Long Exposure Tricks with an iPhone

Long Exposure Photography  •  Photography Tips

For a long time, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have had an advantage over smartphone photos when it comes to creative photography. The manual mode in the cameras allows photographers to take creative control and lets them take photos that phone cameras previously could not. But today, even the phone cameras have come a long way. Phones today have features that make even complex photography processes so much easier. Take for instance long exposure photography. With cameras, you might feel that long exposures are a bit complicated. Whereas iPhones have a feature built-in that makes the process so much simpler.  In today’s video, photographer Emil Pakarklis from iPhone Photography School shares some secrets for taking incredible long exposure iPhone photos:

“Long exposure photography works really great when you have movement in the scene that you want to blur out for creative effect.”

Pakarklis not only shows how easily you can create a long exposure using the live photos feature, he also shares some handy tips that ensure that the images are well-composed and come out as crisp as possible. He starts off by sharing some composition tips to make your long exposure images appeal to the eye. It’s interesting to see how he works to find the best compositions. As he shares, you can try out different orientations, look for different perspectives, and importantly, maintain a steady stance to ensure that you hold your phone as steady as possible.

The trick he uses to create a long exposure is to shoot using the ‘Live Photo’ mode. You can take a live photo of a scene and use the ‘Photos’ app to compress the live photo into a single long exposure photo. The process is really simple and yet the result is breathtaking.

Towards the end of the video, he also shares some tips on working with a tripod and using the earphones as a remote cable release. So, be sure to watch the complete video for all the awesome tips.

For further training: The iPhone Photography Academy at 85% Off