Capture a Live Astro Photo
by Humanoido
It's alive!!! Apple has introduced several new iPhone cameras and software that changes everything when it comes to taking a photo and doing astronomical imaging! It's called Live Photos and the reality of this new kind of photo is it holds enough photos to make a 1.5 second video and has many other useful tricks.
This is a spectacular boon for astro imaging the Moon and planets as a single best shot can be chosen or several best shots extracted and summed into one more perfect image. It's one way of shooting through those pesky sky conditions when the blurring atmospheric seeing conditions clear for only a fraction of a second. Doing Astro Live Photo imaging changes the game for the better, making imaging through your telescope far more easy. It can sidestep the other lengthy procedures of image processing.
What is Live Photos?
Live Photos is an iPhone camera feature that brings your photos to life by creating a moving image. Instead of freezing a moment in time, you can now capture a Live Photo with movement and sound. iPhone Live Photos can be converted into stunning long exposure images. A Live Photo captures 1.5 seconds of video and audio both before and after you press the shutter button to take a photo. As well as a high quality still JPEG image, you also get a 3 second Live Photo with sound. When you play a Live Photo, you don’t see the still image that you took when you pressed the shutter button. Instead, you’ll see a 3 second moving image. When you shoot a Live Photo, the iPhone also captures a still image. This lets you relive those moments before and after you took the photo.
Phones and OS Working with Live Photo
You can only shoot a Live Photo with the iPhone 6s/6s Plus or newer. But you can share them to older iPhones or an iPad as long as that device is running iOS 9 or later. The Live Photo feature is available on the following iPhones:
iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X
iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR
How it Works
How does the iPhone know to record video for the 1.5 seconds before you press the shutter button? With Live Photos enabled, the built-in camera app starts recording video as soon as you open the app. So when you press the shutter button, your iPhone has already captured the 1.5 seconds before the shot. It saves this footage along with the 1.5 seconds following the image capture. Your iPhone discards all other video footage captured before and after those 1.5 seconds. So you don’t need to worry that the constant video recording will fill up your iPhone’s storage.
How To Switch On Live Photo
Start by opening the built-in camera app, and set the shooting mode to Photo. You can’t shoot Live Photos in any of the other shooting modes. The Live Photos setting is the round icon shown on the top of the screenshot below. If the icon is yellow, Live Photos is on. If the icon is white, tap it once to turn on Live Photos.
Live Photos is on by default, but you can switch it off at any time by tapping the yellow Live Photos icon. When you switch on Live Photos, the word “Live” appears in a yellow box as shown. This will disappear after a couple of seconds.
Video StartingRemember that the 1.5 seconds of video starts before you press the shutter button. So make sure you compose your shot and hold it there for a couple of seconds before you press the shutter. If you don’t do this, the first part of your Live Photo will be of you moving the camera to frame the shot. Likewise, your iPhone will record video for 1.5 seconds after you’ve pressed the shutter. So make sure you keep your phone still for a couple of seconds after taking the shot.
Live Photo Audio
Live Photos capture audio as well as video. So you’ll hear any sound in your Live Photo when you play it back.
Turn Off Live Photo
When you no longer want to shoot Live Photos, switch off the Live Photos feature so that the icon turns white.
How to View on an Older iPhone Model
View Live Photos on an older iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that can run iOS 9 or later. Find the Live Photo you want to view. Touch and hold the photo to animate it.
How to view Live Photos on a newer iPhone model
View a Live Photo on Apple's current-generation iPhone models, see list. Launch the Photos app from your Home screen. Find the Live Photo you want to view. Press firmly on the photo to animate it. It will blur for just a second and then start to play.
Live Photos take up a lot of storage space on your iPhone. So if you leave it on for every shot you may find that your phone becomes full.
Processing
Processing your live images is easy with Apple's free Photo, a program on iMac computers and an app on iPhones. You can edit Live Photos in the Photos app in a similar way to editing still images. For Live Photos there are some extra editing tools. When you open a Live Photo, tap Edit at the top right of the screen. The editing tools will appear. Crop and rotate, apply a filter, or make lighting and color adjustments. The wand icon is an autocorrect option for enhancing exposure and color with a single tap.
Change the Key Photo
You can change the key photo (the one you see in your photo library) using the slider at the bottom of the screen. Move the slider until you find the image you want. Tap Make Key Photo to confirm your choice: A white dot will appear over your chosen photo. A grey dot appears over the original key photo in case you ever want to go back to it. When you’ve finished editing your Live Photo, tap Done to save the changes. If you want to remove the editing you applied, you can revert back to the original Live Photo at any time. In the Photos app, find the Live Photo you want to revert, tap Edit, then tap Revert. On the message that appears, tap Revert to Original. Another option under the Edit facility is to switch from a Live Photo to a still image (without making any edits). When you’re viewing a Live Photo, tap Edit, then tap the yellow Live Photos icon to convert it to a still image. The icon will turn white to show that it’s no longer a Live Photo. Tap Done to confirm.
Special Effects
Since iOS 11, you can apply three special effects to your Live Photos: Loop, Bounce and Long Exposure.
Long Exposure
The Long Exposure option creates a photo with a slow shutter effect. It overlays all the video frames from your Live Photo to create a single image. Long exposure with scenes that include movement will blur the motion. With a telescope, make sure tracking in on and the image is ultimately stable. This ensures that the stationary parts of the scene remain sharp in the final image. Long exposures should lessen image noise.
Turn a Live Photo into a GIF
There's no longer the need for a GIF creator app. You can do it all right in the Photos app! Launch the Photos app from your Home screen. Find and tap the Live Photo you'd like to turn into a GIF. Swipe up on the center of the screen to reveal the animation options. Tap Loop if you'd like to loop the Live Photo as a GIF.
How to Extract a Still Shot from a Live Photo
If you want the still photo only, you can make a copy. Open the Photos app. Select the Live Photo you want to extract a still shot from. Tap the Share icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. Tap Duplicate in the option tray at the bottom of the screen. Tap Duplicate as Still Photo. A copy of the still photo will appear in your library right next to the original Live Photo. You can delete the Live Photo if you no longer want it to take up storage on your iPhone.
Links
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207310
