Adjust photography settings

Before you take a photo, you can adjust settings to get the best photo for your situation.

Use a timer

TipUse a tabletop tripod to stabilize the phone when taking timed shots.
  1. If you're taking a selfie, touch .
  2. Touch > and select 2, 5, or 10 seconds.
  3. Frame your shot, and when you're ready, touch to start the countdown.
  4. Take your place in the shot (if you're taking a selfie, simply wait) and smile!

Use a flash

To set the flash mode (off, always on, or auto), touch on the viewfinder.

Use HDR in high-contrast lighting

Taking a photo of a bright scene that also includes dark shadows? Use HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode. The camera captures multiple exposure levels and combines them into a single photo for vibrant colors and more detail in both light and dark areas.

To set HDR mode (off, always on, or auto mode), touch on the viewfinder.

HDR is best for:

  • Landscapes with bright sky and shaded hills or foliage
  • Outdoor portraits with lots of contrast
  • Backlit scenes with dark shadows and streams of sunlight
  • When both the camera and subject are stationary

Do not use HDR for:

  • Action shots
  • Low-light indoor photos
  • When you want to use the flash or the front camera

When the camera detects a high contrast scene, it automatically goes into HDR mode, and HDR appears in the viewfinder. Consider whether HDR mode would improve the photo or not.

Use anti-flicker

To prevent horizontal or vertical lines (banding) on your photos and flickering in your videos, change the anti-flicker setting. You may notice flickering when you use the camera under fluorescent light or when you capture a TV screen. It occurs when the camera’s frame rate differs from the frequency of the electrical grid of your current region. North America and a few other regions use 60Hz, while the rest of the world uses 50Hz.

Your camera is set to auto, but if you experience issues, change the setting:

  1. On the viewfinder, touch > .
  2. Select a frequency.

Use beauty filter

Your camera includes a filter that can:

  • Soften and even skin tone
  • Brighten face
  • Add a rosy tone

To use the filter:

  1. On the viewfinder, touch > and then:

    • To soften and even skin tone, touch .
    • To brighten skin, touch .
    • To add a rosy tone, touch .
  2. Use the slider to adjust the intensity of the filter.
  3. Smile and touch to take the picture.

Adjust photo size

Lower resolution photos and videos take up less space, but have lower image quality.

On the viewfinder:

  • To change the photo's shape, touch the aspect ratio that appears at the top of the viewfinder. Use for full-screen capture.
  • To change the photo's resolution, touch and change the photo size.
TipIf you're running low on internal storage, adjust settings to save new photos on your SD card.

Use mirroring

For the front (selfie) camera, when you look in the viewfinder, you'll see a mirror image: left and right are reversed, and text looks backwards. You can control, however, whether the photos you take match the viewfinder or whether they're flipped.

  1. On the selfie camera viewfinder, touch .

  2. For Selfie photo mirror:

    • If you want photos to match what you see in the viewfinder, turn it on .
    • If you want text in photos to read normally and the image to be flipped, turn it off .

Fix an issue

If you’re having issues, try these troubleshooting steps.