Apple put together a bunch of bite-sized iPhone camera lessons

Apple’s trying something a little different on its YouTube account today: rather than putting up more ads about how great the iPhone’s camera is, it’s published a series of short tutorials on how to actually use the camera.

The videos are all about 40 seconds long and focus on the very basics of iPhone photography, like using portrait mode and shooting panoramas. They also get into some general photography tips too, like how to shoot a decent photo in low light. These won’t be useful for anyone but the most novice photographer, but that’s still an awful lot of people.

What might be most interesting about the spots is their style. They’re all vertical, so they’re meant to be seen on a phone. And they put together electronic beats and some basic text and graphics work for a vibe that Apple hasn’t really tried before.

The spots are all going up on a new section of Apple’s website, too, though the page appears to be broken right now.

Apple has been playing up the iPhone’s camera in its ads for a few years now. But oddly enough, over those few years, the iPhone has lost the gargantuan photography advantage it once used to have.

In our latest test of the top phone cameras, my colleague Sean O’Kane wrote that “the iPhone now feels a generation behind,” with the camera regularly getting beat out by LG’s G6, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Google’s Pixel. The iPhone still has a good camera, but Apple’s going to need to do more than just teach people how to use it to get back on top this year.