5 Things You Probably Didn’t' Know You Could Do With iPhone Live Photos
When Apple first introduced the Live Photo feature, it was designed to help people remember the moments that happened when a photo was taken. Unlike a full video, Live Photos give you a glimpse behind the scenes without giving away the whole story.
Since it takes up significantly more storage space than a regular photo, it’s unsurprising that many peopleopt to turn the Live Photo feature off. However, the Live Photo feature may be worth another look, especially if you’re a creative person who is looking to play around with what your iPhone can do.
Surprisingly, Live Photo is a pretty versatile type of media that you may use for more than just taking a good photo. For example, you can revert it to videos and GIFs that can help take your content to the next level. So, if you’re curious as to know what you can do with Live Photos, here are five things you probably didn’t know your Live Photo can do.
Choose the key photo
While the Photos app gets a lot of things right, the key photo for the Live Photo isn’t always one of them. The key photo is the image that appears as the still photo when you’re not using any of the Live Photo features. Thankfully, swapping out the Live Photo key photo can be done in just a few clicks. Here’s how:
While at the Live Photo Edit tab, you might want to make a few adjustments to the rest of the Live Photo. For example, you can adjust the video’s length by dragging the frame’s beginning or end in the Live tab. You can also crop the key photo by tapping Crop in the lower-right corner of the screen.
Just take note: Apple cautions users that if they decide to change the key photo of an image taken with the portrait effect, they run the risk of losing the effect altogether.
Save as Video
Because Live Photos can pick up a few seconds after you press the shutter, it can sometimes capture moments that aren’t usually documented and are typically forgotten. Whether it is how couples look at each other when they think no one is looking, how your pet’s eyes light up when it sees you, or how a loved one laughs, you’d be surprised how meaningful these few seconds of video can be. So, if you have a Live Photo with a few seconds of video that you want to save, here’s how.
Depending on the Live Photo, the video will range from one to two seconds in length. Although the regular video can be good enough for some people, you’re able to also make some adjustments to your Live Photo in other ways, such as brightness, shadow, and contrast. In addition, there are also ten filter options that you can use to add some personality to your videos.
Afterward, you can send these videos to your friends and family, upload them to a social media platform, add them to one of your Photos app Memories, or even create a longer video with your iPhone.
Create a GIF
To create a GIF with a Live Photo, there are two ways: the iPhone Shortcuts app or your Mac. Here is how to do both.
However, if you prefer using a Mac, here’s how to turn a Live Photo into a GIF with it.
On your Mac, launch the Photos app.
In the left-side column, go to Albums and click Media Types.
Click Live Photos.
Locate the Live Photo you want to turn into a GIF.
On the thumbnail, double-click the Live Photo to open it.
In the upper-right corner of the screen, tap Edit.
In the lower-left corner, tap Live.
Select Loop.
In the upper-right corner, tap Done to confirm your decision.
In the menu bar, click File > Export > Export GIF.
Choose the folder that you want to export your GIF and tap Export.
Aside from making GIFs, there are plenty of otherinteresting things you can do on Apple Photosthat you can also explore.
While similar to Loop, wherein it plays a continuous video, the Bounce Live Photo feature rewinds the video from the end of the video to the beginning. To use the bounce feature with a Live Photo, follow this:
Alternatively, if you’re planning to upload the video on Instagram, another way to get the Bounce effect using a Live Photo is by making a Boomerang via Stories. Here’s how:
Snap long exposure shots
Previously, photographers would use DSLR cameras to snap long exposure shots, which is a fancy way of leaving the shutter open longer than usual to get more light, leading to a certain style of photos. Thankfully, you no longer need a big bulky camera to get this effect becauseiPhones can shoot long exposure shotseasily.
To turn your Live Photo into a long exposure shot, here’s how.
If you want to send your new long-exposure photo to someone (without the behind-the-scenes Live Photo features), you can easily turn it into a still photo.
Alternatively, you can also use third-party apps to get the long exposure shot of your dreams. Afterward, you can send the still photo to other people without worrying about sharing the behind-the-scenes footage. You can opt to keep the original Live Photo or delete it to save storage space.
