How to Create Motion Blur with the Moment Pro Camera App

Last Updated: September 19, 2023

What is slow shutter? It’s how you add the illusion of motion to your photography. Set your tripod, open the shutter, and stop when you have the shot.

Natalie (Allen) Carrasco natalieallenco

Motion blur is an exciting visual depiction of movement within a photograph. Capture stunning results of a lady on a surfboard, a man on a bike, a dog on a leash, or a lizard on a skateboard with a buttery blur behind your subject. And yes, you can easily capture such effects on a phone.

The Moment Pro Camera App provides advanced features to mimic a big mirrorless camera or DSLR in the palm of your hand. One of the most beloved tools is the shutter speed adjustment for any and all motion blur tactics — a resource responsible for changing the brightness of your photos and creating exciting, dramatic effects with movement. Understanding the basic fundamentals of shutter speed is crucial for any beginner photographer, especially for the topic we chose to discuss in this article.

However, in addition to manually controlling shutter speed to create motion blur, we’ve added a popular feature: “Slow Shutter.” What is a slow shutter? It’s how you add the illusion of motion to your photography. Set your tripod, open the shutter, and stop when you have the shot. The end result is a new kind of Live Photo that you can review on your phone and then export as a beautiful photo or short video. You can manually change the setting to “Slow Shutter” in the right-hand corner of the app.

Like everything we do with Pro Camera, we give you the manual control to pick your type of blur and select how long you expose the shot. We have two kinds of image blur.

Motion blur adds a smooth motion blur effect; it can be used to emphasize the path of moving subjects or to smooth running water.
Light trails, on the other hand, draw streams of light coming from moving subjects in the scene; they can be used to capture trails of cars on a night highway or the chaotic path of exploding fireworks.

When you’re done, we save your images to your camera library as a Live Photo. Press and hold to see what you shot, or export it in the final format you want.

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Light Trail Photography 06 — Photo By: Taylor Pendelton

Light Trail Photography 10 — Motion blur.

How To Pick Your Shutter Speed

Here’s how to pick your shutter speed if you’re adjusting the shutter manually within our app.

Defined at its most basic level, the “shutter speed” refers to when the camera’s shutter is open. Think of it as the length of time your image sensor ‘sees’ the scene you’re attempting to capture. You’ll see numbers displayed on your DSLR on the manual turn dial that looks something like this:

1”
1/14
1/60
1/250
1/100
1/1000, etc.

In the Moment Pro Camera App, the numbers range from 1/4 to 1/50,000.

These numbers are measured in fractions of seconds. The larger the denominator, the fast the shutter. Likewise — the lower the denominator, the slower the shutter takes a picture to allow necessary light for low-light images. When using a shutter speed of anything lower than 1/60, you’ll most likely need a tripod to reduce the lack of blur in your photos. However, a tripod isn't always necessary if you’re using a device with a camera stabilizer (like the iPhone!).

How to Create Motion Blur with the Moment Camera App — Photo By: Taylor Pendleton

How To Use Panning

One way to get creative with the shutter speed in times of action is to pan the subject. Panning is when the photographer moves the camera alongside the subject during the exposure. This often results in a creamy motion blur, yet the subject stays sharp as a tack (well, mostly). Panning is best for high-speed action shots that require an extra push. Getting good at panning can take several practice runs, but — boy, is it fun!

The proper shutter speed for this type of photography is best set at a lower shutter ratio on the Moment Camera Pro, such as 1/70 - 1/100.

For an extra effect, use the Moment Wide Lens to expand the scene and draw the viewer deeper into the photo.

Moment

18mm Wide Mobile Lens | M-Series

Arguably our most recognized product. The Moment 18mm Wide Lens captures beautiful clear wide images and video on iPhone, Pixel, or Galaxy camera phones.

Buy for $104.99

Try Burst Mode

Tried shooting action? Have you ever missed a moment when capturing those split-second movements? Try burst mode. Burst mode is shooting at a continuous high speed. Within burst mode, several photographs are captured in quick succession by either pressing by holding the shutter button down. This feature is mainly used when capturing successive motions, such as in sports photography. The photographer can then select the best image of the group or arrange them in a sequence to study the transitions in detail.

When shooting in Burst Mode, you don’t have all the time to worry about what the shot will look like; it’s FAST moving. Instead, you must do all of your thinking before you take the shot. Visualize your final result, consider proper camera settings, and steadfast a pose for excellent composition before you fire away. When visualizing your final image (in photography, this is called pre-visualization), start by making important decisions.

How to Create Motion Blur with the Moment Pro Camera App - Woman standing in the street with people walking around her.

How To Get Started With Moment Pro Camera App

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