Live Photos Stories February 12, 2018
Apple today has published three new ads focused on Portrait Lighting on iPhone X, and Live Photos.
Without any narration, the three videos are quick and easy tutorials on how to shoot, and edit Portrait Lighting photos, along with the third demonstrating how to add effects to Live Photos.
Live Photos Stories December 21, 2017
One of my-all time favorite additions to the iPhone’s camera app is Live Photos, the feature that saves a short, 3 second video clip with each photo you take. Playing back Live Photos from an event has always been cumbersome though, requiring you to swipe through each photo and play each clip separately. Now, a new app aims to solve that problem by instantly turning groups of your Live Photos into shareable video clips.
Live Photos Stories April 20, 2017
Apple brings Live Photos to the web with new JavaScript API
Following up on Tumblr’s own implementation of Live Photos for the web, Apple has released an official Live Photos JavaScript API. Developers will now be able to use the API to share Live Photos playback on iOS, macOS, and now the web.
Live Photos Stories March 17, 2017
If you’ve ever taken a Live Photo only to find that the still image selected by the Camera app was just before a beautiful smile, or your slightly wonky horizon is straight in a later frame in the animated version, there’s now an app to fix it.
Google has updated a free app to allow you to play your Live Photo frame-by-frame, and then choose a different frame for the still. Once you select it, you simply export it back into your camera roll as a replacement Live Photo …
Live Photos Stories June 7, 2016
Google’s Motion Stills app turns Live Photos into stable GIFs and movies w/ cinematic backgrounds
Google’s latest photography app — following behind others such as Google Photos and Snapseed — stabilizes iOS Live Photos and turns them into shareable GIFs and short movie clips. The app can create still images by freezing the background of a Live Photo and makes short videos that feature sweeping cinematic pans. The free Motion Stills app comes to us from Google Research and is only available on iOS…
Live Photos Stories March 21, 2016
Apple has officially released the OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan update through the Mac App Store. The software update is available for all Macs capable of running OS X 10.11. The Mac update delivers new features including Live Photo viewing and sharing through iMessage using the Messages app as well as secure password support for individual notes in the Notes app.
Live Photos Stories March 7, 2016
Google Photos already lets users backup and view an unlimited number of high-resolution photos and videos for free, and Google recently added a button that lets users manually purge downloaded content to make room for more free storage. There’s a new update awaiting Google Photos users today that adds support for the latest software and hardware features on iPhones and iPads.
Live Photos Stories February 22, 2016
Apple has released the fourth OS X 10.11.4 preview for registered developers to test ahead of its expected release next month. The software update to the Mac will likely be released around next month’s March 15th event and is expected to coincide with a new version of iTunes. For Mac users, the latest version of OS X El Capitan adds enhancements like being able to view and share Live Photos originally taken on the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus as well as the ability to lock notes behind a secure password. We’re check out the latest beta and update with any changes.
Live Photos Stories February 17, 2016
Apple today has debuted a pair of new ads for its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The two ads, one simply titled “Live Photos” and the other titled “Less Time,” are fast-paced 30 second spots that quickly jump between using a pair of features that differentiate the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus from their predecessors…
Live Photos Stories February 10, 2016
Apple has released the third OS X 10.11.4 public beta for non-developer testers. Public beta testers running the El Capitan pre-release can find the new software update through the Mac App Store. The latest public beta update follows the third developer beta of the same update earlier this week. Apple has also released a second OS X 10.11.4 beta 3 build (15E39c to 15E39d) for developers as well.
Live Photos Stories January 25, 2016
The second OS X 10.11.4 beta preview is now available via the Mac App Store for testing. The first version of this El Capitan beta added new features including Live Photo viewing and sharing through iMessage using the Messages app as well as secure password support for individual notes in the Notes app. We’ll check out the latest beta version of the upcoming release and highlight any changes below.
Live Photos Stories January 13, 2016
Sharing and viewing Live Photos shot on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus on the Mac has been tricky if not impossible until now. Previously the enhanced photos could only be viewed in Apple’s Photos app on the Mac, which limited sharing to iCloud Photo Sharing. Starting with the new OS X 10.11.4 beta released earlier this week, Live Photos can now be shared and viewed over iMessage using Messages on the Mac for the first time.
Live Photos Stories December 21, 2015
When Apple introduced the new Live Photos feature on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus back in September, Phil Schiller said on stage that Facebook was committed to supporting the new photo format by the end of the year. Facebook has now shared that it will begin letting a small number of users share Live Photos on the social network from today with a general roll out planned next year.
Live Photos Stories December 10, 2015
Apple has allowed developers to support sharing Live Photos in their own apps since iOS 9.1, and Tumblr appears to be the first major social network to take advantage of the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus feature Tumblr 5.0 for iOS was released today and supports sharing the new animated photos, 3D Touch within the app, and a few other goodies.
Live Photos Stories October 26, 2015
Apple shares another new iPhone 6s ad starring NBA MVP Steph Curry [Video]
Just a day after sharing three new advertisements for its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple this evening has unveiled yet another. Today’s new ad features Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry showing off Live Photos.
The ad shows Curry shooting a half-court shot while a teammate watches and snaps a photo right after Curry releases the ball. The two then use the Live Photos feature of iPhone 6s to view the image. Live Photos is the iPhone 6s capability that automatically records a short snippet of time before and after taking the actual image. In this case, it allows us to see Curry’s release as well as his reaction when the shot goes in.
Yesterday’s ads showed off the “Hey Siri” and camera features of iPhone 6s. Curry also made an appearance in one of these, using the slo-mo recording capabilities of the device.
You can view today’s new ad entitled “Half court” below:
Live Photos Stories October 22, 2015
Instagram takes on Apple’s Live Photos with new 1-second video loop app, Boomerang
Instagram is expanding its range of apps further today by introducing a new video-looping service to rival the likes of HTC Zoe and the iPhone’s baked-in Live Photos. Boomerang takes a quick burst of photos in-app, and then turns them in to a moving photo, or video, that loops forward and backward. Don’t call it a GIF though, it’s a Boomerang…
Live Photos Stories October 21, 2015
Apple is out with a new update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch today, the official iOS 9.1 release. For most users, a collection of new emoji characters including a taco, unicorn, and yes, a middle finger is the most notable new feature within the update. Apple has also tweaked its three planetary wallpapers and developer support for Live Photos as well as improvements to the capture experience. expand full story
Live Photos Stories October 15, 2015
With the debut of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus last month, Apple introduced several new features that are exclusive to the latest iPhone hardware. However, as in previous years, the recent release of a jailbreak for iOS 9 has allowed some of these features to be activated on older devices without requiring a new iPhone.
While you won’t be able to get things like the increased performance afforded by the A9 chip or the ability to record 4K video, you will be able to get a few strictly software-based features. Keep reading to learn how to enable 3D Touch shortcuts on your Home screen and Live Photos in the Camera app.
Turn your Live Photos into GIFs with new Live GIF app
Live Photos is one of the stand-out new features on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It captures a short video while you’re taking pictures, which you can then watch back, and interact with using 3D Touch on your Lock Screen. Today, a company named Priime launched a new app which makes them easily shareable and viewable with anyone, regardless of device or platform.
Live GIF is the first app of its kind and lets any iPhone 6s or 6s Plus user turn their Live Photos in to GIFs which can then be shared by MMS, email, or shared on social media. The best part is, it doesn’t really require much setting up. Launch the app and it automatically detects any Live Photos on your phone, displays them in a grid (as shown below). Once you’ve picked one to share, you can choose either to ‘share as GIF’ or ‘share as video’, then select which service you want to share them on, and you’re done.
As you’d expect, Live GIF also supports 3D Touch. On the home screen, this lets you quickly open the last Live Photo and turn it in to a GIF immediately.
Live GIF is available to download from the App Store from today, and costs just $1.99. The app is compatible with any device running iOS 9.0 or later including iPhone 5s, 6, 6 Plus and the new 6s and 6s Plus as well as several iPad models.
Live Photos Stories October 2, 2015
Linked to this still iPhone 6s Plus photo are both motion and audio that further capture the moment
Linked to this still iPhone 6s Plus photo are both motion and audio that further capture the moment
Live Photos aren’t perfect. The video shot in a Live Photo is a mediocre 12 frames per second, compared to the 30fps iPhones generally capture. Low-light photos are noticeably less vibrant when Live Photos are enabled. Shoot a Live Photo in the wrong orientation then rotate it, and you’ll revert back to a standard photo. Sharing Live Photos is fairly fragmented by Apple standards, even on Macs running the latest versions of OS X El Capitan. And it’s not easy to frame the perfect Live Photo; great ones tend to happen by chance, not technique.
But despite obvious day one omissions in the Live Photo experience, I’m honestly quite surprised at just how much I appreciate the new iPhone 6s/6s Plus feature. Using my iPhone 6s Plus for a full week now, my take on Live Photos has evolved from “curious but confused” to “I get it but when should I use it?” to wishing I had Live Photos years ago. Read on for how I believe Apple can improve the Live Photos experience and how the new iPhone 6s feature has changed my approach to shooting photos and videos… expand full story
Live Photos Stories September 28, 2015
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have new cameras on the front and rear as well as featuring the new Live Photos mode, a combination of photo and short 3 second video, which is enabled by default. The quality of both cameras has been considerably improved, beyond the raw increase to 12-megapixel back camera and 5 megapixel front camera.
However, there have been some reports of customers getting grainy, bad photos on the new iPhone 6s in low-light scenarios, despite Apple touting the new cameras’ improved low-light performance. Whilst its true that you will always get better-looking shots in well-lit environments, it turns out that having Live Photos enabled significantly impacts the photo quality in dark shots. Why?
Live Photos Stories September 25, 2015
Ben’s six hours ahead of me in the UK and had fallen in love with his iPhone 6s before I rolled out of bed, but UPS held my iPhone 6s Plus as requested so I was able to pick it up and spend the morning trying it out before the usual evening delivery. 3D Touch, Live Photos, 4K video, 60 fps 1080p video, faster hardware… it’s all great, but moving from the 4.7-inch screen to the 5.5-inch screen is the real reason I upgraded.
I moved from 2-year commitments to AT&T Next last year so the upgrade process was mostly painless. I would have used Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Plan if it weren’t for the need to complete the process at the Apple Store; that’s a 90 minute drive compared to the UPS center 10 minutes away, but maybe next year they’ll support web orders.
That being said, the move from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 6s Plus is a dramatic one even before you consider the new features and enhancements. I also opted for space gray after trying gold for a year; my wife naturally picked rose gold while making the same switch from iPhone 6 to iPhone 6s Plus. So what’s changed year over year for iPhone and how does that new finish look in the real world? Read on for answers… expand full story
Live Photos Stories September 22, 2015
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are launching in just four days time and right on schedule the embargo on reviews have been lifted. Apple is touting the new phones as major updates over the 6 and 6 Plus, with 12-megapixel camera and 4K video recording, ‘3D Touch’ pressure-sensitive display to enable quick actions across the OS, Live Photos and more. We’ve already seen an early hands on with the iPhone 6s thanks to an early delivery but now the official tech reviews are live.
So what’s the verdict? We’ve rounded up the highlights below from those lucky enough to get the phones early …
Live Photos Stories September 15, 2015
After announcing new iPhones and iPads plus an updated Apple TV in San Francisco last week, Tim Cook is taking a slight victory lap in New York City with a media blitz that leads to an interview with Stephen Colbert tonight on CBS’s The Late Show. Before a surprise visit yesterday at NYC’s iconic Fifth Ave store with Eddy Cue, the Apple CEO gave a quick interview with Buzzfeed. In it he told John Paczkowski that his Apple Store visit really is a surprise to everyone.
“I almost always go in unannounced,” he says. “It’s rare that I tell anyone that I’m going. But I do try to go to stores every time I’m traveling to a new city. It’s important.”
Cook also discussed the privacy implications of an always-listening Siri, what he likes best about the iPhone 6s, and even the possibility of being able to delete system apps in the future…
