Daniel asked about taking small sips of new technology information to not be overwhelmed. Agreed that technology is a firehose of information and hard to "stop the world, I want to play with this feature so I can learn and build new muscle memory." I hope the combination of class time with demo and practice activities along with this permanent website will help you feel grounded. Additionally the Apple Books app where you can download the iPhone User Guide is where you can highlight text, write your own notes, leave bookmarks and search the text is another way of information processing. One more idea, use the Notes app on your iPhone to capture thoughts, processes and suggestions. Notes is also searchable. There is a video demo called iPhone = Brain on YouTube with some ideas.
How about a virtual visit to your local public library? Use the Libby app to find ebooks and magazines with every imaginable topic - from gardening to travel to technology to photography. Drop by your nearest library and chat with the staff to confirm your library card and pin numbers. They will also help you get started using the app on your iPhone or iPad and answer questions about accessing library resources from your computer.
Donald, in Texas, has been frustrated with how Albums are listed on iPad and iPhone. He is not alone! One possible app that does list Albums alphabetically, search can find an album by name, and the app packs powerful editing features is RAW Power by Gentlemen Coders - a lifetime in-app purchase of $9.99 covers both iPad and iPhone. Download and try for free and purchase if you like the features. Nik Bhatt is the developer, he retired from the Apple Aperture, iPhoto and Photos team. I found his article on TidBits The Ins and Outs of Non-destructive Editing in Photos for Mac and iOS to be informative - especially after reading and re-reading it - each time another kernel of info stays in my brain.
Carol asked about organizing apps on the Home Screens. TidBits has a good article covering iOS 14 (same applies to iOS 15) Five Tips for Easier Rearranging of iOS Apps. The article and videos include making folders of apps and renaming the folder, using the Dock for major rearranging, and selecting multiple apps in a temporary stack and moving them to a different Home Screen.
Pat asked about location information saved to photos. TidBits article, Get More Info from Photos in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, looks at metadata and the new Visual Lookup feature.
Suzanne asked for a list of favorite apps and why? This list is too long. Checkout the Apps listed on the iPhone Photography Studio website with direct links to recommended apps. Also, review the Cheatsheet page there to see apps listed by features and techniques.
For beginners, Apple Camera and Photos are very powerful and are the featured apps in this class. However, Touch-Retouch, Snapseed and Camera+2 should be on your potential list. Touch-Retouch is both a stand alone app and an Photos Extension to retouch distractions in your photos. Snapseed is a free and powerful editing app that has some additional features that Apple Photos does not have. Camera+2 is my goto macro camera - for older iPhones. It is both a camera and editing environment. Explore YouTube for photographers and artists sharing their favorite apps. Sally Cox offers iPhoneography from 2014 with many short video demos.
Meda asked about iPhones with one, two or three lenses and why to use them. iPhone Photography Academy/School offers many videos on YouTube for ideas on improving your photography. How To Choose The Correct iPhone Camera Lens featuring the three-lens iPhone 11 Pro. But the techniques apply to older and newer iPhones. Emil Pakarlis is the talent behind iPS and the entire catalog of iPhone Photography School videos is worth your review.
Steve asked about what are the camera controls before taking a picture. AppleInsider offers Everything New With Camera & Photos in iOS 14! 30+ Changes & Features! Exposure Compensation is one of the features covered beginning at at 1:57 also adding the Photo Widget to your home screen at 4:00. Photo captions were introduced, demo at 6:20; Memories at 7:15 ...
Lucy and Loreine are curious about how best to save, organize and store photos taken on iPhone. The organization of pictures by day, month, year is the default and views of the Library reflect this arrangement. There are helper features like People, Places (GPS) and Recents. Individual photos can be marked as "Favorite" and Search is growing more powerful. You can also curate pictures into Albums or Folders with Albums. In iOS 14 the Photos app added a caption field for pictures. The captions are also found when using Search.
Carol wants clarification on how to transfer and keep pictures taken on your iPhone to your iPad and vice versa. This is the magic of iCloud syncing. Using one Apple ID and turning on iCloud Photos. Chances are you eventually need to increase your subscription for iCloud storage to iCloud+ (50Gb, 200Gb or 2TB). iCloud storage includes iPhone/iPad Backup, individual app documents, Contacts and so much more.
Mary asks what “camera-like” features do we have with our iPhone? For example, zoom in and out? Color filters? Recent phones include multiple lenses - wide angle and a short telephoto -- or more. The best photos are captured using the optical lens and not pinching to zoom in as if adding telephoto capability. This is known as "digital zoom" and the same subject frame can be created by cropping in the Photos app. Also, there are attachable lenses for iPhones. Telephoto capability is not ready for prime time and, to be successful, needs stabilization - a tripod. Color filter effects are available in the Camera app or when editing in the Photos app. Color filters are a non-destructive feature in Photos. Smartphones today are using "computational photography" to capture pictures on very small sensors.
Mark has battery issues. As phones age, their batteries lose maximum charge-ability. While you can get a new battery installed, consider buying a new iPhone instead. Keep a charge cord in your car and use it. Meanwhile, first, check the Battery Health on your iPhone in Settings > Battery > Battery Health. What apps are using up battery the most? Does this list surprise you? Use the Control Center to change the Brightness of the display to save battery. Set AutoLock to 5 minutes in Settings > Display & Brightness > AutoLock to 5 minutes (or less). Some third party chargers and cables are less efficient than the Apple branded items and some online reviews mention battery damage (how do they know?).
Kathy mentioned Verizon sent her an email about cellular services dropping the 3G service. "What does my iPhone use for cell service?" The Apple Compare iPhone Models page will tell you that any iPhone from 6 to 11 uses 4G, and 12 and 13 models use 5G.
Several of you have asked How do you check and recover space on iPhone and in iCloud? The hidden tip is to look at Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Messages > Photos & > Videos ... to see if large attachments are hanging out here. Start with videos; you can see the file size and tap to play the video. If you do not want to save it - delete it! If you recognize any photos that you sent via Messages or Mail then you can delete them here, they remain in your Photos Library. Pay attention if photo file size is in MB range, especially over 10 MB. Delete from here. The Last Used Date in Settings > General > iPhone Storage is helpful because you can scroll to the bottom of the list to see languishing apps - tap on one to see the Offload App option. Again, focus on offloading apps with file size in MBs. It takes offloading 1,024 MB to free up one GB. An app is separate from data. The data will stay on your iPhone but the app will go away. You can alway re-download an app - if it is compatible with the current iOS.
Randi asked about tips on improving panoramic photos. After a web search, here are some items to nibble on: panorama photos maximum width is 5400 pixels (reported in 2018), try panos with each available lens, watch for on-screen prompts to move slower/faster, have a clear subject in your photo, expect distortion, avoid movement in your subject, try the horizon of your scene in the middle, lower or upper grid line, tap screen to set exposure. Consider taking overlapping photos and stitching them together with an app or on your computer. MORE ON THIS LATER
Someone asked about converting HEIC to JPEG - several possibilities here, including https://heictojpg.com/ for a test. MORE ON THIS LATER.