{"id":815102,"date":"2025-06-04T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/?p=815102"},"modified":"2025-06-04T12:18:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:18:46","slug":"crop-photo-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/how-to\/crop-photo-iphone","title":{"rendered":"Crop, rotate and skew photos on iPhone"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re traveling this summer, there’s a neat editing trick to get spectacular shots of landmarks or murals. On the iPhone, you can crop, skew and rotate a photo using the Photos app\u2019s advanced editing tools to make adjustments you might not have thought were possible.<\/p>\n

You can quickly fix the perspective or angle a picture was taken from, correct the fisheye distortion on an ultra-wide photo and more. You can also precisely rotate and skew the perspective, for those times when you don\u2019t realize until it\u2019s too late that your shot is slightly to the side or slightly off-center.<\/p>\n

The best part is you can can fix it all directly in the Photos app. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How to skew, adjust perspective, rotate and crop a photo on iPhone<\/h2>\n

In the age of iPhone<\/a> photography, capturing the perfect shot often requires more than simply pressing the shutter button. Whether it\u2019s straightening a tilted horizon, cropping out distractions or adjusting the shot’s perspective to center your subject, these subtle edits can transform a good photo into a great one.<\/p>\n

With the iPhone\u2019s built-in Photos app<\/a>, users can take advantage of a robust set of intuitive editing tools that make refining photos and videos a very straightforward endeavor. In fact, the app that started as a simple way to look at your camera roll is now a fully featured image editor.<\/p>\n

This guide explains exactly how cropping, rotating and correcting perspective of photos works on iPhone, with step-by-step instructions.<\/p>\n

Table of contents: How to skew, adjust perspective, rotate and crop a photo on iPhone<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Shift the perspective<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Rotate pictures<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Crop to preset aspect ratios<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. More Photos features<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Shift the perspective<\/h3>\n

    I try to take pictures of paintings on walls or food laid out on a table straight-on, but it\u2019s not easy getting it perfect. Luckily, you can adjust the perspective of an image after the fact.<\/p>\n

    \"Adjusting
    Finally, a clean image of chickens with human legs.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Consider this image of a mural in a tight hallway. I didn\u2019t have room to get a square shot of it. Tapping the horizontal adjust button, I can use the slider to change the perspective of the image as if I were standing directly in front of it.<\/p>\n

    \"Adjusting
    Reduce the perspective distortion on a tall building.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The vertical adjust can work wonders on tall buildings shot from the ground. Take this image of the Duomo di Firenze<\/a>, shot with the 0.5\u00d7 lens. Using the maximum amount of correction on the image reduces much of the fish-eye distortion.<\/p>\n

    There wasn\u2019t enough room in the plaza to capture the whole building with the 1\u00d7 lens, but with the perspective adjust, it looks good.<\/p>\n

    \"Adjusting
    Edit your off-center pictures to be perfectly aligned.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    As one last example, you can combine all three tools \u2014 rotate, horizontal and vertical adjust \u2014 to fix pictures like these. In a big crowded room in a museum, you can rarely get a great shot. The image on the left is the best I could do, holding my phone way above my head.<\/p>\n

    But with some careful editing, the image on the right looks like I had all day to set up a tripod perfectly centered in front of the image. And since I shot it in ProRAW<\/a>, it\u2019s pretty good resolution even after all those edits.<\/p>\n

    Rotate pictures on iPhone<\/h3>\n
    \"Rotate
    Sometimes when you take a picture straight down, it doesn\u2019t get the orientation correct.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Tap\u00a0Edit<\/strong> and tap the Crop<\/strong>\u00a0tool in the bottom right. Tap the Rotate<\/strong> button in the top-left \u2014 that\u2019ll spin it by a full 90\u00b0.<\/p>\n

    \"Adjust
    Freely rotate an image by just a few degrees.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    If you only want to correct it a little bit, slide your finger along the level at the bottom. It will both rotate the image and crop it inwards, so the corners will still look perfect.<\/p>\n

    Tap Done<\/strong> to save your changes.<\/p>\n

    Crop the iPhone photo to preset aspect ratios<\/h3>\n

    If you just need to crop in an image, you don\u2019t need to touch any of the advanced tools \u2014 just grab the edge of the image and drag it inwards, or pinch to zoom in on the image.<\/p>\n

    \"Cropping
    Crop your pictures to the right ratio for wallpapers, print pictures and more.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    However, if you need to make the image perfectly square, or crop it to 16:9 or any other preset, tap the aspect ratio<\/strong> button in the top right. Switch between vertical and horizontal, scroll through the list of presets and pick one. The Wallpaper preset will make sure it\u2019s the correct aspect ratio for your Lock Screen \/ Home Screen, no matter what iPhone you have.<\/p>\n

    A bunch of handy tools for your photos<\/h3>\n

    The Photos app is full of tricks and hidden features:<\/p>\n