How to apply live filters to your camera with one simple swipe

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to apply photo filters and Photographic Styles right in the iOS Camera app while you’re framing your shot. You can select the desired look and take a picture with that effect already applied to the final image.

Vibrant Photographic Styles in iPhone Camera

iPhone Camera lets you add two kinds of photo effects right when you’re about to take a picture. These are:

  • Photo filters: You have 10 options to choose from.
  • Photographic Styles: You have 5 options to choose from.

Out of the box, your iPhone Camera takes photos with no extra filters. And when it comes to Photographic Style, it’s set to Standard for a true-to-life approach. But you can spice things up and capture shots in a way that suits your preferences. Adding these effects right in the camera may negate the need to edit the image later.

Apply filters to your iPhone camera

  1. Open the stock Camera app on your iPhone and make sure you’re in Photo or Portrait mode.
  2. Swipe up anywhere on the screen or tap the arrow button from the top.
  3. Tap the filters button from the end of the row.
  4. Swipe left and choose from Original (default), Vivid, Vivid Warm, Vivid Cool, Dramatic, Dramatic Warm, Dramatic Cool, Mono, Silvertone, and Noir. I like the Vivid option as it makes the colors pop.
  5. Take a picture, and it will get saved with the effect you choose.
Apply photo filter in iPhone Camera

Later down the road, you can open this image in the Photos app, tap Edit, and then hit Revert to remove the added filter or choose another one.

Apply Photographic Styles to your iPhone camera

If you have an iPhone 13 or newer, you can take advantage of a camera feature called Photographic Styles. According to Apple, these camera preset styles ‘use advanced scene understanding to apply the right amount of adjustments to different parts of your photo.’

  1. Open the iPhone Camera and make sure you’re in Photo mode.
  2. Swipe up on the screen or tap the arrow icon from the top of the screen.
  3. Tap the Photographic Styles icon.
  4. Swipe horizontally to select from Standard (default), Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, or Cool.
  5. After you select a style, you can further adjust the Tone and Warmth by using their sliders. If things don’t go as planned, tap the reset icon to revert your tone and warmth adjustments to the default level for that style.
  6. Finally, take the picture with that added Photographic Style. All your future images will also be taken with this style until you choose the Standard mode.
Use Photographic Style in iPhone Camera app

These styles are different from the previously mentioned photo filters in the sense that you cannot revert the applied Photographic Style effect by simply editing the image in the Photos app. However, you can adjust the tone, warmth, and other parameters while editing, and this should let you adjust the picture’s appearance as close to the original as possible.

You can learn more about these by going to iPhone Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles. Here, you’ll see a brief explanation for each style, their default tone & warmth levels, and an actual example. Tap the blue Use “effect name” button to set it as the default shooting style for your iPhone Camera.

Photographic Styles in iPhone Camera settings

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