How to use Photographic Styles of iPhone 16

iPhone 16's Photographic Styles offer a new way to enhance photos. After testing them on everything from portraits to landscapes, we found unique ways to use these features to enhance photos with little effort.

How to use Photographic Styles on iPhone 16

You can use Photographic Styles in the Photos app with your existing photos. Or, you can shoot and preview styles directly in the Camera app.

The default Photographic Styles is Standarddo not apply any editing in camera. Left side of style Standardthere are 5 tone styles: Cool Rose, Neutral, Rose Gold, Gold and Amber. On the right, you will find the word mood styles Vibrant arrive Stark B&W.

Click on any style. The Control Pad is where all the fun is. Move the adjustment up to brighten the image. If you move down, the image will darken and become gloomy. Moving left creates a less saturated version of the style palette; move to the right, you get a more saturated version.

A slider at the bottom then adjusts the color palette you'll use.

Previous adjustments are remembered, so you don't have to reset them every time you use a different photo. This is a convenient feature that saves time and effort.

How iPhone's Photographic Styles make photos unique

You can apply Photographic Styles before or after taking a photo. You can choose a style based on your mood or skin tone you want.

For example, choose Vibrant, Luminous, Quiet and Dramatic to enhance the mood and feeling of a scene. For selfies and portraits, Cool Rose, Neutral, Rose Gold, and Amber provide the best results.

Of course, you can swap out and experiment with different styles of all kinds of photos.

For portraits and selfies

Portraits and selfies can be difficult to get right. iPhone's intelligent processing system is designed to keep skin tones intact. Even then, a photography style can accentuate skin tones and make the photo look unnatural.

Cool Roseas the name suggests, is a subtle effect. But it does bring out the reds and blues in any photo. This enhancement may be the right choice for your pale skin tones.

Amber also warms up portraits. If your original photo is a bit dull (perhaps taken on a cloudy day), this style can bring out the lighter red tones. And if you want to stand out, go for it Gold or Rose Gold; both add a bit of color and tone to photos that are too dark or dull.

To enhance natural scenery

Real-world photography requires a bit of drama and emotion. Landscape photography benefits from depth. People often like to shoot directly or edit later in Vibrant or Stark B&W mode (usually for street photos).

You can start with mode Standard or Natural to capture the available dynamic range in daylight. However, the temptation to add more drama with other photography styles may be too great to ignore.

For black and white photos

Black and white photos are a favorite of many people. You don't have to think too much about the tonal limitations of photography styles. iPhone offers two black and white styles – Muted B&W and Stark B&W.

Muted B&W slightly lighter and gives a softer appearance. Adjusting the slider can help you get closer to the feeling of photographing bright tones with a few dark tones. This airy style is sometimes perfect for landscape photos with a distant horizon.

Stark B&W go in the opposite direction. It can help you create a photo with high contrast and brighter shadows. This style is the closest you can get to imitating the muted toned photography of architecture or even portraits.

For a classic look

The classic style is perfect for anything you want to throw back in time – an old car, a house or a museum exhibit. Please use it Quiet and Ethereal for a bit of nostalgia.

For example, Quiet Add a sepia tone by fading the red and brightening all the shadows evenly.

Workflow and creativity with Photographic Styles on iPhone 16

Changing the color and tone of a photo with styles doesn't require an expert eye, just a willingness to experiment. Photographic Styles on iPhone 16 are very flexible. You can choose a style in post-processing or take instant photos with them.

Using a specific style as your default will change the way you approach a photo. It's like choosing a specific film for the photography ideas in your head. For example, many people often set up the Stark B&W for street photography.

Photographic Styles are fun because you can change them at any time. So, try creating 3 – 4 differently styled versions of a souvenir photo. After a few days, one of those photos usually looks more appealing than the others.

Additionally, you can set a specific Photographic Styles as default in iPhone 16. When taking multiple photos with a specific style, you can bypass the default Standard style that the iPhone camera opens.

How to set the default background color tone on iPhone 16

Take four photos with your iPhone Camera to choose the default Photographic Styles. These styles give the image processor some information about the skin's background tone.

1. Enter Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles.
2. Select Get Startedthen follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Choose 4 photos to let iOS know the skin tones you usually take.
4. Use the slider to set the intensity of the background tone style.
5. In the next step, use Control Pad to fine-tune both the tone and saturation of the color.
6. Click Save Tone & Color to complete the default. Select Done to return to Settings.

Photographic Styles are powered by the new A18 and A18 Pro chips and Apple's sophisticated image analysis engine in the iPhone 16 series. They can even give a second life to monotonous photos. With minor customizations, you can recreate the world as you see it with your photos. Just point and shoot, then adjust for a perfect shot.