Table Of Contents: Advanced iPhone Camera Controls

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1. Depth Of Field: How To Blur The Background In Your Photos
1.1 Use Portrait Mode To Blur The Background In Your Photos
1.2 Get Close To Your Subject To Create A Shallow Depth Of Field

2. Focus: How To Set Focus For Pin-Sharp Images
2.1 Tap To Set The Focus Point
2.2 Lock The Focus With AE/AF Lock
2.3 Use Manual Focus For More Precise Focusing

3. Exposure: How To Get Perfect Brightness Levels In Your Pictures
3.1 Adjust Exposure Manually
3.2 Use Exposure To Change The Mood Of A Photo
3.3 Switch On HDR For Better Exposure In High Contrast Scenes

4. Shutter Speed: How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone
4.1 What Is Shutter Speed?
4.2 How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone
4.3 Use A Slow Shutter Speed For Stunning Long Exposure Photos

5. ISO: How To Use ISO To Capture Grain-Free Shots In Low Light
5.1 What Is ISO?
5.2 How To Change The ISO iPhone Camera Setting
5.3 Balance Shutter Speed & ISO

6. White Balance: How To Capture Perfect Colors In Your Photos
6.1 What Is White Balance?
6.2 How To Change White Balance On iPhone
6.3 Use White Balance For Creative Effect

1. Depth Of Field: How To Blur The Background In Your Photos

Do you want to shoot professional-looking iPhone photos with beautiful out-of-focus backgrounds?

Creating a shallow depth of field (where only part of the scene is in focus) is a great way to make your subject stand out. And it’s perfect for blurring out a distracting background.

Shallow depth of field photos are typically associated with DSLR cameras. But did you know it’s easy to blur the background in your iPhone photos?

On a DSLR camera, you control the depth of field by adjusting the aperture (the size of the opening in the lens). However, the iPhone aperture can’t be changed.

So how do you blur the background in your iPhone photos?

Read on, and discover two easy ways to shoot stunning images with beautifully blurred backgrounds.

1.1 Use Portrait Mode To Blur The Background In Your Photos

Does your iPhone camera have Portrait mode? If so, you can use it to shoot stunning photos with dreamy, blurred backgrounds.

You’ll find Portrait mode in the built-in Camera app on the following iPhones: iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus.

Portrait mode uses clever depth-effect software to blur the background. All you have to do is point the camera at your subject, and the iPhone will do the rest!

Portrait mode is perfect for shooting professional-looking portrait photos.

But you can also use it to blur the background behind other subjects.

Here’s how to capture beautifully blurred backgrounds with Portrait mode:

Open the built-in iPhone Camera app, then select Portrait mode at the bottom of the screen.

Ensure the subject is between two and eight feet from the camera. If you’re too close or too far away, you’ll see a message telling you to change your distance.

When the camera has focused on the subject and blurred the background, you’ll see the words Natural Light in yellow. (On iPhone 7 Plus, you’ll see Depth Effect instead.)

Now, tap the shutter button to take a beautiful photo with a soft, blurred background. It really is that easy!

If you have one of the newer iPhones (all iPhone 12 models, all iPhone 11 models, iPhone XS, XS Max, or XR), you can do even more with Portrait mode.

These iPhones allow you to adjust the strength of the background blur after taking your photo.

This offers a huge amount of creative control.

To adjust the blur strength, open your portrait photo in the Photos app, then tap Edit.

Tap the f/number icon at the top left of the screen.

You’ll now see the Depth slider beneath your photo. Drag the slider left or right to adjust the strength of the background blur.

Tap Done to save the changes.

As you can see, Portrait mode offers an easy way to create a shallow depth of field in your photos.

But what if you don’t have Portrait mode on your iPhone?

Well, there’s another simple way to blur the background in your photos. And this technique works on any iPhone model!

Here’s what you need to do:

1.2 Get Close To Your Subject To Create A Shallow Depth Of Field

Do you want to know a great trick for blurring the background in your iPhone photos?

Get closer to your subject.

The closer the lens is to the subject, the blurrier the background will appear.

It’s that simple!

This technique works on any iPhone (or indeed any camera)… even if you don’t have Portrait mode.

When shooting close-ups, it’s important that the subject (not the background) is in sharp focus. You’ll learn how to set focus in section 2 below.

Just be careful not to get too close to the subject. If you’re too close, the camera won’t be able to focus at all.

If you want to shoot extreme close-up photos with a very shallow depth of field, you’ll need an add-on macro lens. One of the best macro lenses is the Moment Macro Lens.

With a macro lens, you can capture fascinating close-up photos of nature, flowers, and insects.

2. Focus: How To Set Focus For Pin-Sharp Images

Getting your subject in sharp focus is essential for creating high-quality photos with superb detail.

This is especially important when shooting close-up photos.

Why?

Because the depth of field will be very shallow, with only a small portion of the image in focus. If the focus isn’t set correctly, your subject may end up blurred.

Luckily, the iPhone makes it easy to set the focus accurately on your subject. Here’s how to do it:

2.1 Tap To Set The Focus Point

In the built-in Camera app, simply tap the screen where you want to set focus. A yellow square indicates your focus point.

When you take the photo, the area you tapped on will be in sharp focus.

In the photo below, focus was set on the flower on the left. Notice how this flower is perfectly sharp, but the others are out of focus.

2.2 Lock The Focus With AE/AF Lock

Another useful feature is AE/AF Lock. This iPhone camera setting lets you lock the focus point on a certain area.

To activate AE/AF Lock, tap and hold the screen for a couple of seconds until you see AE/AF LOCK in yellow.

The focus point will now remain locked, even after taking a photo.

This is perfect for situations where you want to take several pictures of the same scene. You can take as many photos as you want without having to set the focus point for each new shot.

It’s also great for scenes where there’s movement, such as people walking past. If you don’t lock the focus, the camera’s autofocus might readjust the focus point onto the moving subject.

In the example above, I locked focus on the stone arch. If I hadn’t done this, the camera might have focused on the people in the background when they walked into the scene.

2.3 Use Manual Focus For More Precise Focusing

In certain situations, the tap-to-focus method might not give you enough control over your focus point.

Imagine you’re taking a close-up photo of a flower with water droplets. The depth of field will be very shallow, so only a small area of the scene will be in sharp focus.

Tapping on a single tiny water droplet to ensure it’s in focus may prove tricky.

So, how can you set the focus point more accurately?

You’ll need to use a third-party camera app that has a manual focus control.

Camera+ 2 ($7.99) is a DSLR camera app for iPhone. It has advanced iPhone camera controls, including manual focus.

When you open Camera+ 2, make sure you’re in Camera mode. If you’re not in Camera mode, just tap the Camera icon at the bottom of the screen and the viewfinder will appear.

Next, ensure you’re shooting in Manual mode. The current shooting mode is shown in yellow at the top of the screen. Tap the yellow icon and select Manual.

In Manual mode, you’ll see a row of icons above the shutter button. These are the advanced iPhone camera controls.

Tap the Focus icon (second icon from the left). The Manual Focus slider will appear above the shutter button.

Drag the Manual Focus slider left or right to adjust the focus. As you drag the slider, the focus point will gradually change from foreground to background.

When you’re happy with the focus, tap the shutter button to take your photo.

Remember, in most cases, tapping to set the focus point results in great photos.

But sometimes it’s more difficult to set the focus accurately, especially when shooting close-up macro photos. That’s when you should use the Manual Focus slider in Camera+ 2 to fine-tune the focus more precisely.

3. Exposure: How To Get Perfect Brightness Levels In Your Pictures

After you set focus, it’s important to get the exposure right.

Exposure refers to the brightness of an image.

A photo that’s too bright is over-exposed. And a photo that’s too dark is under-exposed.

Getting the correct exposure will result in beautiful photos that are neither too bright nor too dark.

So, how do you adjust exposure on the iPhone?

It’s actually very easy. Here’s how to do it:

3.1 Adjust Exposure Manually

In the built-in Camera app, start by tapping to set focus. Then simply swipe up or down to adjust exposure (brightness).

Swipe up to make the image brighter, or down to make it darker.

When the brightness levels look good, tap the shutter button to take a photo.

Now, if you have an iPhone 11 or later (running iOS 14 or later), there’s a second way to adjust exposure in the Camera app. This involves using the Exposure Compensation slider in the hidden camera menu.

To access the hidden menu, tap the arrow at the top of the screen (or swipe up on your viewfinder). Next, tap the Exposure icon (circle with a plus and minus symbol).

Then drag the exposure slider left or right to adjust the brightness.

Your chosen exposure setting will be used for any photos that you take from now on. This is very useful when you want to set a precise exposure for a series of upcoming shots.

However, when you’ve finished shooting, it’s a good idea to adjust the exposure back to zero. If you don’t, the exposure might not look right when you start shooting a different subject in different light.

If you’re using the Camera+ 2 app, it has a very similar Exposure Compensation slider. Just ensure Auto mode is selected at the top of the screen, then drag the EV slider left or right to adjust exposure.

Keep in mind that there’s no exact science to setting exposure. You just have to decide what looks best for the particular photo you’re taking.

In most cases, you should aim for an exposure where there’s sufficient detail in all parts of the scene.

If that isn’t possible (because of awkward lighting), ensure the most important part of the scene is correctly exposed.

In the photo below, I chose to expose for the landscape, rather than for the dark interior of the church. Even though there’s no detail in the shadows, the result is quite dramatic!

When shooting at night, the camera often brightens the exposure. It does this in an attempt to capture more detail. But the results aren’t always good. The brighter areas can end up over-exposed, while the darker areas can look grainy.

To capture stunning photos at night, reduce the exposure to make the image darker. The blacks will appear black, and the highlights will have more detail.

3.2 Use Exposure To Change The Mood Of A Photo

Getting creative with exposure allows you to enhance or change the mood of a photo.

For example, if you want a dark and moody image, try deliberately under-exposing. The dark tones will add a wonderful sense of drama or mystery.

You’ll also need to under-expose to create a silhouette photo. The silhouetted subject should be completely black, with no color or detail.

Likewise, you’ll need to under-expose to capture dark shadows. The lack of detail in the shadows will create a sense of mystery and intrigue.

On the other hand, slightly over-exposing will create a bright and airy image with a happy or carefree mood.

Over-exposing works especially well when a large portion of the scene is white. This helps to create a bright, fresh image that really catches the eye.

3.3 Switch On HDR For Better Exposure In High Contrast Scenes

Photographing high contrast scenes (with both bright and dark areas) can be a big problem when it comes to exposure.

This is because the camera isn’t capable of capturing detail in both the dark and bright areas at the same time.

In the photo above, the dark foreground has been exposed correctly. But the bright areas of sky are over-exposed with no color or detail at all.

The examples below show how difficult it is to capture detail in both the bright and dark areas at the same time.

If you expose to capture detail in the highlights (bright areas), the shadows (dark areas) will be under-exposed. And if you expose to capture detail in the shadows, the highlights will be over-exposed.

However, the built-in iPhone Camera app offers a great solution!

It’s called HDR.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. When you use HDR, the camera captures several images at different exposures (from dark to bright).

These images are automatically combined into a single well-exposed photo. It will have detail in both the shadows and the highlights.

HDR is perfect for landscape photography where you have a bright sky and darker foreground.

Using HDR will ensure you get good exposure in both the foreground and the sky.

So how do you use HDR in the iPhone Camera app?

First, you need to check your HDR settings. Open the Settings app from the Home screen, then select Camera. Scroll down, and ensure the Smart HDR option is switched on (green).

If you switch on Smart HDR, you’ll never need to think about whether to use HDR or not. The camera will always decide for you.

Smart HDR does an amazing job of capturing detail in both the shadows and the highlights. And I’d recommend that you keep it switched on in most situations.

However, if you’d prefer to manually control HDR in the Camera app, you’ll need to switch the Smart HDR setting off.

With Smart HDR switched off, you’ll see an HDR icon at the top of the Camera app. You can tap the icon to turn HDR on or off. (HDR is off when a line appears through the icon).

If you’re controlling HDR manually, you’ll need to remember to switch it on when shooting high-contrast scenes, such as landscapes. Otherwise, you may end up with over-exposed highlights as shown above.

One reason you might want to switch off HDR is if you want to capture dark shadows. HDR tries to capture detail in the shadows, but switching it off allows you to capture darker, more dramatic shadows.

4. Shutter Speed: How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone

The ability to control shutter speed is typically associated with DSLR cameras.

But did you know you can change the iPhone shutter speed?

Once you master shutter speed, you’ll be able to control how movement appears in your photos. And this will take your creativity to a whole new level!

4.1 What Is Shutter Speed?

Shutter speed refers to the amount of time the camera’s shutter is open for when taking a photo.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds (or fractions of seconds), e.g. 8s, 2s, 1/30s, 1/250s, 1/500s, etc.

A fast shutter speed means the shutter is open for a very short amount of time (a fraction of a second).

Fast shutter speeds freeze any movement in the scene. A fast shutter speed allows you to capture sharp photos of moving subjects. It also ensures you won’t get blurry photos from camera shake.

A slow shutter speed means the shutter is open for a longer amount of time (several seconds).

If anything in the scene moves during this long exposure time, that movement will be captured as a blur or streak. This kind of blur is called motion blur.

Slow shutter speeds are a great way to convey a sense of movement in a photo. The motion blur clearly shows that the subject was moving through the frame.

A slow shutter speed allows you to create beautiful long exposure photos of waterfalls and rivers. The long exposure time results in the moving water appearing silky smooth.

4.2 How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone

The built-in iPhone Camera app doesn’t have a shutter speed option. So you’ll need a third-party app with iPhone manual camera controls.

There are several excellent iPhone camera apps that let you control shutter speed.

Camera+ 2 ($7.99) is a great option as it has a wide range of shutter speeds – from very fast to very slow. It even has a dedicated Slow Shutter shooting mode for capturing long exposure photos.

Here’s how you change shutter speed on iPhone using Camera+ 2:

Open the Camera+ 2 app. Set the shooting mode (yellow icon) at the top of the screen to Manual.

Next, tap the Shutter Speed icon just above the shutter button (circled in red below).

The Shutter Speed slider will appear at the bottom of the viewfinder. Drag the slider left or right to adjust the shutter speed.

The further left you go, the faster the shutter speed will be. Fast shutter speeds freeze the motion of moving subjects and help eliminate camera shake.

The further right you go, the slower the shutter speed becomes. Slow shutter speeds blur the motion of moving subjects.

Note that the slowest shutter speed in Manual shooting mode is 1 second. If you want to shoot long exposure photos with Camera+ 2, you’ll probably need slower shutter speeds than this.

Read on to learn how to shoot beautiful long exposure photos with your iPhone.

4.3 Use A Slow Shutter Speed For Stunning Long Exposure Photos

In this section, you’ll learn how to capture incredible long exposure photos using two different apps: Camera+ 2 ($7.99) and Slow Shutter Cam ($1.99).

Both apps produce great results, but they offer slightly different functionality.

Before you begin, make sure you have an iPhone tripod. A tripod keeps your camera perfectly still during the long exposure time.

If you hand-hold your iPhone, you won’t be able to keep it still enough. And the result will be a shaky photo that’s entirely blurred.

4.3.1 How To Shoot Long Exposure Photos Using Camera+ 2

The Camera+ 2 app has a dedicated Slow Shutter mode for shooting long exposure photos.

Set the shooting mode (yellow icon) at the top of the screen to Slow Shutter.

At the bottom of the viewfinder, you’ll see two sliders. The left slider controls shutter speed.

Drag the Shutter Speed slider to set the shutter speed value, e.g. 2 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. The longer the shutter speed, the more blurred any motion will appear.

If you want to adjust exposure (brightness), use the right-hand slider with the Sun icon.

When you tap the shutter button to take your shot, ensure the camera remains perfectly still while the photo is being taken.

4.3.2 How To Shoot Long Exposure Photos Using Slow Shutter Cam

The Slow Shutter Cam app is designed specifically for shooting long exposure photos.

It makes it easy to capture long exposures of water, light trails, and low light scenes.

Open the Slow Shutter Cam app. Tap the Settings icon at the bottom left to open the capture mode options.

The app has three slow shutter capture modes: Motion Blur, Light Trail, and Low Light.

Motion Blur mode is perfect for creating long exposure water photos. But you can also use it to blur the motion of other moving subjects.

Light Trail mode lets you capture beautiful long exposure photos of moving lights. It’s great for photographing fireworks and car light trails.

Low Light mode is useful for capturing brighter exposures when shooting at night.

Each capture mode has a Shutter Speed slider. Drag the slider left for a faster shutter speed or right for a slower speed.

Dragging the Shutter Speed slider all the way to the right activates Bulb mode. This allows you to shoot with any shutter speed you want. Simply tap the shutter button to start the exposure, and tap again to finish taking the photo.

You can also experiment with the other sliders to fine-tune the image. For example, the Blur Strength slider lets you control how blurred the movement appears.

After taking a photo, you can edit it by tapping Edit at the bottom of the screen. Use the icons at the bottom of the screen to edit your image, then tap Done.

Tap Save to save your image. Or tap Clear to discard it.

Using a slow iPhone shutter speed allows you to push the limits of your mobile photography.

With a little imagination, you can take your creativity to a whole new level!

5. ISO: How To Use ISO To Capture Grain-Free Shots In Low Light

Another useful iPhone manual camera setting is ISO.

In this section, you’ll discover how to use ISO to capture sharp, grain-free iPhone photos in low light.

Note that if you have iPhone 11 or newer, you can use the new Night mode feature to capture stunning night photos.

5.1 What Is ISO?

ISO controls how sensitive the camera’s sensor is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is to light.

This means that ISO affects exposure (brightness). Essentially, the camera can record more light at high ISO settings.

This can come in handy when shooting in low light. However, there’s a big downside to using a high ISO.

Unfortunately, high ISO settings introduce unwanted grain into your photos (as shown below). The grain is especially visible in the darker areas of the image.

Grain reduces the quality of your photo. So you’ll want to avoid high ISO settings if possible. The photo below was shot with a much lower ISO, and the resulting image is free of grain.

5.2 How To Change The ISO iPhone Camera Setting

The built-in Camera app doesn’t let you change ISO. Instead, it automatically selects an appropriate ISO setting, depending on how much light is in the scene.

In low light, the camera will likely use a high ISO in order to capture more light. That’s why you often end up with grainy photos when shooting in dark conditions.

But there is a way to take control of the ISO iPhone settings yourself. And if you do this, you can choose a lower ISO to avoid getting grainy shots.

So how do you change ISO on iPhone? You use the Camera+ 2 app!

Open Camera+ 2, and select Manual shooting mode at the top of the screen. Then tap the Shutter Speed icon above the shutter button.

You can see the current shutter speed and ISO values on the left beneath the slider. In the example below, the shutter speed is 1/15s and the ISO is 6400.

ISO 6400 is the highest ISO value in Camera+ 2. The camera has chosen this high ISO because there was very little light in the scene.

But the high ISO results in an image with a lot of digital noise (grain)… which doesn’t look good.

To change the ISO, tap the + (plus) icon to the right of the shutter speed slider.

You’ll now see two sliders: Shutter Speed on the left, and ISO on the right. Drag the ISO slider to adjust the setting.

The higher the ISO value, the more light the camera will capture – but the grainier the photo will be. The lower the ISO, the darker the image will appear – but it will have less grain.

So your aim is to choose the lowest ISO setting that still gives you a decent exposure.

But there’s a bit more to it than this…

5.3 Balance Shutter Speed & ISO

If you reduce the ISO to a low value, your image might appear too dark.

However, you can get the camera to capture more light by telling it to use a slower shutter speed. Simply use the Shutter Speed slider on the left.

A slower shutter speed (which captures more light) balances the low ISO (which captures less light).

This allows you to use a low ISO (which results in less grain) while still getting a good exposure with enough light.

Of course, if you’re using a slow shutter speed, you might end up with blurred photos caused by camera shake. And if there’s any movement in the scene, it will appear as motion blur.

However, if you can mount your iPhone on a tripod, and your subjects are stationary, it’s fine to use a slow shutter speed. And then you can use a low ISO to avoid grain.

If your only option is to hand-hold the camera, or you have moving subjects that you want to appear sharp, you’ll need a faster shutter speed. And as a result, you’ll have to use a higher ISO setting to get a decent exposure.

Just remember, the higher the ISO, the grainier the image will be.

As with all iPhone manual camera controls, you often have to take a few shots using slightly different settings before you get a good result.

But this all adds to the fun! And you’ll learn a lot in the process.

6. White Balance: How To Capture Perfect Colors In Your Photos

In general, the iPhone does a great job of capturing colors accurately. But in certain situations, the colors might not look quite right.

And that’s when you need to adjust the white balance.

6.1 What Is White Balance?

White balance allows you to capture colors more accurately in your photos.

It ensures the white parts of the photo appear white. And in turn, the other colors in your picture will be captured correctly.

So, when are you likely to end up with strange colors in your pictures?

One situation is when you shoot indoors with the lights on. You might notice a yellow or orange color cast in your photo. This is caused by the warm-colored light emitted from light bulbs.

Color casts are especially noticeable in the white areas of a scene, such as the white jug, wall, and flowers in the photo above.

You can also get unnatural colors when you shoot outdoors in the shade or under cloud cover. In these situations, your photos can end up with a cool blue color cast. This is especially apparent when photographing snow.

So, how can you eliminate these color casts at the time of shooting?

You simply adjust the camera’s white balance!

White balance works by cooling down or warming up the colors in your photo. This neutralizes the color casts from certain types of light, resulting in more accurate colors.

Selecting the appropriate white balance setting will ensure your whites appear white!

6.2 How To Change White Balance On iPhone

The built-in Camera app doesn’t let you change the white balance. Instead, it automatically adjusts white balance in an attempt to remove any warm or cool color casts.

Most of the time, the iPhone camera’s auto white balance does a great job, especially outdoors in natural light.

But if you’re taking pictures in very warm or cool light, you might need to take manual control of the white balance.

So, how do you change the white balance on iPhone?

You guessed it! You use the Camera+ 2 app.

In Camera+ 2, set the shooting mode (yellow icon) at the top of the screen to Manual. Then tap the WB (White Balance) icon near the bottom of the screen.

When you tap the WB icon, a row of white balance presets appears at the bottom of the viewfinder. The presets are called Shade, Cloudy, Daylight, etc. Swipe across to see more white balance presets.

To eliminate a color cast, select the white balance preset that matches the type of light you’re shooting in.

So, if you’re shooting under warm-colored light bulbs, choose Incandescent. This setting cools down the colors, neutralizing the warm color cast from the light bulbs.

The resulting photo should have more natural colors where the whites look white.

In the example below, the Shade white balance preset was selected. This setting warms up the colors, eliminating the blue color cast and making the snow appear more white.

If you prefer to let the camera decide which white balance setting to use, select the Auto white balance option.

6.3 Use White Balance For Creative Effect

In most cases, you’ll want the colors in your photos to appear as accurate as possible. You’ll want the whites to appear white.

But sometimes a photo can be enhanced by deliberately warming up or cooling down the colors.

For instance, you can emphasize the coldness and bleakness of a winter landscape by cooling down the colors.

Or you can intensify the colors of a sunset by adding warm orange tones to your image.

Using white balance creatively can help you capture very different moods in your photos. So don’t be afraid to experiment with the white balance settings.

And if you don’t get the white balance quite right at the time of shooting, you can always tweak the colors when editing your photo!

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What Is A Long Exposure Photo?

Long exposure photography involves capturing a photo over a longer period of time than normal.

In most cases, when you take a photo, the camera uses a fast shutter speed. It captures the photo in a fraction of a second. And this freezes any movement in the scene.

But with long exposure photography, the photo is captured using a slower shutter speed. The photo is captured over a period of several seconds, e.g. 2 seconds, 8 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.

During this longer exposure time, any moving elements in the scene appear as motion blur. Common examples are the red streaks of tail lights at night, or the soft, misty effect of moving water.

Now, there are several specialist long exposure apps for iPhone. And many of them have the option to adjust settings such as shutter speed (exposure time), blur strength, etc.

But there’s a far simpler way to create a long exposure photo. And you can do it right in the built-in iPhone Camera app.

All you have to do is capture a Live Photo… and then use the Long Exposure effect.

What Is A Long Exposure Live Photo?

Live Photos is an iPhone camera feature that captures 1.5 seconds of video before and after you press the shutter button. So you end up with a 3-second video clip.

Now, you can keep your Live Photo as a video. Or…

You can convert it to a long exposure photo!

Remember, a Live Photo is captured over a period of 3 seconds. So when you convert it to a long exposure, it creates an image with a slow shutter effect.

It does this by automatically layering each of the individual frames that were captured during the 3-second Live Photo.

How To Create A Long Exposure Live Photo

Step 1: Shoot A Live Photo

The first step in creating an iPhone Long Exposure image is shooting the Live Photo.

Long exposures work best if you choose a scene that has some constant motion in it, like moving water or heavy traffic.

Now, you don’t have to use a tripod when shooting Live Photos. But you’ll get the best results if you keep your iPhone as steady as possible.

If you have an iPhone tripod, I recommend you use one.

Otherwise, try to rest your iPhone on a steady surface to keep it still.

Before shooting, make sure the Live Photo option in your Camera app is switched on.

If Live Photos is off, the icon (concentric circles) will have a line through it. To switch it on, simply tap the Live Photo icon at the top of the Camera app.

Now, simply frame your shot and press the shutter!

If you’re not using a tripod, it’s really important to keep your camera still during the 3-second exposure time. That includes 1.5 seconds before you press the shutter and 1.5 seconds after.

Here’s the 3-second Live Photo of the waterfall above (hit the arrow to play it):

Step 2: Convert Your Live Photo To A Long Exposure

Now it’s time to convert your Live Photo into a stunning long exposure image!

Go to the Photos app and open your Live Photo.

Swipe up on the photo. You’ll now see Live, Loop, Bounce, etc. in the Effects section. Swipe across the effects and tap Long Exposure.

Now watch as your Live Photo is converted into a long exposure photo!

Anything that was moving in the original Live Photo will now appear as motion blur.

Here’s the final image after converting my Live Photo to a long exposure:

Hopefully, you’ll be pleased with the results of your own long exposure photo. But if you don’t like what you see, it’s easy to undo the Long Exposure effect. Just go back to the Effects menu and select Live to revert to the original Live Photo.

Create Unique Photos With The iPhone Long Exposure Effect

As you can see, it’s easy to create a long exposure image using Live Photos.

Once you start using this technique, you’ll be able to create some really unique iPhone photos.

Below are some ideas for long exposure photos that you could shoot. Why not give some of them a go!

Capture Moving Water

You’ve already seen several examples of long exposure water photography. And this is a great place to start.

Rivers and waterfalls make amazing subjects for long exposures. The movement of the water will appear beautifully soft and misty.

Waves on the ocean also look really interesting when captured as a long exposure.

And don’t forget about fountains too. These illuminated fountains look so much more interesting as a long exposure.

Shoot On A Windy Day

Sometimes a little action in a small part of a scene adds interest to an otherwise ordinary photo.

Windy days are great for long exposure photography because you can capture motion in anything that blows in the breeze.

In the photo above, the flag is blowing in the wind. And this motion is captured in the long exposure. It conveys a sense of movement which adds to the story of the photo.

Even a little breeze can create an interesting effect. Check out the motion blur in this photo of dry, wild grass:

Paint With Light & Capture Light Trails

Light painting is a fun technique that your family can help you with. You need a hard point of light like a glow stick, a 4th of July sparkler, or an LED flashlight. In the image below, my son is waving a black light, which has created a fun, repeating effect. If you look carefully, you can also see his face on the right side of the image.

Here’s the Live Photo version of the same image:

You can do something similar with a car’s headlights and taillights. This works best if you live in a city, or somewhere where there’s plenty of traffic. As cars drive into and out of the frame, their lights will create long streaks of red and white light.

Fireworks look pretty cool with this technique, too.

Move Your Camera On Purpose

Another effect that’s fun to try is “deliberate camera motion”.

You don’t need your tripod because you’re going to be moving your iPhone on purpose during the exposure.

Use a slow, up and down or side-to-side motion (avoid jiggling or shaking). Choose vertical objects like trees for up and down motion and horizontal objects like a coastline for vertical motion.

Start moving your phone before you press the shutter, and keep going for a couple of seconds afterward.

Remember that your iPhone captures 1.5 seconds of video both before and after you press the shutter button.

With this technique, you’ll capture images that look almost like impressionist paintings. Here’s one I shot of the cattails and pine trees near my backyard pond:

Be A “Ghost” Photographer

When you shoot your kids or your grandkids with a Live Photos long exposure, you can make them look like ghosts (kids love that).

Unless you live next door to The Tower of London, an iPhone Long Exposure is probably the closest you’ll ever get to shooting an actual ghost. Remember that your subjects need to be moving pretty slowly.

In this photo, I asked my daughter to stand absolutely still whilst her young friends moved about (as young people often do). This gave a ghostly result which still included an identifiable subject: my daughter’s face.

The post How To Convert Your iPhone Live Photos Into Long Exposure Photos appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

What Is Long Exposure Photography?

Long exposure photography – often referred to as slow shutter photography – is a shooting method that involves taking photos using a slow shutter speed.

Shutter speed refers to the length of time the camera’s shutter remains open when taking a photo. The longer the shutter stays open, the slower the shutter speed will be.

When you use a slow shutter speed, any movement in the scene will be captured as motion blur or a trail of light.

Slow shutter speeds also allow the camera to capture more light, which is why it’s useful for capturing more detail when shooting at night.

While it’s true that the iPhone’s ability to alter shutter speed isn’t nearly as sophisticated as a DSLR camera, the Slow Shutter Cam app has done an amazing job of digitally mimicking the look of traditional slow shutter photography.

Slow Shutter Cam allows you to choose from several different kinds of long exposure techniques, namely Motion Blur, Light Trail and Low Light. It also lets you control settings such as shutter speed, light sensitivity and blur strength.

The Slow Shutter Cam app can be downloaded from the App Store for $1.99, and is designed to work with both the iPhone and iPad.

Now let’s discover how to use the Slow Shutter Cam app to create light trails, motion blur and low light photos with your iPhone.

1. Create A Slow Shutter Abstract Photo

One of the easiest ways to create an interesting long exposure photo is to shoot a stationary subject while moving the camera in a certain direction.

The movement of the camera, combined with a slow shutter speed, results in streaks of light that create unique fine art abstract photos.

The first thing you’ll need to do is find a scene that has small points of light and strong vertical or horizontal features, such as the example below of some city lights behind a set of trees in the evening:

Open the Slow Shutter Cam app and set your composition as you like it:

At the bottom left of the screen, tap the gear icon to display the capture mode options:

There are three capture modes in Slow Shutter Cam: Motion Blur, Light Trail and Low Light. Select Light Trail, and you’ll see three sliders that allow you to fine-tune the exposure settings before taking your photo.

For my scene I set the Light Sensitivity to 1/16, Shutter Speed to 8 seconds, and ISO to Auto. But keep in mind that you’ll need to experiment with different light sensitivities and shutter speeds based on how much light you have in the scene that you’re shooting.

When setting the slider values, remember that the longer the Shutter Speed, the more pronounced the light trail will be. The Light Sensitivity option is a way to make your photo brighter or darker. The ISO setting also affects exposure (brightness), but keep in mind that you can end up with grainy photos when the ISO setting is high.

When you’re ready, go ahead and press the large shutter button at the bottom middle of the screen. Immediately (but slowly) move your camera up and down vertically to create the light trail.

After the 8 second exposure (or however long your own light trail takes) you’ll see the finished photo with three options at the bottom of the screen – Clear, Edit and Save:

Tap the Edit option which opens up five different editing tools at the bottom of the screen: Freeze, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue. Tap on Brightness and adjust the brightness levels of your photo as you see fit:

Don’t worry if your photo seems a bit “flat” at the moment – you’ll have a “punchy” image after going through all of the editing tools.

The next tool is Contrast which makes the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. To begin, take the contrast all the way to the right for maximum effect, then bring it back a bit if you feel that you have too much contrast:

Saturation is an important tool for creating abstract light trails as it can make the lights more colorful and vibrant. Try taking the Saturation to its full amount, all the way to the right:

If you like what you see, there’s no need to do any more work. However you may feel that you’d like a to alter the color temperature of your image to make it “warmer” or “cooler.” If so, you can play around with the Hue option.

In the example below you can see that the Hue adjustment took the image from a warm orange tone to a cool blue color:

If you’re wondering what the Freeze option is all about, it’s simply a way for you to see what your composition was at the first part of your light trail photo, and what your composition was at the end of the exposure. There’s no need to adjust this unless you want a less pronounced effect:

When you’re happy with how your abstract light trail photo looks, you can save it to your iPhone’s photo library (in the Photos app) by tapping Save at the top right.

You’ll then have the option to save to various apps and services that you’re subscribed to. If you only want to save your photo to your photo library, tap the Save Image option:

Below is my final edited slow shutter photo:

If you don’t like the way your edits turned out, you can easily re-edit your light trail photo in the Slow Shutter Cam app. Simply tap the Reset button at the top of the screen and start editing again by tapping the Edit option:

If you’d rather trash the photo because it didn’t turn out the way you wanted, tap the Clear option at the bottom of the screen, then Clear Capture. You’ll be taken back to your camera’s live view so that you can start shooting another slow shutter photo:

Keep in mind that this abstract light trail technique isn’t limited to vertical movement. You could also try moving the camera in other directions such as horizontally, diagonally, or just completely randomly:

You can also do circular light trails by rotating the camera in a circular motion:

One of the best tools for creating circular light trails is the iOtrip mini tripod. This system is perfect for rotation photos as the tripod mount allows for smooth 360 degree rotation of your iPhone while taking your shot:

Simply find a nice location such as these trees, set up your iOtrip tripod with your iPhone, and then take your light trail photo while rotating the phone in a complete circle. Below are two results using this technique:

2. Capture Moving Light Trails

Another way to create light trail photos is to keep your camera perfectly still, and use a slow shutter speed to capture moving lights such as fireworks or the headlights and taillights from passing cars.

Any stationary objects in the scene will appear sharp, while the moving lights will appear as light trails across the image:

To create car light trails, find a location with constant traffic. You’ll also need an iPhone tripod and iPhone tripod mount so that you can keep your camera perfectly still during the long exposure.

Set up your tripod and aim your iPhone so that you can see the car headlights, taillights or both. When shooting the photo below, I used a MeFOTO BackPacker Air tripod. It’s very lightweight and portable, and works for both iPhones and heavier cameras:

When you’re ready to create your light trail photo, open the Slow Shutter Cam app, tap the gear icon, then select Light Trail.

Adjust the slider options to set Light Sensitivity, Shutter Speed and ISO. Below you can see the settings that I used for this particular scene:

Tap gently on the shutter button to start taking your photo, and enjoy watching the app capture the light trails!

When your photo is finished you’ll have the option to edit the light trail image. If you like the photo the way it is, simply tap Save. Or tap Edit to adjust the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation or Hue:

For this photo, all that was needed was a small increase in Saturation to make the colors more vibrant:

Below is my final edited city light trail photo:

3. Use Motion Blur To Capture Moving Water

Another major function of the Slow Shutter Cam app is the Motion Blur feature. This is great for making moving subjects appear as a blur or streak across your photo, and it’s perfect for creating soft, silky smooth waterfall photos.

In this section you’ll learn how to capture moving water with a slow shutter speed to create beautiful, dreamy images like the one below:

To photograph waterfalls with motion blur, make sure you’re using a tripod so that any stationary objects in the scene appear sharp in your image.

In the Slow Shutter Cam app, tap the gear icon and set the capture mode to Motion Blur. Use the sliders to set the Blur Strength, Shutter Speed and ISO:

When you’re ready, tap the shutter button lightly so you don’t shake your iPhone. When the exposure is finished, either tap Edit to tweak brightness, contrast and color, Save to save the photo as it is, or Clear to delete the image and start again.

For my image, I increased the Contrast a little, then added a bit of Saturation to make the colors more vibrant:

If you want a simple black and white photo, feel free to reduce the Saturation to zero.

Finally, I increased the Brightness of my photo:

When you’re happy with the edited image, tap Save to save it to your iPhone’s photo library.

To get an idea of how good Slow Shutter Cam is, take a look at the before and after shots below. The first image shows the scene captured with the native camera app – the water appears sharp because the camera used a fast shutter speed:

The next photo was shot with the Slow Shutter Cam app. The motion blur created by the slow shutter speed makes the moving water appear smooth and silky:

4. Shoot High Quality Photos In Low Light

Do you struggle to capture good photos in low light? A lack of light often results in blurry and grainy images due to the slow shutter speeds and high ISO (light sensitivity) settings required to get a decent exposure.

However, the Slow Shutter Cam app has a great Low Light setting that allows you to reduce digital noise (grain) so that you can capture clean and sharp photos in low light conditions.

Due to the slow shutter speeds required to capture enough light in your photo, always use a tripod to keep your camera steady. Hand-holding the iPhone will result in camera shake and your entire photo will appear blurred.

Once you’ve got your camera set up, open Slow Shutter Cam and tap the gear icon. Set the capture mode to Low Light:

To reduce the amount of grain (digital noise) in your photo, set the Noise Reduction slider to High. To start with I would recommend setting the Shutter Speed to around 8 seconds, but you may need to alter this based on your own lighting conditions.

When you’re ready to take the shot, lightly tap the shutter button to take the photo. Ensure you don’t move the iPhone as you press the shutter button as this will introduce camera shake that will result in a blurry photo.

When the app has finished exposing your photo, you can then choose to Clear, Edit or Save the image:

Below is the low light image that I captured in the Slow Shutter Cam app:

The post How To Use Slow Shutter Cam To Create Long Exposure iPhone Photos appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Choosing The Best iPhone Tripod For You

If you don’t already own a tripod, you’ll need to figure out which kind of tripod would best suit your needs.

There are many different tripod systems available for the iPhone – from tiny compact tripods that will fit in your pocket, to full-size professional DSLR tripods.

For an in-depth review of the best tripods out there, read our iPhone tripod comparison article. Below are just a few tripod options that you might want to consider.

The Joby GripTight Micro Stand is one of the smallest tripods on the market. Its super-low profile makes it an excellent option for capturing extremely low angle shots.

The Joby GripTight Micro Stand can be purchased for around $16.

Another tripod system from the same manufacturer is the very popular Joby GripTight GorillaPod. Its bendable legs can be shaped to stand firmly on any flat or uneven surface, and you can even wrap them around poles, trees, bicycle handlebars, etc.

The Joby GripTight GorillaPod costs around $20.

If you’re looking for a sturdy medium-sized compact tripod, the Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod is an excellent choice. This is a high quality product, and the adjustable ball-head makes it easy to adjust the angle of your iPhone when shooting.

You can purchase the Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod for around $25.

If you think that you’ll need a taller tripod, but still want something that’s lightweight and easy to carry around, the Lollipod tripod might suit your needs. It extends up to almost four feet, but its multi-section telescopic pole allows it to be folded down to a neat compact size.

The Lollipod tripod costs around $55.

If you want ultimate stability, you should consider purchasing a full-size professional tripod. This would be a great option if you also shoot with a DSLR as you’ll be able to use it with both your camera and your iPhone.

There are many different full-size tripods available, but a good place to start would be with Manfrotto as they have a great range of models and they’re known for their excellent quality.

You can expect to pay anything from around $65 for a full-size Manfrotto tripod.

Tripod Grips & Mounts

When purchasing an iPhone tripod, keep in mind that you may also need to buy a separate iPhone tripod mount that attaches to the mounting screw of your tripod.

You can then place your iPhone into the grip, so that it’s held securely in place on the tripod.

There are many different kinds of iPhone grips and mounts available. Two popular makes that you might want to check out are the Glif Adjustable Tripod Mount (shown above) which costs around $30, and the Joby GripTight Mount (shown below) which costs around $20.

Remote Shutter Release

When using a tripod for iPhone photography, you may also want to consider using some kind of remote shutter release. A remote shutter allows you to fire the camera’s shutter without having to physically touch the iPhone.

This ensures that you don’t introduce any camera shake when taking the shot. If you’re shooting a self-portrait, it’ll save you from having to use the camera’s self-timer.

Did you know that the earbuds that came with your iPhone can be used as a remote shutter? Simply plug the earbuds into your phone, then use the volume buttons to fire the shutter.

Another option is to purchase one of many wireless remote shutter options that connect to your iPhone via Bluetooth.

A popular choice is the Muku Shuttr (shown below) which costs around $38.

Now that you have a good idea of the different types of tripod and associated accessories, let’s explore nine different shooting scenarios where a tripod is either essential or beneficial.

1. Long Exposure Photography

Long exposure photography is traditionally associated with DSLR cameras which allow you to keep the shutter open for several seconds, or even minutes or hours.

But you can also create long exposure photos with your iPhone using an app such as Slow Shutter Cam.

Long exposure photography allows you to get really creative with your images. For example, you can capture light trails at night, or convey a sense of movement by capturing motion blur as your subject moves across the scene.

Another extremely popular use of slow shutter apps is for creating beautiful waterfall shots where the water appears soft and silky.

When shooting with slow shutter speeds, it’s essential that you use a tripod in order to keep your iPhone perfectly still for the duration of the exposure.

This will ensure that any stationary objects, such as rocks or bridges, appear sharp in the final image. Remember that you only want the moving subjects to appear blurred in a long exposure photo.

If you’re hand-holding the camera, you’ll end up with camera shake and everything in the photo will appear blurred. So you really can’t capture decent long exposures without a tripod.

You can also use slow shutter apps to create more abstract images, such as these wonderful rotational blur photos.

To create this effect, simply mount your iPhone on a tripod, set the shutter speed to several seconds, then rotate the iPhone to create the rotational blur.

You can create different kinds of rotation effect by varying the speed that you rotate the iPhone. Below is the same scene, but with a slower rotation.

The end result will vary depending on the scene that you’re photographing, the duration of the exposure, and the speed of the rotation.

Be sure to try this technique in different kinds of location, for example, out in nature, in a city at night, etc. You never quite know what the end result will be, but it’s sure to be interesting and unique!

Using a tripod in conjunction with slow shutter apps will open up many new photographic opportunities where you can express your creativity in a whole range of different ways.

2. Night & Low Light Photography

The iPhone performs fairly well in low light, but you can guarantee yourself far better results if you use a tripod when shooting low light or night photography.

When shooting in low light, the camera will need to use a slower shutter speed to capture enough light from the scene.

During this longer exposure, any slight movement will result in camera shake that causes the entire photo to appear blurred.

Using a tripod for iPhone photography in low light will eliminate any camera shake, ensuring that you get a perfectly sharp shot every time.

The less you touch your iPhone while shooting in low light or at night the better. So if you want to capture the sharpest shots possible in low light conditions, be sure to use a tripod.

3. Close-Up & Macro Photography

If you enjoy take close-up photos with your iPhone, a tripod will make it much easier to capture sharp shots with the right part of the scene in focus.

There are two reasons for using a tripod when shooting close-ups. One is that when you hold your iPhone very close to your subject, any slight hand movement will result in very visible blurring caused by camera shake.

Using a tripod means that you’ll get sharper images because there are no hand movements to blur the image.

The second reason is that the closer the iPhone’s lens is to the subject, the shallower the depth of field will be. Depth of field refers to how much of the image appears in sharp focus from front to back.

A shallow depth of field means that only a small portion of the scene will be in focus. This can result in beautiful blurred backgrounds in your iPhone photos.

So when shooting close-up images it’s essential that you get the right part of your subject in sharp focus.

This is particularly important when using add-on macro lenses, such as the olloclip Macro Pro Lens shown below. With macro lenses the depth of field will be incredibly shallow.

If you’re hand-holding the camera, it’s very difficult to keep the camera in exactly the same position once you’ve set your focus point. Any movement back or forth will result in the wrong part of the image being in focus.

Using a tripod for close-up photography means that you’ll be able to set your focus point much more accurately.

4. Shooting Awkward Angles

A tripod is a useful accessory for those times when you need to shoot the scene from an awkward angle.

For example, if you want to shoot from a very low angle, you may need to lie on the ground so that you can get your iPhone into the correct position.

If the ground is wet, or you’re feeling self-conscious about getting into such a position in public, this may not be the ideal way to take the photo. It can also be difficult to hold the camera still while you’re in this position.

An easier and more comfortable option would be to use a compact tripod to position your iPhone low to the ground.

This is a great option when you want to photograph flowers and leaves from a low angle. Not only does it create an image from a more unusual viewpoint, but it also allows you to use the sky as your background which helps the subject stand out.

Another powerful technique is to photograph a leaf from below with the sun shining through it. The backlighting will reveal incredible color and detail.

Any time you’re shooting from a low angle, consider using a tripod to get your iPhone into a better position while maintaining a perfectly steady camera.

You may also want to use a tripod when shooting from a high angle. For example, if you’re creating flat-lay still life photos where you’re shooting down onto your subject, a taller tripod can be useful as it allows you to position the iPhone directly above the subject.

Once you’ve set up your iPhone on the tripod, you can move the objects around and try out different shots without having to worry about re-positioning the camera each time.

5. Landscape Photography

While a tripod isn’t essential for shooting landscapes, many photographers choose to use one in these situations. So how can a tripod improve your landscape photography?

First of all, a tripod is almost always going to give you a sharper shot than hand-holding the camera. Even in good light when your iPhone will be using a fast shutter speed, it’s likely that your hands will move ever so slightly during the exposure.

The great thing about landscape photography is that the scene is relatively static, so you can take your time when composing your photos. This allows you plenty of time to set up a tripod without worrying that you’re going to miss the perfect shot.

A tripod is also great for helping you to align your iPhone so that the horizon is perfectly level.

A lot of landscape photography is actually done in fairly low light conditions, such as during the golden hours of sunrise and sunset, on overcast days, or during stormy weather when the sky is dark and dramatic.

In these kinds of low light conditions, your iPhone camera will need to use a slower shutter speed to correctly expose the image. A tripod will help you to avoid camera shake.

Another reason to take a tripod with you when you’re shooting landscapes is that you never know when you might come across a beautiful waterfall or river.

If you have a tripod you’ll be able to capture stunning long exposure water shots like the one above.

6. Architectural Photography

Architectural photography is another genre where a tripod can help you achieve better results.

If you’re shooting the interior of a building, it’s likely that you’re going to be working in fairly low light conditions. So a tripod will ensure that you get a sharp shot every time.

Another reason for using a tripod when photographing buildings is that it allows you to capture more unique angles.

Have you ever tried to photograph an ornate ceiling inside a building? If so, you’ve probably found it difficult to keep your iPhone steady because you have to hold your arms up away from your body.

Mounting your iPhone on a tripod allows you to capture shake-free shots when shooting from awkward angles.

Buildings are full of lines and symmetry, and you can make use of these design elements to create powerful compositions.

A tripod allows you to slow down when composing your photo, so that you can align the elements for perfectly straight and symmetrical images.

7. Portraits & Self-Portraits

If you’re shooting posed portrait photos, a tripod can be an extremely useful tool.

Not only will it ensure you achieve sharp shots if you’re shooting in a low light indoor environment, but it also allows you to take your time to set up the perfect composition.

First you can set up the scene how you want it, with any appropriate furniture or props. Then you can mount your iPhone on a tripod and compose the shot exactly as you want it. You don’t even need to have the subject in the frame at this point.

Once you’ve framed your shot with the exact composition that you want, you can bring your subject into the scene and ask them to pose.

With your iPhone on the tripod, you can now take multiple shots with the subject in different poses or with different facial expressions – while all the time maintaining the exact same framing of the scene.

Taking lots of photos one after the other will ensure that you get at least one great shot where the subject has the perfect facial expression and pose.

Of course, you can still take great portrait photos even if you don’t have anyone to model for you. In such circumstances, why not try shooting a self-portrait using yourself as the subject?

Simply frame the shot with your iPhone on a tripod, then either set the self-timer in the camera app or use a remote shutter to take the shot once you’re in position.

A tripod is also perfect for those times where you want to take a group shot and appear in the photo yourself. This means that you no longer always have to be the person behind the camera!

8. Videography

In addition to still photography, a tripod is also a useful accessory when shooting movies with the Video mode in the iPhone’s camera app.

If you enjoy using your iPhone for videography, it’s definitely worth using a tripod to ensure your capture stable footage. There’s nothing worse than watching a shaky video!

In addition to this, a tripod allows you to frame the scene more accurately, follow your subject more easily, and create stunning footage where you slowly pan from one side of the scene to the other.

9. Time Lapse Videos

If you want to shoot a time lapse on iPhone, you’ll need to use a tripod. A time lapse video is a series of hundreds or thousands of photos taken over several minutes or hours. Once captured, the images are automatically edited together and exported as a video file.

Due to the way it speeds up your subject’s movement, a time lapse video can reveal movement that we barely notice with the naked eye.

Good time lapse subjects might include clouds moving across the sky, flowers opening in the sun, or candles burning down.

Busy scenes can also look great as a time lapse video. For example, people shopping, rush-hour traffic, or children running around in the park.

To shoot a time lapse video, ensure your iPhone camera’s shooting mode is set to Time Lapse.

Mount your iPhone on a tripod, point it at the scene you want to capture, then press the red button. Now everything that’s moving in front of your iPhone will be recorded as hundreds of still photos.

When you’re done, press the red button again. The iPhone will then save the photos as a finished time lapse video.

If your video only ended up being a few short seconds, try recording for much longer next time. You generally need to record for at least a few minutes, but preferably longer.

Another fun option is to mount your iPhone on a small table-top tripod, and then place it on the car dash so that you can record your journey as a time lapse.

For safety, make sure that you’re the passenger. Don’t attempt this if you’re the driver as you’ll be distracted.

When you’ve got a good composition, press the red button to start the time lapse recording, and ask your driver to start driving.

Keep the time lapse going for at least a few minutes, and when you feel that you’ve got what you need, press the red button again to stop.

Tripod For iPhone: Conclusion

As you’ve seen in this tutorial, a tripod can be used for a wide variety of photography and videography techniques.

Not only does a tripod allow you to capture sharper photos and more stable videos, but it also opens up new and creative photo opportunities such as long exposure photography, night photography and time lapse.

A tripod also allows you to slow down your image-making, giving you more time to create the perfect composition and explore your create side.

Many people think that using a tripod means carrying around bulky equipment, and that it takes the “mobile” out of mobile photography. However, with the huge range of compact and mini tripods available, this doesn’t have to be the case.

Whether you choose to use a tripod for all of your photography or just in certain situations, it’s definitely worth having one in your iPhone photography toolkit.

The post How To Use A Tripod For iPhone To Shoot Sharper & More Creative Images appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

What Is A Rotational Slow Shutter Image?

In my early years as a young aspiring photographer I really set my foundations on nature photography, learning from the excellent books of photographer and author Freeman Patterson.

In many of his books he introduced new ways of creating painterly images by using multiple exposures, slow shutters and camera rotations.

While the results are impressive, the technique is actually quite simple. You set your camera to use a slow shutter speed (long exposure time) of several seconds, then you rotate the camera in a circular motion while the photo is being taken.

The combination of the rotation and the slow shutter speed creates a beautiful circular motion blur effect.

By varying the exposure time and the speed that you rotate the camera, you can achieve different degrees of motion blur.

The faster you spin the camera, the more blurred it will become. A slower rotation will keep more sharp detail in your subject, especially in the centre of the image.

Slow Shutter Cam App

Instead of using slide film like Freeman did, we’ll be using our iPhones to create similar results. While the iPhone doesn’t really have a manually adjustable shutter speed option like that of an SLR camera, there are apps that mimic the slow shutter effect.

One of the best apps for this kind of photography is Slow Shutter Cam ($0.99). It’s useful for many different types of artistic iPhone photography.

The most prominent uses of this app are to create beautiful long exposure photos of waterfalls, soften flowing water, and create light trail images. But for the purpose of this article, we’ll only be using the app to create rotational multiple exposures.

How To Create Your Slow Shutter Image

Once you’ve downloaded the Slow Shutter App from the app store, you need to find some plants or flowers to photograph. So get out into your garden, or head out into the woods or to your nearest public garden.

What you should be looking for is a tight grouping of similar sized leaves or flowers. If one flower or leaf stands out in particular, you can use that specific item as the center of your camera rotation.

In my example shot below, you’ll see that one leaf stands out a bit more than the others, so I placed it in the center of my composition. This is the user interface view that you’ll see when you open the Slow Shutter Cam app:

Before you start shooting, tap on the little gear icon at the bottom right of the screen to access the settings:

I suggest that you change your Picture Resolution to the highest setting possible, e.g. 8MP (the latest iPhone 6s models have 12 megapixels):

The other features can remain at their default settings, although for advanced photographers you may want to switch JPG for TIFF in the Picture File Format menu.

You can now tap Done to return to the camera view. There’s one more step before you start shooting, and that’s to set the capture settings. Tap the little circular camera iris icon at the bottom left of the screen:

For our purposes we only need to change the Blur Strength from Medium to High. The default Shutter Speed of 8 seconds is usually fine, but feel free to experiment with other shutter speeds if you like.

Motion Blur is active by default, and this is the only option that we’ll be using for this tutorial. When you’re ready to leave the menu, simply tap on the same round camera iris icon on the bottom left to return to the camera view.

There are other options on the top row (flash, magnification, Auto Exposure Lock, Auto Focus Lock, and flip camera) but we don’t need them for creating our painterly abstract iPhone photographs:

You’re now ready to start shooting! You should have the normal camera view on your screen that looks similar to this, but with your own flowers or plants:

Ensure your chosen, well defined plant is in the dead center of the frame. Then tap the shutter button (circle with camera) at the bottom of the screen, and slowly rotate your iPhone either clockwise or counterclockwise. Try your best to keep the main flower or plant in the center of your rotation.

When the 8 second exposure is finished, you’ll be shown three options near the bottom of the screen (Clear, Edit and Save):

If your image looks like a mess, don’t feel discouraged! It took me several tries to get this particular image. If you don’t like your results, press Clear and try again.

I included this example to show that even if you were a little off-center by mistake, the photo can still be salvageable via cropping, or simply having a very acceptable off-center composition.

At this point you may rightly say that the photo looks washed-out and uninspiring. This is normal for the app, which is why they also add an Edit option just after the exposure is finished. Tap on Edit, and you’ll see the following screen:

We don’t need to do anything with the Freeze option that comes up as the default, so we’ll start instead with Contrast:

I usually like to jack the contrast up to maximum as I find that the image straight from the camera is very low contrast. You don’t need to follow my order, but I often do Contrast first, then boost the color Saturation to almost maximum.

If I feel that the image is then too bright or too dark, I’ll make a small adjustment with Brightness. And then finally I like to work on my green colors by adjusting the Hue slider:

If you’re photographing vegetation that’s not green in color, the Hue option may be unnecessary. However, for green subjects the Hue option can bring even more green into the scene if you feel it adds to the final image.

When you’re finished with your creation, tap the Save option at the top right of the screen, then close the Slow Shutter Cam app.

Crop The Image (Optional)

Now I’m going to crop my image, but if you like your photo the way it is, you can skip this step. I’m going to show you how to crop using the native iOS Photos app, but you can use a different editing app if you prefer.

Open the Photos app and locate the image within your Photo Library. Tap the Edit option at the top right of the screen:

Tap the Crop tool at the bottom of the screen (in between the blue Cancel option and the three interlocking circles icon). You’ll now see a view that looks similar to this screenshot:

Click the Aspect Ratio icon which is located at the bottom right of the screen, just above the faded-out Done option. Your next screen will have many crop ratio options which are all usable, but for my purposes I want a square crop for easy Instagram upload:

After selecting your aspect ratio, drag the image if necessary to crop away the areas you don’t want, then tap the yellow Done option at the bottom right.

Congratulations! You’ve completed your nature abstract image.

Further Inspiration

If you want to take this slow shutter abstract technique further, here’s a bit of extra inspiration. If you live in or near the woods, you can use a group of trees to create a slow shutter painterly image.

But instead of a clockwise or counterclockwise circular camera rotation, why not try a vertical panning motion?

You can follow all of the same steps that have been laid out in this tutorial, except for this technique you’ll be holding your iPhone out in front of you, moving it up and down in a vertical motion.

Of course, you don’t even have to stick to photographing nature. You could try out this technique with any subject. The key is to experiment as you never know what the results might be.

Whatever you decide to photograph with the Slow Shutter Cam app, you’re sure to create some unique abstract images with your iPhone. Have fun!

The post How To Create Beautiful Slow Shutter Abstract Photos On iPhone appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m 25 years old, and come from Sheffield, UK. I have a degree in bachelor of sciences with honors in criminology and psychology.

How did your iPhone photography journey begin?

My journey began when Instagram started (check out Instagram tutorial). I would take photos of everyday objects and things, but I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

What inspires you to take photos with the iPhone?

I love the simplicity the iPhone gives you. You can take a photo and you could have edited it in a few seconds.

It’s a lot simpler than using a DSLR camera and going through the whole process of editing on a computer.

You primarily take landscape photos with your iPhone. What draws you to landscapes over other genres of photography?

I live very close to the Peak District and I don’t think there’s anything better than exploring new landscapes with my iPhone.

Many of your photos are shot in mist and fog. What impact does the weather have on landscape photography?

I think it impacts the landscapes immensely. I feel mist and fog gives the photo an extra dynamic. This works especially well if you’re in the woods and there is thick fog.

What’s your favorite time of day for shooting landscapes?

It used to be in the evening. I would go out and catch the last couple of hours of sun, which is also called the golden hour.

As my photography has progressed, I’ve found myself shooting a lot more in the morning. The mixture of fog and sun, makes for spectacular landscape photos.

What tips would you give to aspiring landscape photographers?

I would say it’s all about the light conditions.  The harsher the light, the less likely you are to get a great landscape photo.

In terms of composition, make sure you use the rule of thirds and think about aspect ratio. This can help you line the landscape up by using the grid in the camera app.

With landscapes, you also want to make sure you fill in the frame and look for a point of view that draws the viewer in. A good example of this is leading lines. I take a lot of photos of paths and roads which creates the feeling of depth.

Let’s talk about photo apps. Are there any camera apps that you use for taking photos besides the native camera app?

There’s only one other app I sometimes take photos with, and that’s Average Camera Pro. This allows me to create long exposure photos of water.

The app takes a number of photos over several seconds and combines them to create a soft veiling effect on moving water such as waterfalls and rivers.

What are your favorite apps for post-processing?

My favorite editing apps are VSCO and Snapseed. (Check out our VSCO tutorial and Snapseed tutorial to learn how to use thesw apps to edit your photos.)

Do you use any iPhone photography accessories?

I only use a GorrillaPod tripod, which allows me to keep my iPhone stable for long exposure shots. It has flexible legs, and its one of the best iPhone tripods available.

Can you briefly explain the story and editing process behind your three favorite iPhone photos?

Castle Stalker

I set up this shot using my GorrillaPod and shot the photo with the Average Camera Pro app. After taking the photo, I applied my favorite VSCO filter which is F1, and then I enhanced the details in Snapseed.

I love bringing out the colors in my photos, so I used saturation and contrast adjustments in Snapseed. Finally I used the Details tool to create some structure and sharpening.

The House

I took this photo with the iPhone camera app. Then I edited the image using the same process as I did for the Castle Stalker image above.

Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye

This photo was also edited using the same process at the other images. I like to edit my photos in the same way as I feel it helps create a style all of my own.

Do you shoot with any other kind of camera, and if so, when do you prefer to use the iPhone?

I do. I shoot with a Canon 100d, and I will shortly be upgrading to a 5d Mkiii. But I use both my camera and my iPhone to take photos.

I like the differences between the iPhone and the camera. I usually take two photos – one with my camera and one with my iPhone, and then I can compare them.

You have over 69,000 followers on Instagram.  How has Instagram influenced your photography and what does this online community mean to you?

Instagram has massively influenced my photography. I wasn’t even interested in photography before Instagram, and now two years down the line I’m making a career out of it.

So it means the world to me to have so much support, especially since I’ve taught myself. It’s great to get positive feedback on my work, and to know that I’ve influence and inspired other people is amazing.

What tips do you have for beginner iPhone photographers who want to start taking more creative photos with the iPhone?

The best way to learn something is by going out and trying it. Patience is the key. It isn’t going to work straight away and not every photo will be amazing. It’s about planning and making time to get out there when no one else is.

Practice makes perfect. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes because you will learn from them. I would also use Google and ask other Instagrammers for advice because they all started off as a rookie at some point.

Which iPhone photographers do you admire the most?

There are a few: @_lukecotton (read our interview with Luke Cotton), @bobbimac, @alexstrohl, @finn, @wisslaren, @jaredchambers and @punkodelish all have amazing iPhone work!

Where can we see your iPhone photography?

You can see my iPhone photos over on Instagram @dpc_photography_ and also on Tumblr @dpcphotography.

The post How Daniel Casson Takes Stunning Landscape Photos With His iPhone appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Get A Tripod

You really need an iPhone tripod to do long exposure photography. Since long exposure photography captures movement in the scene over time, you have to make sure your iPhone remains steady during the capture to make sure you don’t take blurry photos. It’s one of the reasons a tripod features in our top 6 Essential iPhone Camera Accessories.

That’s me using the gear listed in this post

While any tripod can be used for long exposure photography, I prefer to use a relatively serious tripod that remains stable on slippery surfaces such as ice and wet rocks.

I use Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with Manfrotto 804RC2 tripod head, which provide great stability and a lot of control for getting the composition and framing exactly right.

And this is the photo I was taking

You also need to attach your iPhone to the tripod. While there are many different tripod mounts for iPhone, nothing beats Glif in terms of how well the phone is attached. With Glif+ I can carry the tripod around with the iPhone attached and facing down – I don’t think that’s possible with any other tripod mount.

Finally, I recommend using your white Apple earbuds for shutter release. If you plug in the white earbuds that were included with your iPhone, open the Camera app and press the volume up button, you’ll be able to take photos without physically touching your iPhone. This trick is great for further reducing camera shake while using a tripod.

Download The Right App

The iPhone doesn’t support true long exposure photography (the shutter can’t stay open for a long period of time). However, clever app developers have found a way around this problem by digitally combining multiple exposures of the same scene to simulate long exposure photography.

While there are multiple apps that can achieve this effect, the one I use and recommend is called Slow Shutter Cam. When you first open Slow Shutter Cam, make sure you visit app settings to select the highest Picture Quality and turn on the Volume Shutter (or else the earphone trick won’t work).

Select The Best Exposure Settings

Once you’ve framed the shot, you have to select the right exposure settings which can be found under the exposure icon next to the shutter button. Once you tap there, the following dialog will appear.

Here you can select Capture Mode, Blur Strength and Capture Duration. For most day-to-day shooting in good light conditions you should select Motion Blur capture mode.

I can’t give you the exact settings to use for the other two parameters since every photo is different. I generally use medium or high blur strength and a capture duration between 4 and 30 seconds. Experiment with different combinations of these settings until you find the ones that work best for each particular photo.

Slow Shutter Cam digitally combines multiple photos to create one long exposure, so you’ll get more natural results with longer shutter speeds since the app has more images to work with. However, if the shutter speed is too long, you risk blurring out your subjects altogether, which is why you should experiment with these settings for each photo.

Photograph Moving Water

Now that you have everything you need, it’s time to find the right conditions for long exposure photography. With varying success you can take long exposure photos of pretty much any moving subjects, but the one situation where it really makes sense to use long exposure is when capturing moving water.

In this example you can see a river scene where the flowing water and ice are frozen in time using the iPhone’s native Camera app.

And here is the same scene captured using long exposure. As you can see, using long exposure allowed me to blur out all the moving water and ice to create a beautiful dreamy look in the river, while also emphasizing the speed at which the river is flowing.

In a similar manner long exposure photography can be used to enhance any landscape photos that contain moving water, including rivers, lakes with waves on the surface, and even the shore of the ocean.

While long exposure photography is great for blurring out any moving water, it really works great when taking photos of waterfalls.

While blurred-out waterfalls can create wonderful photos, you have to be a little careful with exposure, particularly on sunny days when you should always set exposure on the brightest parts of the waterfall to avoid overexposing the white water.

Even if you don’t have any great waterfalls in your area, you can still get interesting results if you’re creative with the angle you take photos from. To give you an example, the following (artificial) waterfall is only about a foot (30cm) high, but thanks to the close-up angle it still results in an interesting and unique photo.

Finally, I don’t recommend using long exposure for huge waterfalls because the large volume of water will be blurred out excessively as seen on the left side of the following image.

So if your goal is to capture the power of a massive waterfall, you’ll get better results without using long exposure as that allows you to freeze the falling water in time.

Photograph Light Trails

Besides moving water, light trails are also great for long exposure photography.

For light trails you need to select Light Trail mode in the exposure settings of Slow Shutter Cam as shown above. You then need to find the correct light sensitivity value based on how bright the lights are relative to the rest of the scene.

Finally, you have to select the right capture duration, or you can select Unlimited capture time as shown above. In that case you need to press the shutter again when you’re happy with the photo that’s developing in front of your eyes.

You’ll generally get more interesting light trail photos if you focus on red taillights as opposed to white headlights. If you’re going to use both in the same photo, keep in mind that headlights are significantly brighter than taillights.

The post How To Take Stunning Long Exposure Photos With iPhone appeared first on iPhone Photography School.