You Can Turn Your Live Photos Into Long Exposures, Loops, and Boomerangs

You Can Turn Your Live Photos Into Long Exposures, Loops, and Boomerangs

Live Photos are the little moving pictures you never knew you needed. Just like in Harry Potter, these little videos capture the essence of the moment, something that just can’t be captured in a still photo sometimes. Unlike GIFs though, they also record a snippet of sound, making them like micro-short videos of a moment.

But there’s even more to Live Photos. Using a hidden Effects feature, you can transform your Live Photos into long exposure shots, GIF-like loops, and even boomerangs (without needing to use Instagram).

Open the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad, and locate the Live Photo that you want to edit. If you’re using iOS 15 and higher, tap the Live button in the top-left corner of the screen. If you’re using iOS 14 or older, swipe up on the photo to see the Effects section.

Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak

From here, you’ll see three options.

  1. Loop: This will create an infinitely looping video, something like a GIF, but with the clarity of a video format.
  2. Bounce: This will create a boomerang effect, where the video will play forwards, and then backwards, in a loop.
  3. Long Exposure: This won’t work for all photos, but if your Live Photo has captured some movement (say, a flowing river), you can use this mode to create a cool looking long exposure shot where the movement is blurred, but the rest of the image stays still.

Select the mode, and in a second or two the Photos app will switch to it. You can tap the same “Live” button again to switch to another effect, or to go revert back to the Live Photo. Now go forth with this knowledge and inundate your social media, group texts, and WhatsApp chats with cooler photos than ever before. Have fun.

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