Shoot long exposures with Slow Shutter Cam

Unleash your creativity by making the most of night-time photography

this technique shows moving light sources as beautiful trails

IN conventional cameras, the shutter is the bit that opens and closes to let light hit the sensor. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter and blurrier an image. In iOS’s built-in Camera app, the device sets a shutter speed automatically. This works out great most of the time, but in challenging environments, such as at night, it can be a struggle to get the desired result.

Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to photographing light trails. Long exposures at night record moving light sources as beautiful light trails – but only if you’re able to set your camera to shoot an exposure that lasts for a few seconds or longer. This is where Slow Shutter Cam ($1.99) comes in. It allows you to set a shutter speed from a quarter of a second up to 60 seconds, and even allows you to set a “bulb” exposure, where the sensor records for the whole duration that you press the shutter button. In this tutorial we concentrate on light trail images, but Slow Shutter Cam offers loads of options. For example, tap the menu icon (bottom right) and you can choose to save images as higher quality TIFF or PNG files. Or, if you simply want to take steady images, the app’s Low Light mode (cog icon bottom left), can help you out.

To take good long exposures, you’re going to need a tripod. Of course, this means you’ll also need to invest in a way to secure your iPhone or iPod touch to it. For this, we recommend the Glif mount ($30, studioneat.com), the width of which can be adjusted to fit different sizes of iOS device.

Finally, you need to find a place with light trails to capture. Highways are the cliché we’ve opted for here, though there are plenty of other scenarios you can use to experiment: kids waving sparklers, fireworks displays, and busy waterways at night are all options that should inspire you to get creative.