How to Master Long Exposure on the iPhone using Live View

Capture the vibrant energy of motion at festivals and amusement parks

Long exposure of ride at the Tamale Festival in Indio, California.

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Using Live View on an iPhone has many advantages. One is that you can take a shot using it and then have a choice of viewing the image in your photo album in a number of ways, including transforming the photo into a long exposure to capture motion.

I arrived at the International Tamale Festival late on a Sunday afternoon, just before dusk. The almost winter sun moved down, and before I knew it, yellow light had been scattering and reflecting on the booths, the entertainment, and the people munching on every kind of tamale you can think of. I intended to eat tamales, too.

Long exposrue of a ride at the Riverside Date Festival in Indio, CA. Photo by Matthew Bamberg

Suddenly, my heartbeat increased rapidly. The beat chimed with a memory of my visiting Indio once many years before with my dSLR Canon 5D camera and tripod. I had shot long exposures at the Riverside Date Festival to catch the surreal motion of amusement park rides as they swirl and heave people up, down, and all around. The image above displays one of those big fat camera besties I shot used before. I capture the motion's thrill by using a tripod and setting the camera to f/22 for a long exposure of about 15 seconds.

OMG, I thought. There are rides here, and movement is ideal for slow shutter speeds, showing gorgeous twirling motion. I became ecstatic. At first, I tried to eat my first tamale while photographing. Multitasking photoing and eating at an event isn’t recommended. After two shots, I handed the tamale to my partner, who had been listening to a vocalist belting away Spanish tunes, and ran off to shoot.