Tagged: iPhone Photos

Basics: How to Rotate a Photo on the iPhone/iPad (Without Using a Third-Party App)

If you need to rotate and save a photo on the iPhone so that it’s in the correct orientation, you can do so inside the default Photos app, without using a third-party app. In fact, the Photos app includes a few basic photo editing tools, like crop, fix red-eye, auto-enhance, and rotate. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to use the rotate tool in the Photos app.

1. Open the Photos app:

Photos app icon

2. Find the photo you want to rotate (it will likely still be in the Camera Roll album if you took it recently):

Camera Roll inside Photos iPhone app

3. Tap Edit in the top right corner (if you don’t see Edit, tap the screen once to make menu options appear):

Tap Edit in top right corner of iPhone photos app

4. Tap the curved arrow in the bottom left of the screen to rotate the photo:

Tap Curved Arrow to rotate

5. Tap Save to save the changes to the photo:

Tap Save

And that’s it, you’ve rotated the photo and saved the changes. Now, whenever you, or anyone else you send the picture to, views the photo, it will be in that orientation.

An iPhone Tip for Mac Owners: How to Import iPhone Photos Without Using iPhoto

Image Capture Mac App

When importing photos from my iPhone to the Mac, I’ve found the default method—using iPhoto—to be slow and clunky. There is a better solution, however. It’s called Image Capture, and it’s built right into the Mac.

Image Capture Mac App

Image Capture connected to my iPhone 5

Image Capture is a fast and lightweight application that comes with every modern Mac. The application can import photos and video from cameras, iPhones, and other devices. Just connect your device to your Mac, launch Image Capture, and import. It runs much, much, much faster than iPhoto. You can import all photos/video at once, or choose only select photos. And perhaps best of all, you can even choose the photos’ destination—for example, the desktop or a specific folder—something iPhoto won’t let you do.

Extra Tip:

You can have Image Capture automatically open whenever you connect your iPhone to your Mac, speeding up the photo-import process even more. Here’s how.

1. Open Image Capture and connect your iPhone to your Mac.

2. In Image Capture, make sure your iPhone is selected (highlighted) in the left column:

Select your iPhone in Image Capture

2. Click the icon in bottom left corner of Image Capture:

Click icon in bottom right corner

3. Click on the drop-down menu beneath the text Connecting this iPhone opens:

Click drop-down box

4. Select Image Capture:

Select Image Capture from drop-down menu

And that’s it. Image Capture will now automatically launch whenever your connect the iPhone to your Mac.

Extra Note:

  • Image Capture lets you delete photos off your iPhone without importing them first, something iPhoto will not let you do. So if you just want to delete all of your iPhone photos at once, or a select few, this is a great solution.

How to Sort Your Photos Into Albums on the iPhone

Photo albums are a new feature introduced in iOS 5. Sorting your photos into albums is not only a way to give order to the chaos that is the Photos app, but it also makes it easier to show off all the pictures of your new baby, latest vacation, or new car.

Another cool feature of albums is slideshows. With one tap, you can also easily play the album as a slideshow and use any music on your iPhone as background music.

Below are step-by-step instructions on how to organize your photos in albums on the iPhone (works for the iPad too).

How to Sort Photos Into Albums on the iPhone:

1. Open the Photos app:

2. Tap Edit in the top right corner:

3. Tap Add in the top left corner:

4. Enter in a name for your album, then tap Save:

5. Tap the photos you want to place in the album, a blue and white checkmark will appear when you select them. Note that photos can be placed into more than one album. Tap Album in the top left to navigate to other albums and select the photos within:

6. Tap Done in the top right corner:

And that’s it, you’ve created a photo album.

Extra Tip: How to Move a Photo Into an Existing Album

Let’s say you’ve already have created an album called Friends, and you want to move a new picture into that album. Here’s how (hat tip to Michelle in the comments). Important: note that this only works for albums created on the iPhone. If you created an album on your computer and synced it to the iPhone, the instructions below won’t work.

1. In the Camera Roll or in any album, tap the arrow in the top right corner:

2. Tap the photo(s) you want to move into an album, then tap Add To:

3. Tap Add to Existing Album:

4. Tap the album you want to move the photo(s) into:

And that’s it.

Notes:

  • Deleting an album does not delete the photos inside. They photos will stay on your iPhone even though the album has been deleted. Think of it as throwing away the folder but keeping the images.
  • Photo albums created on the iPhone don’t currently sync back to iTunes/your computer. Here’s hoping Apple fixes that in the future.
  • If you own an AppleTV, you can wirelessly play albums as slideshows from your iPhone to your TV via the built-in AirPlay feature. And it’s easy—just a few taps.