How to take great photos at slow shutter speeds, using the iPhone and Slow Shutter Cam app
January 29, 2016
Blurred night lights, shooting stars or beautiful pictures of fast rivers and waterfalls – all of this can be achieved with slow shutter speed that you use on your camera. Today I will tell and show you how to make awesome blurred photos with your iPhone.
The shutter speed of the camera helps to ensure a blur on pictures, therefore you should pay special attention to exposure. The shutter time is measured in seconds and the standard response value range from 1/50 to 1/500 seconds. Accordingly, the greater the number by which you divide, the faster shutter. Anyhow, today we will not dwell on small numbers – to shoot with right blur values should be greater than 1/10. And Slow Shutter Cam app can easily handle with this task.
The main rule when shooting at slow shutter speeds is the mandatory presence of a tripod. Even the slightest displacement of the starting shooting point will certainly spoil the shot. Therefore, we recommend to get a good tripod for the most “accurate” blurry shots.
The first thing you need is to deal with the application that helps to set the shutter speed for our tasks – Slowshutter. The main screen of the program contains no so many icons, so it will be easy to explore every option.
The main menu is hidden under the icon that looks similar to the petals of the diaphragm of the camera. By clicking on it, you will see the blur settings, a stream of light and shooting in low light. The last two options are more suitable for night shooting, for now we need only the first – motion blur. Here you will find two sliders – the blur strength and capture duration. First, I usually change only in the case of taking pictures of people – in this case it is better to set it to Low. For the rest, just leave Medium or High. As for the Capture Duration it depending on few factors, if I have a tripod or not – the better fixed an iPhone, the higher the shutter speed. In the settings there is even a Manual mode, in which the shutter closes only when you press the shutter button for a second time – this option is more suitable for lovers of night photographs, because the shutter speed can be set for a few tens of minutes and you will get great shots. Most important is to not touch the iPhone.
Experiment with values, spend more time and make more shots – each of them can be in its own way beautiful. Even seemingly ordinary photo of the road becomes more interesting if you take it with Slowshutter.
You can download the Slow Shutter Cam Application from the App Store.