Moving lights at night—a busy road, lit-up Ferris wheel, dramatic lightning, or a person “writing” in the air with a flashlight or glowstick. Running water—capture raging rivers and cascading waterfalls to give moving water a soft, blurry look. Well-illuminated dancers on a darkened stage. Nature scenes with lots of contrast, like waves crashing against a rocky coastline at golden hour, or a lighthouse at night blanketed in moving clouds and fog. A vibrant fireworks display.
If you don’t have a tripod (or you’re using an iPad and it’s too large for your tripod), that’s okay too—you can make a tripod using common household items, or just be sure to keep your hand as steady as possible while capturing the scene.
If Live Photo is enabled, you’ll see an icon of a circle containing smaller circles at the top-right corner of the camera screen. If Live Photo is disabled, you’ll see a line through the circles. If there’s a line through the Live Photo icon, tap the icon to enable Live Photo. The word “Live” will flash across the top of the viewfinder. Live Photos are available on all iPhones beginning with iPhone 6s. You can also capture Live Photos on your iPad (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Mini (5th generation), and iPad Pro (2016 and later).
Wait until your iPhone is completely still before you capture the shot—Live Photos record the 1. 5 seconds before you tap the shutter button, and you don’t want to waste those 1. 5 seconds fumbling with your phone.
If you’re using iOS 14 or earlier, swipe up on the Live Photo to bring up the Effects carousel at the bottom, then swipe over to the Long Exposure effect.
Your changes save automatically. If you decide you don’t like the new effect, just tap LONG EXPOSURE at the photo’s top-left corner and choose LIVE PHOTO. Try the BOUNCE effect to create a Boomerang-like video that rewinds the action backward and forward.
