Live Photos: An Image That Never Die

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Speaking of Live Photos, Android users might connect it to GIF, which has been long supported on Android phones. However, Live Photos and GIF are of great differences. To be specific, GIF is only a file format while Live Photos is more of an idea in photography.

Live Photos is an outstanding blend of modern technology and humanity. It is a still image but gets dynamic when you tap and hold on the image, just like a dead thing that comes alive in a sudden. That's what makes Live Photos amazing.

The previous post: Manual Exposure and Focus: The Beginning of Your Masterpiece
The upcoming post: HDR: Must-Know About High Dynamic Range Imaging

You can check out Live Photos currently stored on your iPhone. I'm sure there are unforgettable and touching moments behind these still images, for example, a laughter after a serious photo. The idea of iPhone Live Photos is in the hope that we can not only record a precious moment but also keep a period of memory alive along the way.

So, Live Photos is much more than a GIF image.

What's more, Live Photos embraces a big upgrade in iOS 11 with three features coming up. If your iPhone is running iOS 11 and later, you now are able to enjoy three live photo effects.

• Loop takes the 3 seconds of Live Photo animation and fades from the end back to the beginning, so the video plays over and over and over again, in an endless cycle.
• Bounce takes the animation, plays it forward, then plays it back, like a perpetual ricochet.
• Long Exposure takes the animation and shows all frames at once, so motion blurs and light stretches out across the frame.

Loop and Bounce are highly playful and you can try them out with your imagination. Here's let me show you how funny these two effects are. Since the image is of a big size, you can click here to check out the full sized image.

However, Long Exposure is my favorite effect. This effect is able to create a unique visual experience that is able to produce a stream-like effect that makes your photo move like a seamless silk. Yet, Long Exposure is easy to make streams or clouds be a mess of white stuff. Therefore, it may take great efforts and practices to come out a masterpiece with long exposure.

There are also many creative ways to take advantage of Long Exposure as long as you have ideas in your mind. Here let me show you a trick. You can capture a live photo with a rotating umbrella and apply Long Exposure to it. Then, it becomes like such a cool image.

You should keep in mind that you should keep it stable when you capture live photos, or the effects may seem terrible with no luck. To create a desirable artwork, a tripod is always a must.