Android tablet:
Using the camera
This animated course shows how to make the most of your Android tablet's camera and the Gallery app. We have tips on accessing the camera, taking, editing and deleting photos and selfies, and sharing photos with friends.
Watch our animation by pressing the Play button below, or click on the handy Chapters icon in the video playbar to go straight to the information you want to see, such as how to:
- open the camera app
- take and view a photo
- use a photo as your tablet's wallpaper
- take a selfie photo
- look at photos using the Gallery app
- delete a photo
- edit a photo
- share a photo.
Sign in to save your progress
Transcript
Welcome to the "Android tablet: Using the camera" course. You'll learn how to quickly access your tablet's built-in camera, how to take a photo, and how to use it as a background image. You'll also learn how to take a selfie, how to delete a photo you don't like, and how to edit a photo and send it to a friend.
There are many types of Android tablets. If your Android tablet is a different model to the one shown in this demonstration, the steps might be slightly different, but you can still follow along.
To get started, let's look at how to access the camera on your tablet. One way is to tap the Camera app icon on your Home screen. If you can't find it on your Home screen, you'll also be able to access it from the Apps screen. Swipe up from the bottom of the Home screen to open the Apps screen. When you find the Camera app icon, you can tap on it to open the camera app.
Let's look at another way to access the Camera app. This handy shortcut lets you quickly access it at any time, even when your tablet is locked. Simply press the Power button on the side of your tablet twice quickly, to open the Camera app.
[eSafety tip] If you open the Camera app from the Lock screen, your tablet is still locked. You will be able to take photos and see the photos you've just taken, but you won't be able to use any other features of your tablet until you unlock it.
Opening the Camera app activates the camera. Here you can see a preview of what the camera can see. It's not recording video or taking photos just yet; it's just showing a preview of the area that would be captured if you were to take a photo or video.
Under the camera preview area are the different types of photos and videos you can capture on your tablet. You can explore these options by swiping through this list, but for this demonstration, we're going to keep Photo selected.
To take a photo, simply tap the Capture button on the right. The photo will be saved to your tablet's Gallery app, and we'll look at that in more detail later in this course.
You can view the last photo you've taken by tapping the circle below the Capture button. Tap on it to open the Gallery app and see your photo.
Let's look at how you can personalise your tablet using a photo as your background. Look for the three vertical dots in the bottom right corner of the screen and tap them to see a list of options. To save our image as a new Home screen background, tap Set as wallpaper. Some more options will appear. For this demonstration, we're going to tap Home screen, to set the photo as our tablet's Home screen background. The screen will change to show a preview of how the photo will look on the Home screen. You can tap and drag the photo around the screen, until you find a position you're happy with. Then, tap Done in the top right of the screen to set it. Tap the Home button to close the Gallery app and see your new background on the Home screen.
Next, let's take another kind of photo called a selfie. A selfie is a photo taken using the tablet's front-facing camera. It's called a selfie because it's usually a photo of yourself, and anyone else who can fit in the shot. Open the Camera app. For this demonstration, we'll tap the camera app icon that's on our Home screen. To take a selfie, find the Switch Camera icon, which is above the Capture button, at the right of the screen. It looks like two circular arrows. Tap it to activate the tablet's front-facing camera. Your face should appear on the screen. You might need to hold the tablet out at arm's length and at a bit of an angle to compose the perfect selfie photo. Tap the Capture button to take your selfie.
Take as many photos as you like, to practise. It can be a good idea to look directly at the top of the screen when taking a selfie. The photos you've taken are saved in the Gallery app. Let's take a look at them now.
Tap the Home button to return to the Home screen. The Gallery app icon is located on the tablet's Home screen. If you can't find it, swipe up and look for it on the Apps screen. The Gallery app icon looks like a flower. If you can't find an app called Gallery, it may be called something like My Photos or Camera Roll, depending on your tablet's maker. When you've found it, tap the app icon to open the app. You will now see a grid of small image previews, with the most recent photos at the top.
Tap one of the selfie photos to view it full screen. You can keep viewing your photos in this full screen mode. Simply swipe right to see the next photo and swipe left to see the previous photo.
If you find a photo or a selfie you don't like, you can delete it from your tablet. The Delete button is at the bottom right of the screen and looks like a rubbish bin. Tap it to delete your photo. From the options that appear, tap Move to Recycle bin. The photo has been removed, and the screen will show the next photo in the Gallery app instead.
You can also do some basic photo editing using your tablet's Gallery app. For example, you can reduce the photo's width or height, known as cropping, straighten an uneven shot, and much more. In this demonstration, we'll swipe right to go to the photo we want to edit. At the bottom of the photo, look for the Edit icon. It looks like a pencil. Tap it, and some icons for different editing controls will appear. It's worth coming back and experimenting with each of these controls later, but for this demonstration, we're going to crop the edges off our photo.
At the bottom of the screen is an icon that looks like a box with an arrow next to it. This is the Crop button, and if it's not already selected, tap it to go to cropping mode. Some white lines will appear around the photo, and you can use these to change the edges. Tap and hold the white line on one of the corners, and slide it up or across to crop the edges off the photo. When you're happy with the new composition, take your finger off the display. The view changes to show how the photo looks after cropping the edges. Have a play with how the crop controls work. And when you're happy with the result, tap Save at the top right of the screen. If a pop up appears, tap Save again to save over the original selfie. The cropped selfie has now been saved and has replaced the original as a new photo in the Gallery app.
Now that you have the perfect selfie, let's finish this course by sending it to a friend. We're going to send the photo as an email attachment using the Gmail app that comes with your Android tablet.
First, find the Share icon in the row of icons underneath your photo. It looks like three small circles connected by two lines. Tap it to continue. The Share menu pops up. There are lots of options here, but let's look for Gmail. Tap the Gmail icon to open the app.
The Gmail app opens, and you'll see the picture is already attached to the message. Tap the To box and the keyboard will appear. Type in the email address of who you'd like to send the picture to. Then tap the Subject box and enter a subject. You can tap the Compose email box and enter a short message, but we're going to leave this blank. When you're ready, tap the Send arrow at the top right. Once the email has sent, the Gmail app will close and take you back to the Gallery.
Now, tap the Home button to return to the Home screen. You have now completed this course and learned how to use the camera app on your Android tablet to take, edit, save and send your photos. Your tablet's Camera and Gallery apps have lots of other options for taking and editing pictures, so enjoy experimenting with them to get the most out of your photos.
If you're unsure about any steps, you can rewind the video or click the chapter headings to jump to the start of a chapter. If you're ready to move on, there are many other courses to explore on Be Connected.