iPhone - Taming Those Unwanted Video Clips

This is a post for iPhone/iPad photographers among you (the base Android camera app does not have this feature).

1 or 2 of you are bothered by little video files that keep on getting created when you are trying to take still photos. They are created by “Live Photos”, a design feature of the iPhone/iPad camera that is switched on by default.

Live Photos

With Live Photos, your iPhone records what happens 1.5 seconds before and 1.5 seconds after you've taken a picture.  The intention is not necessarily to create a 3 second video (useless in itself) but to record multiple picture frames in the hope that one of them will contain that decisive moment you were after. It assumes therefore that you are going to do something to convert it to a still image after taking it.

This approach is more suited to the “happy snapper” rather than anyone who wants to be creative (though there is 1 creative use I will describe later). This post has 3 parts to show you:

  1. How to switch it off (and, more importantly, keep it switched off!)

  2. How to convert these videos to the still image you originally wanted.

  3. One creative use I have found for it - creating pseudo long exposures.

Switching “Live Photos” Off

Switching it Off

Switching “Live Photos” off is relatively easy: simply touch the Live Photo control in the top right of the camera screen to toggle it on or off. A line through the symbol indicates it is switched off (until you next reopen the camera). See the image above.

You can switch it on or off during a photo session.

Keeping it Switched Off

The iPhone controls (by default) have a nasty habit of switching themselves back on (or off) each time you open the camera app but we can change that!

  • Open the iPhone Settings App

  • Scroll down to Camera

  • Select “Preserve Settings

  • Scroll down to the bottom and make sure the button against Live Photo is switched on. (seethe highlight in the image below)

This means that Live Photo remains on or off depending on what it was last set at. Most importantly it remembers between photo sessions that you want it switched off.

Converting Live Photo Videos to Still (jpg) Photos

There are 3 stages:

  1. Select which Frame you want to keep

  2. Duplicate the image

  3. Delete the (video) original

To Select the Key Frame

In the iPhone Photos App

  • Open the Live Photo video you are interested in

  • Touch “Edit” (Top right of the screen)

  • Touch Live (at left of row of icons at the bottom of your screen)

  • You should now see a row of film frames, with a white frame in the centre, and the word Live in yellow (see image)

  • To select the Frame:

    • Move the white frame left or right until you see the frame you prefer.

    • Lift your finger off - and a button “Make Key Photo” appears just above the white frame.

    • Touch that button.

    • Touch Done (Yellow button top right of screen)

To Save as Still Photo

In the iPhone Photos App

  • Open the video you are interested in (if it is not already visible).

  • Touch the menu icon (3 horizontal dots in a circle, top right of the screen)

  • Touch Duplicate

  • Touch Duplicate as Still Photo

To Delete the Original

  • Open the video you are interested in (if it is not already visible).

  • Touch Dustbin icon (bottom right of the Screen)

  • Touch Delete Photo

Creative Use - Long Exposure Image

This image was created as a “Live Photo” of branches moving in the wind. Each individual frame was sharp but I wanted to get a sense of movement. I wanted a long exposure.

In the iPhone Photos App

  • Open the Live Photo video you are interested in

  • Touch the button LIVE (in the top left) to drop down a selection menu

    • Select Long Exposure

The frames of the video sequence are now meged together to blur all the moving items.

The resulting file is still a video format (HEIC) but it appears as a static file when opened in other applications including Google Photos.

I have read that it is possible to use this to create vehicle light trails and to remove moving people from a street scene but I have yet to test those ideas.

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