{"id":54961,"date":"2019-01-08T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adorama.com\/alc\/?p=54961"},"modified":"2019-01-07T14:48:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-07T19:48:10","slug":"how-to-convert-live-iphone-photos-into-footage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adorama.com\/alc\/how-to-convert-live-iphone-photos-into-footage\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Convert Live iPhone Photos Into Video Footage"},"content":{"rendered":"

When visiting Cape May for my 30th birthday, I left my camera at home with a dedicated focus on rest and relaxation. That said, I did<\/em> bring the DJI Spark<\/a> I\u2019d been dying (but too nervous) to fly. I gave it a whirl and, upon returning home, quickly realized I couldn\u2019t just let the footage lie. I needed to create some sort of video just to play around with my newfound love for aerial videography. The thing is, I had absolutely zero videos \u2014 even on my iPhone.<\/p>\n

But I did have photos. Live<\/em> photos, to be exact.<\/p>\n

Since live photos record the scene 1.5 seconds before and after the photo, they\u2019re basically recording footage; I just had to figure out how to access it. While much trickier than it should be, I uncovered the full three-second clips to put together a fun, informal video of my 30th birthday weekend. If you’re looking to cobble together some informal clips \u2014 or have footage in your live photos you’d love to incorporate in your films \u2014 here are three quick ways you can use live photos as footage.<\/p>\n

1. Use your Mac\u2019s Image Capture feature<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While this is hardly the easiest of options, I personally find it the most efficient when I\u2019m doing a bulk footage upload. Connect your phone to your Mac with an Apple-approved cord (off-brand cords almost never work).<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re connected, find \u201cImage Capture\u201d in your Applications tab. This is more of a back-end way to access the files on your iPhone (a huge time saver when you\u2019re trying to transfer bigger movie files). From here, it\u2019s pretty simple: Find all the live photos you want to download as movie files; click the .mov files and drag them to your desktop or preferred hard drive. <\/p>\n

2. Export from Photos<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This is a great, cord-free option for exporting your live photos as video files. It\u2019s also pretty simple. Once you\u2019re in your Mac\u2019s Photos app, click on your photo(s), followed by file > export > export unmodified original. The unmodified original file is .mov, which \u2014 voila! \u2014 gives you a three-second video.<\/p>\n

3. Use Google Photos<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Of course, after finally figuring out my Mac\u2019s live photo to video features, I stumbled upon Google Photos\u2019<\/a> capabilities \u2014 and… wow<\/em>. Their platform not only lets users download live photos as movies; it also offers stabilization features to help these often rough three-second shots look cleaner and more polished.<\/p>\n

Should live photos replace video?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Simply said: no. Yes, the fact that I was able to make a one-minute video out of just<\/em> live photos (plus some trial drone footage) still amazes me. I always overshoot as it is, but realizing I was overshooting without even knowing I was overshooting? That\u2019s my kind of footage safety net.<\/p>\n

But live photos are hardly on par with true footage. In the future, if I have even an inkling that I\u2019ll be creating a video for, say, a weekend getaway, I\u2019m going to capture iPhone video versus live photos. The iPhone\u2019s video capabilities are pretty incredible<\/a> \u2014 think variety such as 24fps or 60fps, not to mention 4K! \u2014 and I would have loved to be able to slow down the footage in post or crop in on certain frames (while retaining quality).<\/p>\n

Of course, at the end of the day I didn’t go to Cape May to shoot a birthday film. I went to celebrate my birthday, and just so happened to be lucky enough to leave the shore with a handful of three-second “movies” that will help me remember this milestone weekend forever, in photo and <\/em>video form.<\/p>\n