This is NOT how it has always been. I never had this problem until the latest update to my 3GS. I don't know if it's the upgrade or something else, but it was not happening before - so it is something new for me. I used to take vertical pics all the time and email them with no orientation problem at all. They posted vertical or horizontal depending on how I took them, now vertical pics turn sideways all the time.
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Why does my iPhone 4 email pics sideways/upside down ?
- Thread starter perryj
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The more I think about this, the more I agree with you. SOMETHING has changed recently from Firmware 3.1.3 onwards I believe...
I'm looking at old pictures that I emailed myself from my 3GS which was using F/W 3.1.2 and I KNOW I show the picture with the phone oriented in portrait mode, and the picture when viewed on my computer is oriented properly...
However, now when I shoot a picture with the phone in portrait orientation, the picture on my computer is always rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise.
What the heck did Apple do??
EDIT: Here's more information -- apparently Apple changed the way the software stores pictures on the phone. Link to Apple forums topic
The Exif fields are wrong on the iPhone 4.
I've just switched from a 3G to a 4, and immediately noticed the change in behaviour - portrait photos emailed directly from the 4's main camera are received as landscape. This was not the case with the 3G, and here's why:
Photographs taken with the iPhone4 main camera do not include thumbnail orientation tags
Dump the Exif info from any picture taken on a 3G with IOS3, and you'll see
Camera
Model : iPhone 3G
Orientation (start point): Right Upper
X Resolution : 72
Thumbnail
Thumb Compression : JPEG Compression
Thumb Orientation : Right Upper
Thumb X Resolution : 72
While on a 4, you get
Camera
Make : Apple
Model : iPhone
Orientation (start point): Upper Left
Orientation (start point): Upper Left
X Resolution : 72
Thumbnail
Thumb Compression : JPEG Compression
Thumb X Resolution : 72
Note that in the 3G image, there are separate orientation tags for thumbnail and main image, while the 4 (listed as just iPhone) incorrectly omits the thumbnail orientation, but includes two image orientation tags.
iPhoto is *incorrectly* interpreting the double orientation (i.e. displaying the wrongly tagged image incorrectly), whereas Finder's Quicklook (and every other image application out there) is *correctly* displaying the wrongly tagged image.
I suspect the bug crept into iOS4, and has gone unnoticed because it doesn't manifest itself in iPhoto.
I've just switched from a 3G to a 4, and immediately noticed the change in behaviour - portrait photos emailed directly from the 4's main camera are received as landscape. This was not the case with the 3G, and here's why:
Photographs taken with the iPhone4 main camera do not include thumbnail orientation tags
Dump the Exif info from any picture taken on a 3G with IOS3, and you'll see
Camera
Model : iPhone 3G
Orientation (start point): Right Upper
X Resolution : 72
Thumbnail
Thumb Compression : JPEG Compression
Thumb Orientation : Right Upper
Thumb X Resolution : 72
While on a 4, you get
Camera
Make : Apple
Model : iPhone
Orientation (start point): Upper Left
Orientation (start point): Upper Left
X Resolution : 72
Thumbnail
Thumb Compression : JPEG Compression
Thumb X Resolution : 72
Note that in the 3G image, there are separate orientation tags for thumbnail and main image, while the 4 (listed as just iPhone) incorrectly omits the thumbnail orientation, but includes two image orientation tags.
iPhoto is *incorrectly* interpreting the double orientation (i.e. displaying the wrongly tagged image incorrectly), whereas Finder's Quicklook (and every other image application out there) is *correctly* displaying the wrongly tagged image.
I suspect the bug crept into iOS4, and has gone unnoticed because it doesn't manifest itself in iPhoto.
Good sleuth work. Make sure you report those info details to Apple through their feedback page.
Of course you can when the phone knows its orientation and can easily set the image information appropriately. Every digital camera these days knows if you are shooting in portrait or landscape.
The "problem" is still there. However some people on the forum don't agree its even a problem.
For me it simply comes down to the fact that the iPhone should be able to tell which orientation it is taking a picture in, and be able to export that orientation properly to all photo software that uses orientation handling.
The only "fix" is to always hold the phone in landscape with the home button on the right side so that your picture show up oriented properly.
For me it simply comes down to the fact that the iPhone should be able to tell which orientation it is taking a picture in, and be able to export that orientation properly to all photo software that uses orientation handling.
The only "fix" is to always hold the phone in landscape with the home button on the right side so that your picture show up oriented properly.
Workaround for upside down iphone photos sent to email - get Camera+
The problem I had was that photos I took using the original iphone camera app and several other paid 3rd party camera apps would flip photos that I sent to people via email directly from my phone. Photos imported into iPhoto just fine, my problem is with emailing.
The $1.99 app Camera+ seems to have solved this problem for me. I recently got an iphone and thought it would be fun to email photos to friends and family. Of course, when they started getting upside down photos, they thought I just didn't know how to work my new gadget.
It is annoying that the original iphone camera flips photos for some of us but this is already the second iphone original app that I have replaced with a 3rd part fee/cheap app.
The problem I had was that photos I took using the original iphone camera app and several other paid 3rd party camera apps would flip photos that I sent to people via email directly from my phone. Photos imported into iPhoto just fine, my problem is with emailing.
The $1.99 app Camera+ seems to have solved this problem for me. I recently got an iphone and thought it would be fun to email photos to friends and family. Of course, when they started getting upside down photos, they thought I just didn't know how to work my new gadget.
It is annoying that the original iphone camera flips photos for some of us but this is already the second iphone original app that I have replaced with a 3rd part fee/cheap app.
Consensus is 1. take pics in landscape or 2. use Camera+????
I take a lot of pics on my iPhone. I don't usually email pics so I haven't been told by friends/family that they are coming in sideways.
My issue is when I'm uploading my photos to my blog (Squarespace). They always come in sideways. I view them in Preview, they look fine. I upload them to Squarespace, and they're sideways. I then go back to Preview, rotate them 90 degrees counterclockwise in order to counteract the problem in the first place, and they still appear sideways.
Clearly the difficulty here is that what I see in Preview is not what's happening at Squarespace, and despite altering them in Preview, nothing changes.
So...
Are the only fixes to
a) always shoot in landscape mode, or
b) use a 3rd party app like Camera+?
Both kinda suck. Seems like a royal pain in the butt, especially when what you see on the screen in Preview, sideways or portrait, doesn't change anything on the blog side of things. I haven't tested this out in another online service like Flikr...has anyone else?
Squarespace support peeps sent the following message in reply to my question:
"Squarespace can't rotate the images, so these need to be properly oriented before uploading them to your page. Note that some image programs will auto-correct the orientation when you preview the image, so you need to be sure that the image is rotated and then the file saved with the changes.
We have a list of editing programs you can use for this if you need..."
That doesn't help at all. If my photo editing app on my computer is auto-rotating, how do I know this? Can I turn that off somehow to see it in its "naked" form?
Problem is, no matter the editing program I use, things are still sideways. And to have to edit each image individually from the iPhone in order to be able to upload it to online viewing by friends/family, well, that's a major negative and seems rather "unApple-like".
I have an iPhone 3GS running the latest version of 4.0.
Anyone found anything else out recently?
I take a lot of pics on my iPhone. I don't usually email pics so I haven't been told by friends/family that they are coming in sideways.
My issue is when I'm uploading my photos to my blog (Squarespace). They always come in sideways. I view them in Preview, they look fine. I upload them to Squarespace, and they're sideways. I then go back to Preview, rotate them 90 degrees counterclockwise in order to counteract the problem in the first place, and they still appear sideways.
Clearly the difficulty here is that what I see in Preview is not what's happening at Squarespace, and despite altering them in Preview, nothing changes.
So...
Are the only fixes to
a) always shoot in landscape mode, or
b) use a 3rd party app like Camera+?
Both kinda suck. Seems like a royal pain in the butt, especially when what you see on the screen in Preview, sideways or portrait, doesn't change anything on the blog side of things. I haven't tested this out in another online service like Flikr...has anyone else?
Squarespace support peeps sent the following message in reply to my question:
"Squarespace can't rotate the images, so these need to be properly oriented before uploading them to your page. Note that some image programs will auto-correct the orientation when you preview the image, so you need to be sure that the image is rotated and then the file saved with the changes.
We have a list of editing programs you can use for this if you need..."
That doesn't help at all. If my photo editing app on my computer is auto-rotating, how do I know this? Can I turn that off somehow to see it in its "naked" form?
Problem is, no matter the editing program I use, things are still sideways. And to have to edit each image individually from the iPhone in order to be able to upload it to online viewing by friends/family, well, that's a major negative and seems rather "unApple-like".
I have an iPhone 3GS running the latest version of 4.0.
Anyone found anything else out recently?
Hi Everyone,
In my opinion this argument, for Apple, fall's down with the introduction of iOS5.
I say this because now you can use the volume button to take a picture. (yay!?)
Which way would you naturally do this? I would imagine with the button at the top of the camera (whilst in horizontal oriention of course).
However, using this logic, all your mailed / windows pictures will be upside down!
I love the iDevices, but surely this is not another "hold different" saga!? (the difference between a camera and iDevice is you can't mistake which way you are holding a camera)
I would have thought it was super simple for Apple to adjust the photo's charactaristics to reflect the orientation?
I also bet there will be a lot more complaints, now that we have the shutter button in use.
One more thing (ah, Jobs), I know this isnt a great deal for photos, because you can just rotate them... but its a rpita for videos!
Jon.
In my opinion this argument, for Apple, fall's down with the introduction of iOS5.
I say this because now you can use the volume button to take a picture. (yay!?)
Which way would you naturally do this? I would imagine with the button at the top of the camera (whilst in horizontal oriention of course).
However, using this logic, all your mailed / windows pictures will be upside down!
I love the iDevices, but surely this is not another "hold different" saga!? (the difference between a camera and iDevice is you can't mistake which way you are holding a camera)
I would have thought it was super simple for Apple to adjust the photo's charactaristics to reflect the orientation?
I also bet there will be a lot more complaints, now that we have the shutter button in use.
One more thing (ah, Jobs), I know this isnt a great deal for photos, because you can just rotate them... but its a rpita for videos!
Jon.
Just noticed this problem too. Pictures look right side up on iPhone 4 or when you share on Facebook even view on your computer but they are flipped upside down when you email it!!!! WTF?!
It absolutely cracks me up how many people here have decided that this is not a bug. Are you people serious????
Just because you've somehow lost your marbles and decided that this is proper image handling, doesn't make it reality.
Allow me to get ALL OF US back to basic common sense:
----> The picture should show up the way you took it <----
Think about that long, and hard. (thats what she said).
Now think about it some more. This isn't a difficult concept to grasp.
As many of you know, there are tons of situations where a Landscape photo is not possible. Many times because of whats going on in the photo. Sometimes Landscape is necessary. SOmetimes Portrait is - Hey! - what you want!
Allow me to phrase this another way: If Portrait was never intended as an option, then it shouldn't allow you to take pictures in Portrait mode in the first place.
ERGO: :::::::::::::::::: BUG.
If you're going to have a portrait / rotatable camera then you better be emailing photos the way they were intended by the user. There is no logic on this earth that justifies turning portrait images to landscape.
PERIOD.
It absolutely astounds me the intelligence / lack of / logic / thinking skills of a large percent of the human population. This thread is no exception. To all of you who said the "solution" is to take all your pics in Landscape, and that this isn't a bug: you're wrong.
Just because you've somehow lost your marbles and decided that this is proper image handling, doesn't make it reality.
Allow me to get ALL OF US back to basic common sense:
----> The picture should show up the way you took it <----
Think about that long, and hard. (thats what she said).
Now think about it some more. This isn't a difficult concept to grasp.
As many of you know, there are tons of situations where a Landscape photo is not possible. Many times because of whats going on in the photo. Sometimes Landscape is necessary. SOmetimes Portrait is - Hey! - what you want!
Allow me to phrase this another way: If Portrait was never intended as an option, then it shouldn't allow you to take pictures in Portrait mode in the first place.
ERGO: :::::::::::::::::: BUG.
If you're going to have a portrait / rotatable camera then you better be emailing photos the way they were intended by the user. There is no logic on this earth that justifies turning portrait images to landscape.
PERIOD.
It absolutely astounds me the intelligence / lack of / logic / thinking skills of a large percent of the human population. This thread is no exception. To all of you who said the "solution" is to take all your pics in Landscape, and that this isn't a bug: you're wrong.
I too was very frustrated by this sideways picture problem. Neither apple or google (actually hotmail and yahoo have the problem too) seems to care about changing things to solve this problem. So I developed an app, Rotate Mailer, that emails your picture with the correct orientation. You can check it out in the app store.
a good workaround
Another 3rd party app that solves this problem is "SnapBot" (currently free in the app store, I am not affiliated). It is a very simple app that lets you select up to 4 pictures and email them. They consistently appear RIGHT-SIDE-UP to the recipient no matter how they were taken.
I spent quite a few hours searching for and testing a good solution to this problem and I hope my post saves others that time.
It is unbelievable to me that Apple has let this bug remain unfixed for so long. Much to my embarrassment, I have been unknowingly emailing sideways pictures for 8 months! I am currently on iPhone 4 with iOS 5.0.1 and it is still a problem. When I go back and pull up older picture emails sent from an iPhone 3G on iOS 3.1.?, they are fine. Hopefully Apple will someday fix their bug. Meanwhile, SnapBot is a good workaround.
Another 3rd party app that solves this problem is "SnapBot" (currently free in the app store, I am not affiliated). It is a very simple app that lets you select up to 4 pictures and email them. They consistently appear RIGHT-SIDE-UP to the recipient no matter how they were taken.
I spent quite a few hours searching for and testing a good solution to this problem and I hope my post saves others that time.
It is unbelievable to me that Apple has let this bug remain unfixed for so long. Much to my embarrassment, I have been unknowingly emailing sideways pictures for 8 months! I am currently on iPhone 4 with iOS 5.0.1 and it is still a problem. When I go back and pull up older picture emails sent from an iPhone 3G on iOS 3.1.?, they are fine. Hopefully Apple will someday fix their bug. Meanwhile, SnapBot is a good workaround.
Last edited:
Another Workaround
I only use the Camera+ app now for all of my pics. I moved the built-in Camera app over to a page that I'll never see. When you email the pic from Camera+, it doesn't rotate it sideways. The app is awesome too for touching up the photos before you send them.
I only use the Camera+ app now for all of my pics. I moved the built-in Camera app over to a page that I'll never see. When you email the pic from Camera+, it doesn't rotate it sideways. The app is awesome too for touching up the photos before you send them.
Incorrect image orientation - workaround:
I had this problem with certain images in Thunderbird. I believe the EXIF is being ignored.
Here's a fix. Open the image in image editing software (e.g., Photoshop). If the image looks correct (oriented the way you prefer), do the following:
select all (command-a)
copy (command-c)
create new docutment (command-n)
paste (command-v)
rename and save as jpeg
This method works in Thunderbird, and I believe I remember reading it will work for iPhone images, too.
I had this problem with certain images in Thunderbird. I believe the EXIF is being ignored.
Here's a fix. Open the image in image editing software (e.g., Photoshop). If the image looks correct (oriented the way you prefer), do the following:
select all (command-a)
copy (command-c)
create new docutment (command-n)
paste (command-v)
rename and save as jpeg
This method works in Thunderbird, and I believe I remember reading it will work for iPhone images, too.
Solution
To batch rotate upside down iPhone Photos this tutorial is very useful
http://www.sync-iphone.com/photos/fix-iphone-4s-upside-down-photos-solution.html
To batch rotate upside down iPhone Photos this tutorial is very useful
http://www.sync-iphone.com/photos/fix-iphone-4s-upside-down-photos-solution.html
Why does my iPhone 4 email pics sideways/upside down ?
Workaround is to use a different app for taking and mailing a picture.
Already taken photo can be reloaded and mailed.
Use for example PS Express, or Camera plus, or Camera awesome, or Instragram )
This is my conclusion. Any easier way to fix this issue ?
Workaround is to use a different app for taking and mailing a picture.
Already taken photo can be reloaded and mailed.
Use for example PS Express, or Camera plus, or Camera awesome, or Instragram )
This is my conclusion. Any easier way to fix this issue ?
I found a "work around" if you use the crop feature, you don't have to actually crop the picture... just slide the frame in and out then save the photo. It will email and upload correctly.(tested on an iphone 4s)