Take photos with your iPad camera

: June 7, 2024
: Apple

Table of Contents

Take photos with your iPad camera

Take photos with your iPad camera

Learn how to take great photos with Camera on your iPad. Choose from camera modes such as Photo, Pano, and Square, and use camera features such as Burst and Live Photos.

Ask Siri. Say something like: “Open Camera.” Learn how to ask Siri.

Take a photo

Photo is the standard mode that you see when you open Camera. Use Photo mode to take still photos. Swipe the mode selector up or down to choose a different mode, such as Video, Pano, Time-lapse, Slo-mo, and Portrait (on supported models).

Tap on the Home screen or swipe left on the Lock screen to open Camera in Photo mode.
Tap the Shutter button or press either volume button to take the photo.

To turn the flash on or off on models that support True Tone Flash or Retina Flash, tap , then choose Auto, On, or Off.

To set a timer, stabilize your iPad and frame your shot. Tap , then tap 3s or 10s.

Note: For your security, a green dot appears at the top of the screen when Camera is in use. See Control access to hardware features.

Zoom in or out

On all models, open Camera and pinch the screen to zoom in or out.
On iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation and later) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation and later), tap 1x on the left side of the screen to zoom out and toggle between 1x and 0.5x. To zoom in, touch and hold 1x, then drag the slider up.
On all other models, drag the slider on the left side of the screen up or down.

Take a panorama photo

Choose Pano mode, then tap the Shutter button.
Pan slowly in the direction of the arrow, keeping it on the center line.
To finish, tap the Shutter button again.

Tap the arrow to pan in the opposite direction. To pan vertically, rotate iPad to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too.

Take a selfie

Switch to the front camera by tapping or (depending on your model).
Hold your iPad in front of you.
Tap the Shutter button or press either volume button to take the shot.

Tip: On iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation) and iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), tap on the left side of the screen to quickly zoom out and increase your field of view. Tap to zoom back in.

To take a mirrored selfie that captures the shot as you see it in the front camera frame, go to Settings > Camera, then turn on Mirror Front Camera or Mirror Front Photos (on earlier models).

Take a selfie in Portrait mode

On supported models, you can apply a depth-of-field effect to your selfies with the front camera. This effect keeps your face sharp while creating a beautifully blurred background.

Choose Portrait mode.

The front camera is now active.

Frame yourself in the yellow portrait box.
Tap the Shutter button to take the shot.

Adjust Portrait Lighting in Portrait mode selfies

On models that support Portrait Lighting, you can apply studio-quality lighting effects to your Portrait mode selfies.

Choose Portrait mode, then frame your selfie.
Drag to choose a lighting effect:
- Natural Light: The face is in sharp focus against a blurred background.
- Studio Light: The face is brightly lit, and the photo has an overall clean look.
- Contour Light: The face has dramatic shadows with highlights and lowlights.
- Stage Light: The face is spotlit against a deep black background.
- Stage Light Mono: The effect is similar to Stage Light, but the photo is in classic black and white.
- High-Key Light Mono: Creates a grayscale subject on a white background—iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation and later) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation and later) only.
Tap the Shutter button to take the shot.

Adjust Depth Control in Portrait mode selfies

On models that support Depth Control, use the Depth Control slider to adjust the level of background blur in your Portrait mode selfies.

Choose Portrait mode, then frame your selfie.
Tap on the right side of the screen.

The Depth Control slider appears on the right.

Drag the slider up or down to adjust the effect.
Tap the Shutter button to take the shot.

After you take a photo in Portrait mode, you can use the Depth Control slider in Photos to further adjust the background blur effect. See Adjust Depth Control in Portrait mode photos.

Capture action shots with Burst mode

Burst mode takes multiple high-speed photos so that you have a range of photos to choose from. You can take Burst photos with the front and rear cameras.

Choose Photo or Square mode.
Touch and hold the Shutter button to take rapid-fire photos.

The counter shows how many shots you took.

Lift your finger to stop.
To select the photos you want to keep, tap the Burst thumbnail, then tap Select.

Gray dots below the thumbnails mark the suggested photos to keep.

Tap the circle in the lower-right corner of each photo you want to save as an individual photo, then tap Done.

To delete the entire group of Burst photos, tap the thumbnail, then tap .

Take a Live Photo

A Live Photo captures what happens just before and after you take your photo, including the audio.

On models that support Live Photos, choose Photo mode.
Tap to turn Live Photos on (yellow is on) or off.
Tap the Shutter button to take the shot.

In your albums, Live Photos are marked with “Live” in the top-left corner. You can edit Live Photos and add effects such as Loop and Bounce. See Edit Live Photos.