a
May 23, 2007
750
121
Yeah but filters applied later can never make use of the full computational pipeline. So NOT using styles is also destructive.
Could you elaborate? How is not using one of these Styles destructive exactly?
 

TVreporter

macrumors 68000
Mar 11, 2012
1,817
2,895
Near Toronto
Pretty sure Rene Ritchie's review said if you apply the setting it can't be undone after the photo is taken.

Added saturation is probably a benefit to posting photos to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter which compress hell out of images. I'll often bump up saturation on my photos before posting just to preserve some colour.

I don't see pros using this feature much as most like to shoot in raw and edit afterwards.

I suppose for the Instagram generation this will be fun....

NOW GET OFF MY EXTRA BRIGHT GREEN LAWN!
 
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cmaier

Suspended
Jul 25, 2007
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Because then you'd have no reason to upgrade to an iPhone 13.

The cynic in me would be surprised if Photographic Styles relied on hardware changes, or an A15 chip.

When you buy an iphone 12, it has the features available at the time. You will get some new features over the next few years, but you aren’t magically entitled to everything.
 

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,086
2,032
I don't understand why to apply a style when you can do this after, and also consider the type of photo and apply different styles to different photos..
 
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HacKage

macrumors 6502
May 14, 2010
499
906
When you buy an iphone 12, it has the features available at the time. You will get some new features over the next few years, but you aren’t magically entitled to everything.
Nobody is coming across as entitled as far as I can tell. This is evidently a software tool, and there is nothing in the iPhone 13 that dictates that the iPhone 12 couldn't run this very basic filter. I would be willing to be a large amount of money that any phone capable of running iOS15 would be able to run these "photographic styles".

Apple has intentionally withheld software features from older phones for... reasons?
 

citysnaps

macrumors G4
Oct 10, 2011
11,791
25,534
I don't understand why to apply a style when you can do this after, and also consider the type of photo and apply different styles to different photos..

Yeah... I shoot RAW (.DNG) when making photographs with my phone that I care about. And then process in Lightroom non-destructively where I have more time and better options for getting the image just right. And still retain the ability to try other process edits some time in the future.
 

cmaier

Suspended
Jul 25, 2007
25,405
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Nobody is coming across as entitled as far as I can tell. This is evidently a software tool, and there is nothing in the iPhone 13 that dictates that the iPhone 12 couldn't run this very basic filter. I would be willing to be a large amount of money that any phone capable of running iOS15 would be able to run these "photographic styles".

Apple has intentionally withheld software features from older phones for... reasons?

But it’s not a filter. It varies the way the image is captured, and does not modify the image after it is captured.
 
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