How to convert a Live Photo to a Long Exposure
With the release of iOS 11, Apple added Live Effects for Live Photos. You can easily use the stock iOS camera app to capture a 3-second long exposure by using these Live Effects. In this blog post, I'll walk you through the process of converting a Live Photo to a long exposure in iOS 15 and previous iOS versions.
Table of Contents
- What is a Live Photo?
- How to enable Live Photos
- How to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure
- How to edit a Live Photo long exposure in iOS
- Do I need a tripod to take a Live Photo?
- Disadvantages of taking a long exposure using a Live Photo
- Summary
But first (as always), here are three sample photos of long exposure I took using Live Photos and the process you're about to read.
What is a Live Photo?
A Live Photo is 3 second video clip that you can record with the iOS stock camera app. When taking a Live Photo, the stock camera app will record 1.5 seconds of video before you tap the shutter release button and 1.5 seconds after you tap the shutter release button.
If you long press a Live Photo in Photos App or iMessage, iOS will play the three second video clip.
Apple introduced Live Photos in 2015 with the release of iPhone 6s and iOS 9 and enhanced them in subsequent releases. With iOS 11 Apple added Live Effects that allow you to apply effects like long exposure, loop and bounce to Live Photos.
In this blog post, we'll focus on the long exposure live effect that allows you to turn any Live Photo into a three second long exposure.
How to enable Live Photos?
To take a Live Photo with the iOS stock camera app, you'll first need to enable Live Photo mode. Unlike the other shooting modes, you have to enable Live Photos by tapping an icon in the upper right corner of the camera app.
To see if Live Photos are enabled, check the Live Photo icon in the toolbar in the upper right of the screen in your iOS camera app:
If the Live Photos icon is white and crossed out, Live Photos are disabled
If turned off and you tap the icon, iOS will display a badge briefly saying "Live" and the Live Photos icon will become yellow.
Live Photos turned on
Live Photos turned off
Now you're ready to take a Live Photo. Once taken, you can turn it into a long exposure in a few steps.
Apple changed the process of converting a Live Photo to a long exposure with iOS 15, so I'll cover both ways in this blog post: for iOS 15 as well as for iOS 14 and earlier versions.
How to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure
First, you need to find a Live Photo that you want to convert to a long exposure:
- Open Photos App
- Tap Albums in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen
- Swipe down to the Media Types section
- Tap Live Photos
Now iOS will only display Live Photos. The necessary steps to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure differ depending on whether you use iOS 15 or iOS 14 and earlier versions.
How to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure in iOS 15
To convert a Live Photo to a long exposure in iOS 15:
- Tap the Live Photo in Photos App to view it fullscreen
- In the upper left corner, you'll see a badge saying Live
- Tap the Live badge, and a drop-down menu will appear
- In the drop-down menu, select Long Exposure
How to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure in iOS 15
iOS 15 will now convert the Live Photo to a long exposure and save it - no further taps needed.
How to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure in iOS 14 and earlier
The process to convert a Live Photo to a long exposure takes a few more steps if you're using iOS 14 or previous versions.
- Tap the Live Photos in Photos App to view it fullscreen
- Swipe up over the Live Photo, and you'll notice a section labeled Effects right below the Live Photo
Swipe Up to reveal Live Photo Effects
- Now swipe left over the effects section. The Long Exposure effect that we're looking for is the last in this list.
Swipe left to reveal the Long Exposure Effect
- Now tap the long exposure effect and watch the Live Photo you've just selected being transformed into a 3-second long exposure.
Long Exposure Effect for Live Photo
- Once you've created the long exposure, tap the back button in the upper left corner.
iOS will now save the Live Photo as long exposure, but you can always go back to the photo by tapping it and remove the long exposure effect. Swipe up over the photo again and then select Live to turn it back into a simple Live Photo.
How to edit a Live Photo long exposure in iOS
You can even edit the long exposure and apply all sorts of adjustments, just like a standard photo.
Tap to display the Live Photo full screen, then tap edit in the screen's upper right corner. You'll see all the well-known editing tools for light, color, and black & white. Right above is a filmstrip representing the whole three seconds of the Live Photo used to create the long exposure.
Edit duration of Live Photo
Now drag the handle either from the right or left. A yellow marker will appear. Dragging either (or both) sides, you can change the exposure (from 3 seconds down to a millisecond) used to create the long exposure. So, Apple has given us the possibility to adjust the exposure of a long exposure after we've taken it. Isn't that awesome? (Try that with a classic camera!)
Hit the yellow checkmark in the lower right corner of the screen to make your adjustment permanent. Remember, you can always revert to the original photo in your camera roll by going into editing mode and taping the red, curved arrow in the bottom right corner.
Do I need a tripod to take a Live Photo?
You don't need a tripod to take a Live Photo, but you should use one unless you can keep the iPhone absolutely steady for three seconds. The reason why I use a tripod for Live Photos that I plan to convert to a long exposure is image stabilization.
Due to how image stabilization works, your long exposure will be cropped and thus you'll get a lower image resolution. To illustrate the cropping, have a look at the following two unedited photos.
Original (uncropped) photo
Cropped Long Exposure from Live Photo
You can see the cropping in the lower-left corner at the blue sign saying "Kassa" and by the distance of the Ferris wheel to the edges of the frame. In the stabilized version, the "Kassa" sign is partially outside the frame and the Ferris wheel is much closer to the edges of the frame.
This is how image stabilization works. It basically takes each frame of a video, rotates it slightly to level them, and then it combines all the single images into a video again. If you'd stabilize a shaky video in iMovie, you'll notice the same effect. The resulting video will be slightly cropped.
So, to take a long exposure with Live Photo, either hold the iPhone steady for three seconds or use tripod. Here are the tripods for iPhone that I rely on.
Disadvantages of taking a long exposure using a Live Photo
Using a Live Photo is an easy way to capture a three-second-long exposure of an object in motion. That's for sure, and I like to use this way now and then. But it also has some disadvantages that you should be aware of.
- Taking a long exposure using Live Photos works excellent in good light - but only in good light. If you want to photograph light trails at night, your photos may be grainy. To take pictures of light trails, I recommend looking at Slow Shutter Camera App. It's one of the apps I've been using for long exposure photography for years.
- You can't use this way of taking a long exposure to take well exposed and low noise night photos. For such a scenario, you'd need a low light camera app light iOS night mode or ProCamera night mode
- Your exposure time is limited to three seconds with Live Photos. If you would like to use longer exposure without using a tripod, take a look at my Reeheld camera app review. This app allows you to take long exposures of up to 30 seconds without using a tripod.
Summary
I like that Apple has made a simple way to take long exposures using Live Photos. I use that now and then in good light situations.
However, it won't replace my favorite long exposure app Slow Shutter Cam for reasons like total control of ISO and shutter speed.
However, the long exposure effect for Live Photos in iOS is a great way to get used to and experiment with taking long exposure photos with iPhone, and I hope Apple will further enhance it in upcoming releases.
