Know what makes a good long-exposure shot
Turn on Live Photos
Keep steady
Create the long exposure
Make long-exposure photos from existing Live images

Know what makes a good long-exposure shot, Turn on Live Photos, Keep steady, Create the long exposure, Make long-exposure photos from existing Live images

If you've ever seen artistic photos of waterfalls or rivers where the water is blurred to look like flowing ribbons, then you already know the beautiful effect of a long exposure photo. By allowing moving subjects in a scene to become blurred, it creates a great sense of motion, especially when those blurry subjects are contrasted against static elements such as rocks or trees. While this technique used to require a bulky DSLR, filters and a tripod to achieve shutter speeds over several seconds, you can now achieve much the same result using just your iPhone.

You don't even need the latest iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max to take advantage of this feature. It works on any iPhone launched after the iPhone 6.

The technique uses Live Photos, a feature that turns a still image into a short animation by recording a few seconds of video when you fire the shutter. By analyzing which objects are moving, the iPhone captures the movement and blurs it. It's also able to recognize what isn't moving (a rock or a wall, for example) and attempts to keep those objects sharp and in focus. This lets you capture long-exposure images in even bright midday sun without using a tripod or filter. Take that, DSLRs.

A standard image taken with the iPhone 11 Pro (left) and the same image, with the long-exposure mode enabled (right). Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Here's how you can do it.

Know what makes a good long-exposure shot

Not everything works as a long-exposure image. A close-up of a flower blowing in the breeze will just become a blurry mess, while a picture of a static car will remain, well, static.

What you need is a scene where there are both static and moving elements. Waterfalls are common subjects, as the rushing water will be blurred while the surrounding rocks will remain solid. Any body of water, really, would be a good subject to experiment with.

The standard shot (left) looks like any old snap from a Disney park. But a long exposure (right) transforms it into an ethereal image that really shows off the movement in the scene. Andrew Lanxon/CNET

You can also try busy city streets. The long-exposure effect keeps the buildings and roads sharp and fixed in the image, but the people walking all around will be blurred into ghostly figures, which looks atmospheric and dramatic.

Turn on Live Photos

Getting a long-exposure image requires the movement that's recorded in a Live Photo, so it's critical that that mode is activated when shooting. It's located in the top right of the screen in the camera (when held in portrait orientation) or the top left (in landscape orientation). You'll see an icon of two circles surrounded by a third dotted circle. If there's no line through it, then Live Photos is activated. If there's a line through it, tap the icon and you'll see the message "Live" appear onscreen in a little yellow box.

Keep steady

Although the iPhone doesn't require a tripod to get a good long-exposure image, you'll get the best results if you keep the phone as steady as possible while it's taking the Live image. I suggest resting the phone against a wall or some other fixed surface while shooting. If you have to hold the phone in your hand, I find that tucking my elbows in toward my body and holding my breath helps decrease motion blur while taking the shot.

It's a good idea to take multiple shots too, hammering the shutter button while you hold the position. This way you'll increase your chances of capturing at least one image that's stable enough to produce an attractive long exposure.

Create the long exposure

Once you've captured your Live image, it's time to transform it into the actual long exposure. Start by opening your image in the gallery app. In the top left you'll see a small icon saying Live with a small downward-pointing arrow next to it. Tap the arrow and you'll have the option to turn the image into a looping GIF, a bouncing GIF that plays forwards then backwards or, down at the bottom, a long exposure.

It'll take a second or two, but you'll quickly see how any motion in your shot has been blurred into the dreamy effect you're after. You can then zoom in to check that it's still nice and sharp. Feel free to apply the same effect to other photos you took of the same scene, just in case they worked out better.

If you happen to still be on iOS 14 or older, open the image you've settled on in your gallery and swipe up. This will bring up a panel called Effects where you can loop the motion in the video into GIFs. Swipe to the end of the effects panel though and you'll see one called Long Exposure. Tap it. But you really should update your phone to a more recent version.

I didn't intend to make this shot a long exposure when I first took it, but because it was a Live photo, I was able to go back later and turn the long-exposure mode on. Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Make long-exposure photos from existing Live images

Have a look through your library to see if you already have other images that would work for long-exposure photos. The great thing about using the iPhone's long-exposure tool is that you don't need to use it while you're shooting. You can go back and apply it to any Live image you've taken up until now.

Perhaps you visited Niagara Falls in New York or Havasu Falls in Arizona a few years ago and you happened to have had Live Photos activated when taking your shots. You can swipe up and activate long exposure on any of those shots. You can even go into your Live Photos album in your gallery to see all the shots you've got on your phone that can be transformed into long exposures. My advice? Put a good podcast on, settle into a comfy chair and see what dreamy shots you can dig out of your library.

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are defined by their refinements. This pair of phones is one of the most compelling camera upgrades from Apple in years.The 15 Pro has a tried and true 3x telephoto camera like previous models. But the 15 Pro Max has a new 5x telephoto camera that's made with multiple prisms and some clever engineering.This was taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x zoom camera.

One nifty addition to both phones is the ability to change the focus after you take a portrait photo. Check out this '90s grunge band photo of me and my pal Beacham. I can change the focus from me to him after I take the picture. This is going to be a killer feature for parents.

This was taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x zoom camera which also has a 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization system that helps with shaky hands.

I took this with the 5x zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

A night mode snap from the iPhone 15 Pro at 2x.

The main camera's sensor on both phones is larger helping it capture brighter photos in low light with less image noise, like this one of a Boring Clam.