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Pictures upside down when emailed

When I email a photo I have taken with my iPhone 4 it comes out upside down. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for any help you can give.

Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Aug 8, 2010 8:48 PM

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Posted on Aug 18, 2010 5:50 PM

I'm having the exact same problem, although it's not happening all the time. Seems like it's only occurring when I email someone with a Yahoo email address.
13 replies

Sep 2, 2010 6:53 PM in response to mcheth

I haven't tried the e-mail yet, but my photos come out side ways when I upload them from my phone to the computer via IMAGE CAPTURE. They view in the correct way when viewed in PREVIEW, but turn sideways when uploaded to Facebook (for example).

They orientate correctly when uploaded directly from the phone to Facebook, however. It seems as though when they go from phone > computer > [elsewhere] they turn sideways.

Any help/suggestions are appreciated.

Aug 24, 2010 10:32 AM in response to Dena

To ensure the photo appears "right-side up" when taken in landscape mode, hold the phone with the Home button on the right, and the volume buttons on the bottom, when taking the photo.

It may not appear to make a difference when viewing your photos on the iphone itself, but when you e-mail them the "orientation" information stored in the image's EXIF data will be different if you take it with the home button on the left. Then, other image display software on other people's computers will read that orientation information and display the photo upside down. Of course, you can use lots of different photo software packages to "rotate" the photo after the fact. But its best to just avoid the "incorrect" orientation.

Take your landscape photos with the home button on the right.

Aug 28, 2010 1:16 PM in response to dgalvan123

I'm left-handed and realized in short order that, once again in life, I was getting the short end of the stick with this problem. I'm not an Apple-hater, but this is a design flaw. The iPhone senses up and down, acceleration, etc. The camera app ought to allow the top-bottom orientation to be set, so that left-handed people could have the same ergonomic experience as persons who are right-handed.

Love my iPad, love my iPhone, love my Mac. When do I get to own them?

Sep 1, 2010 3:49 PM in response to dgalvan123

I recently upgraded to the IPhone 4 and have experience upside pictures that I send by e-mail. So: Home button on right when taking a landscape picture. When taking one of yourself, make sure the home button is on the left. If taking pictures in portriat mode--it will always be e-mailed sideways--or in the landscape mode. I tested this with a 3G IPhone Version 3.0 and ALL pictures e-mail correctly no matter how they were taken: "Upsidedown" with the home button on left or home butten on right, backwards, portrait either with on-off on top or bottom. ALL pictures e-mail upright. SOOOOO what has happened with later OS versions???

Sep 3, 2010 3:36 AM in response to dgalvan123

dgalvan123 wrote:
To ensure the photo appears "right-side up" when taken in landscape mode, hold the phone with the Home button on the right, and the volume buttons on the bottom, when taking the photo.

True.
It may not appear to make a difference when viewing your photos on the iphone itself, but when you e-mail them the "orientation" information stored in the image's EXIF data will be different if you take it with the home button on the left.

True
Then, other image display software on other people's computers will read that orientation information and display the photo upside down. Of course, you can use lots of different photo software packages to "rotate" the photo after the fact. But its best to just avoid the "incorrect" orientation.

False. The problem isn't that the EXIF orientation flag is there, it is that some third party software ignores the flag and assumes it was taken in the 'native' position for the camera, i.e landscape mode with home to the right.
Take your landscape photos with the home button on the right.

This should always work, but it is often inconvenient. Better to also complain to the companies who have failed to implement support of the EXIF orientation flag.

Sep 3, 2010 8:05 AM in response to mcheth

mcheth wrote:
I tested this with a 3G IPhone Version 3.0 and ALL pictures e-mail correctly no matter how they were taken: "Upsidedown" with the home button on left or home butten on right, backwards, portrait either with on-off on top or bottom. ALL pictures e-mail upright. SOOOOO what has happened with later OS versions???



Good question! I use an iPhone 4 now, and do have the problem. But I used an iPhone 3G for 2 years, and never noticed that problem. I do think that something has changed with the iPhone 4, but I don't know what.

Sep 3, 2010 8:23 AM in response to crh24

I was in an Apple Store discussing the issue at the Genius Desk and the tech tried it himself--taking a picture in portrait mode on his IPhone 4 and e-mailed the picture to himself on the MAC he was using in the store. The picture came in sideways just as it does on Windows 7 OS. So if what you say is correct, then why doesn't Apple implement support of the EXIF orientation flag on their computers?

Sep 3, 2010 9:20 AM in response to mcheth

mcheth wrote:
I was in an Apple Store discussing the issue at the Genius Desk and the tech tried it himself--taking a picture in portrait mode on his IPhone 4 and e-mailed the picture to himself on the MAC he was using in the store. The picture came in sideways just as it does on Windows 7 OS. So if what you say is correct, then why doesn't Apple implement support of the EXIF orientation flag on their computers?

All of the Apple image editing programs honor the flag as do all Adobe programs. Safari for the iPad and iPhone honor it as well, but Safari on the Mac does not. I don't use Mac Mail, I use Thunderbird but it too does not honor the flag, however Mail on both the iphone 4 and iPad honor the flag. I report to Apple all of their programs that I come across that do not support the flag pointing out that their program is obsolete and needs to be updated.

Prior to about iOS 3.1.3 the iPhone did not use the EXIF orientation flag—Apple rotated the image before saving it. This rotation is expensive in CPU cycles and results in much longer picture to picture times.

The problem is we are in a transition period as developers slowly implement support of the EXIF orientation flag. Currently three choices are available: 1-always take the picture in the camera's native orientation; 2-rotate the image using third party software; 3-live with the problem while the developers play catch up.

Nov 16, 2010 4:10 PM in response to Dena

I'm having the same issue with my 3GS on OS 4.1. Taking pictures in portrait mode and emailing them show up in landscape mode. It's annoying, looking for any info on a resolution (besides downloading and paying for another photo app from the AppStore).

The only resolution I've found is to do the following:
Take all pics holding the camera in landscape mode with the home button to the right. Putting the home button to the left will turn the pic upside down.

More details here:
http://murphymac.com/ios4-emails-portrait-photos-as-landscape/

Leave it to Apple to "improve" a feature that's been working fine from the beginning...

Message was edited by: Nosfera2

Pictures upside down when emailed

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