HOW TO

Capture Light Trails at Night

Tap for 5 easy steps to creating a stunning long-exposure shot.

Slow Shutter Cam

Long Exposure Photography

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The river of red taillights on a highway. The wispy white streaks of a plane’s navigation lights crossing the sky. You’ve probably seen light-trail photos like these in travel magazines or on social media. What you might not realize is how easy they are to capture.

The technique is called long-exposure photography—the practice of leaving the camera shutter open for seconds or even minutes at a time.

To pull this off with your device, all you need is an app like Slow Shutter Cam and a tripod or other stable surface to steady your phone. From there, follow these steps:

Launch Slow Shutter Camand tap the settings icon (it’s the gear in the bottom left corner of the screen).

Tap Light Trail and move the shutter speed slider all the way right until it says Bulb. This will let you manually control when the shutter opens and closes.

Frame your photo. When you’re ready, tap the shutter button to start capturing. To get a photo like the one above, you’ll need to use a tripod or prop your iPhone on something steady.

To end the capture, tap the shutter button.

If you’re happy with the result, tap Save.

Don’t be afraid to shoot from different angles and play around with your settings. Experimenting is part of the fun—and essential to capturing a share-worthy shot.

Slow Shutter Cam

Long Exposure Photography