How to take stunning long exposure photos on your iPhone
As long as you can take Live photos with your iPhone you can turn standard snapshots into artsy long exposure shots.
Every iPhone since the 6s has had the ability to take "Live" photos through Apple's built-in camera. As long as you have the "Live" setting turned on, long exposure stills are only a few taps away.
- 5 min
- iPhone
Step 1: First, turn on Live photos.
Take Live photos with the button with concentric and dashed circles on the top of the camera screen. This mode captures the few moments before you take the photo, bringing the still moment briefly to life.
Step 2: Take a photo, but make sure it's Live.
Hit the shutter button as usual. Try to keep the phone as still as possible since it's capturing the few seconds before while in Live mode.
Step 3: Select the "Long Exposure" effect.
Long exposure mimics the effect of a slow shutter speed. On an iPhone you can't change the shutter speed, but Live photos come with different effects to modify the moving image. Find your Live photo in your camera roll. Scroll down below the photo and you'll come to an "Effects" section. Pick "Long Exposure." If there was any movement during the Live photo it'll show up as blurry or smoothed over.
Step 4: Post your artsy photo skills.
You can save your Live photo with the long exposure effect, or you can go back to your camera roll, scroll to the "Effects" section and take it off. Your choice. There are also bounce, looping, and other effects you can use to modify the image.
There are of course third-party apps to get you the same effect, but this is already built into your phone. Artistic eye not included.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
