You are already familiar with the lovely appearance of a long exposure photograph if you have ever seen artistic photographs of rivers or waterfalls where the water is distorted to resemble flowing ribbons. A strong sensation of motion is produced by letting moving objects in a picture go blurry, particularly when those blurry objects are positioned in contrast to stationary objects like trees or rocks. You can now do a lot of the same thing with only your iPhone, when before this method required a large DSLR, filters, and a tripod to reach shutter speeds above a few seconds.
To use this function, you don’t even need the most recent iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max. Any iPhone released after the iPhone 6 may use it.
Read more: Use Your iPhone to Take the Greatest Pictures You’ve Ever Taken
The method makes advantage of Live Photos, a function that records a few seconds of video when the shutter is fired, converting a still picture into a brief animation. The iPhone detects which things are moving, records the movement, and blurs it. Additionally, it can identify stationary objects, like a wall or a rock, and makes an effort to maintain their focus and sharpness. This eliminates the need for a tripod or filter so you may take long-exposure photos in the blazing noon light. DSLRs, take that.
A sea jetty comparison photograph with and without the long exposure effect
A typical iPhone 11 Pro photo (left) and the identical photo with the long-exposure setting turned on (right).
Here’s how to do it.
Recognize the qualities of an excellent long-exposure photograph.
Not every photograph is suitable for long exposure. A photograph of a static automobile will stay, well, motionless, but a close-up of a flower moving in the wind will merely become a hazy jumble.
A scenario with both dynamic and static components is what you need. Since the surrounding rocks will stay solid while the flowing water is blurred, waterfalls are often photographed. Actually, any body of water would make an excellent subject for an experiment.
An illustration of the long exposure effect from a Disney park
The conventional photo on the left seems to be just another picture from a Disney theme park. However, a long exposure (right) turns it into a dreamy picture that highlights the scene’s movement.
You might perhaps try the streets of a bustling city. The buildings and roads remain crisp and fixed in the picture due to the long-exposure effect, but the people moving around will seem as ghostly figures, creating a dramatic and atmospheric impression.
Activate Live Photos
It’s crucial to have the Live Photo mode turned on while shooting since it records the movement needed to get a long-exposure picture. When held in portrait mode, it is situated in the upper right corner of the camera’s screen; when held in landscape mode, it is situated in the upper left corner. An symbol with two circles encircled by a third dotted circle will be seen. Live Photos is turned on if there isn’t a line through it. Tap the symbol to see the phrase “Live” display onscreen in a small yellow box if there is a line across it.
An illustration of the iPhone 11’s camera screen’s Live Photos button
Verify that there isn’t a line across this symbol.
Remain calm.
Keeping the iPhone as stable as possible as it takes the Live picture will provide the best results, even if a tripod is not necessary to get a nice long-exposure picture. When shooting, I advise leaning the phone against a wall or other stationary object. I’ve found that holding my breath and folding my elbows in toward my body reduce motion blur while snapping pictures if you have to keep the phone in your hand.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to snap many pictures while holding the position and pressing the shutter button. By doing this, you’ll raise the likelihood that you’ll get at least one picture that’s steady enough to provide a pleasing long exposure.
Make the extended exposure
It’s time to convert your Live image into the real long exposure after you’ve taken it. To begin, launch the gallery app and select your image. A tiny icon that reads “Live” and has a tiny downward-pointing arrow next to it can be found in the upper left corner. You can choose to make the image a long exposure at the bottom, a looping GIF, or a bouncing GIF that plays forwards and backwards by tapping the arrow.
You’ll notice how any motion in your photo has been blurred into the desired dreamy look in a matter of seconds. After that, you can enlarge it to make sure it’s still crisp. In case additional pictures you shot of the same subject turned out better, feel free to use the same effect on them as well.
Open the picture you’ve chosen in your gallery and swipe up if you’re still on iOS 14 or earlier. This will open the Effects tab, where you may loop the video’s movements into GIFs. However, you’ll see one named Long Exposure if you swipe to the end of the effects window. Give it a tap. A more modern version of your phone would be a great upgrade, however.
A long exposure effect image of a castle along a lake
I didn’t plan on using a long exposure when I took this picture, but because it was a Live snapshot, I could use the long-exposure option afterward.
Create long-exposure pictures using already-existing live shots.
Check your collection to see if you already have any additional pictures that might be suitable for long-exposure photography. You don’t have to utilize the iPhone’s long-exposure tool while you’re shooting, which is a terrific feature. You may go back and apply it to any Live picture you’ve taken up until now.
Perhaps you visited Niagara Falls in New York or Havasu Falls in Arizona a few years ago and you happened to have had Live Photos active while capturing your photographs. You may swipe up and enable long exposure on any of those images. You can even go into your Live Photos album in your gallery to view all the images you’ve got on your phone that can be made into long exposures. My recommendation? Listen to a great podcast, find a comfortable chair, and explore your library for some dreamy images.