MAXIMUM EXPOSURE
How the iPhone’s iOS11 camera update can help you to take EPIC holiday snaps
Up your Instagram game with our quick and easy guide to iOS 11's new 'long exposure' mode
THESE days most tourists take all their holiday snaps on a smartphone.
Mobile phone photography has come a long way over the past ten years, but phones are still missing the ability to create professional quality “long exposure” shots. That is, until now.
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The iPhone and iPad’s new operating system iOS 11, gives holidaymakers another reason to leave the digital camera at home as Apple have added a long exposure effect their Photos app.
The technology is usually only available on high-end cameras and DSLRs but Apple have come up with a clever workaround to bring it to their phones.
The effect works by taking your Live Photos - a feature Apple launched last year - and combining this small video clip with a photo taken at the same time and then merging the two into one still image.
This trick lets you capture moving objects in a whole new light, as fireworks become bright streaks across the sky, car headlights turn into a ribbon of colour and waterfalls take on a ghostly blur.
The iPhone is the world’s most popular camera and mobile photographers on Facebook and Twitter have already begun sharing incredible photos taken with the new setting.
iOS11 hasn’t had an official release yet but if you’re desperate to try the new camera effect, you can sign up to Apple’s Beta Software Program to test it out ahead of time.
As it’s a beta release, there are plenty of glitches in the software and your phone might suffer some battery issues or even lose data, so install iOS11 early at your own risk.
Here’s our guide to taking great photos with the new setting.
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Find a subject
Long exposures work best in places where there’s movement that you want to capture.
It also helps if the object that’s moving is a light source of some kind.
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For example, you might take a photo of cars speeding down a motorway at night.
The lights of the car would then create a streak across the image.
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Another classic long exposure shot involves water, where the camera will turn the movement of a river or waterfall into a magical blur.
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Turn on Live Photos
Open your camera app and tap the three circles icon in the top middle of the screen.
Make sure that it’s yellow, if it’s white, tap it again.
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Hold still
The iPhone comes with some image stabilisation built in but that doesn’t mean you can shake your hand around and still expect a decent image.
You’ll want to hold the phone still for a couple of seconds before and after you take the photo.
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This is when the Live Photo is recording which you’ll later turn into a long exposure.
Don’t move the camera until the yellow “Live” logo disappears from the top of the screen.
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Edit the snap
The Long exposure setting isn’t in the camera.
It’s technically an after effect, so it’s hidden away in your photos app.
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Open up Photos, tap on the image you want to edit and swipe up - four preview images will appear called “Live”, “Loop”, “Bounce” and “Long Exposure”.
Loop lets you turn the Live Photo into a looping video clip, Bounce will give your Live Photo an effect similar to Instagram’s Boomerang app - ignore both of those.
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Instead, tap long “Long Exposure” and after a couple of seconds your Photos app will churn out an incredible work of photographic art… hopefully.
For more tips and trick on iOS11 including how to download it now check out our in-depth guide.