Tips for Using the New iPhone Timer!

One of my favourite photo tools these days is indeed my iPhone and I was THRILLED to see that with the new phone the iPhone 6 coming out today there was going to be a self-timer added to the camera. While I’d love to get it someday, I still have a lot of time on my plan for this iPhone 5 I was extra excited to find out yesterday that the timer was a part of the new upgrade in the operating system too.

So of course I had to do it right away.

As a self-portrait teacher & taker, a timer is pivotal. Especially in the way I like to take selfies which is to put down the camera and step into the frame. I’ve been singing the praises of the Gorillacam App for years now and still will probably use the App more than this timer but I’m so thrilled to now have both.

For those of you who use Google or Windows phones…you’re lucky ’cause you’ve had a timer on your phone since the beginning. More than that, these phones also seem to have a burst mode (which the iPhone upgrade is lacking and why I will still mostly be using the Gorillacam App still). If you see a burst mode option, try it!  What that means is that it can take a whole bunch of photos one after another. This is so wonderful when you are stepping into the frame as you don’t need to run back and forth pressing the shutter each time!

So let’s talk about the iPhone!  While these new features are pretty simple to use, I thought I’d share this here because, well….Apple doesn’t give you too much instruction on where new things are.  While that’s okay because it is pretty intuitive to use, I found that many folks didn’t know the features I mentioned in the 10 Ways to take Better iPhone Photos post so I thought I might share a bit about this cool new way to use our iPhones for selfies.

You’ll find the timer at the top of the screen when you enter your camera (the basic camera on the phone, not through an App) right beside the Flash, HDR and where you turn the camera from front facing to back facing. They have 2 options for us, a 3 second timer and a 10 second timer.  Even with Gorillacam I love using a 10 second timer.  It’s just enough time to get into the frame!

In terms of the timer itself, one feature I really like which isn’t the case when using an App is that the flash on the back of your camera flashes to count down. Of course this is different if you are using the front facing camera, but in that case you’ll be able to see numbers pop up on the screen to count down!  Good on ya Apple for doing that!

As I’ve been using my phone for selfies, I’ve really come to realize that the camera on the back of the phone is much higher quality than the front facing one (where you can see yourself on the screen). So I almost always use that lens for taking selfies even though I can’t see myself on the screen. Being able to see yourself on the screen is great, and I recommend starting off using the timer that way but maybe flipping it around if you really love what you are getting so you can get some higher quality ones too (especially if you are noticing some graininess).

One place this upgrade is lacking though is with a burst mode. I mean, why add a timer without the ability to take more than one photo at once? It seems like that is indeed coming with the iPhone 6. I’m sure it was something they could have added to this upgrade but instead have it something you need to get the new phone for. Alas…that just means I’ll be getting more use out of the Gorillcam App as you can get it to take how ever many photos you’d like (up to 60 photos).

There are also a couple more new features on this ios8 upgrade that affect our cameras and I’m excited about them both.  One is that there is now a favourite button at the bottom of the screen when you are looking at each individual photo. I can’t tell you how many times I scroll and scroll for ages to find one certain photo.  So this will be such a great way to have one folder of the images we are most likely to want to refer to. The favourites end up in a favourite folder that you’ll see when you click on your camera roll.

The other feature is the deleted photos folder! It’s gonna be a lifesaver. Even today after I took the photos for this post I accidentally pressed the delete button when trying to send myself these photos and was mighty grateful to be able to go back and retrieve them!

I’ve been excited for the timer to become a new feature not just for my own use. I think a lot about selfies and both their history and their future (I can’t help it…I’m obsessed with the ways that selfies can be a tool to see ourselves with kindness). I have a big hope that people will experiment with the timer more and selfie culture will shift a bit more away from arms length and get us into the frame more. I truly believe that is where so much more of our healing of how we see ourselves can happen. I know the selfie trends have been in reflection of the developments in our gear (like when the front facing camera came and selfies took off because of it) so we’ll just have to wait and see what effect this has!

One more thing…if you do try using your timer today, I also wanted to share this post from the archives with you as it is one of my favourite self-compassion tools that makes using the timer even more fun!  I dare you to give it a try and if you do, use the #beyourownbeloved hashtag to share it with us!