Specter is an impressive app for iOS and iPadOS, with a photography app like this obviously being the most practical on a smartphone. Freehand long shutter speeds are no longer a problem, even in daylight.
To immediately answer the question that may have arisen: yes, slow shutter speeds in daylight can come in handy in various ways. Think of the recording of flowing water; a slower shutter speed makes the flow ‘visible’ in your photo. Or imagine the situation where there are quite a few people walking around in a square or something similar and you want a more calming shot. No problem: a long shutter speed blurs a crowd of people to such an extent that they can hardly be seen anymore. In the past, all such problems were solved – in daylight – with a neutral density filter. That blocked a lot of light, so you could effortlessly choose a longer exposure without the risk of overexposure of the film.
You can also use the same trick with modern SLRs and the like. It would even work on a smartphone with an app that supports slower shutter speeds (and manual focus). But to walk around with tiny gray filters for a smartphone? Apart from the fact that you will undoubtedly lose those things, it results in far too much tinkering.
spectre
spectre is a photo app for iOS and iPadOS that takes a different approach to the whole slow shutter speed phenomenon. The app takes a whole series of photos within a certain time frame – the simulated shutter speed, so to speak. These are then combined in a very clever way so that exactly the desired effect is created. Of course you can shoot photos with it in the evening and capture the well-known light streaks of speeding cars (or scooters…). But actually, Specter is the nicest – because no hassle – for experimenting with daylight shots combined with a ‘virtual’ slow shutter speed.
The great thing is that all this can be done freehand, with adjustable shutter speeds of up to ten seconds. A good dose of artificial intelligence aligns everything neatly, so that even light vibrations or hand movements don’t throw a spanner in the works.
Shutter speed adjustable
The Specter app costs only €3.99, so you don’t have to worry about that. In the screenshots below, to clarify the controls, see no photo in the picture, by covering the lens it remains clear in that regard. Once the app has started, you can get started right away. The quarter ring at the top right (we assume a horizontal iPhone during the explanation) indicates the simulated shutter speed. Find a piece of running water, or use the shower if necessary. Three seconds is often more than enough to create ‘movement’ in a photographed liquid.
Tap the virtual shutter button and make sure you keep your device steady during the exposure. The tool to the left of the shutter release button – with the text STABLE displayed by default – offers help. If you have really unstable hands, you can choose a wall, tree or other more stable object to hold your phone against. But in most cases that won’t be necessary; a little bit of movement is no problem at all! Once your photo has been taken, you will see a preview; at the same time, a copy is placed on your camera roll.
Light trails (or not)
More control over the photos to be taken is possible. In addition to being able to lengthen the shutter speed, the light trails mentioned at the beginning are also possible. By default, that option – found at the bottom left of an iPhone held horizontally – is set to AUTO. That doesn’t always go well. If you definitely want light trails (or none, of course), tap the light bulb and then tap as desired ON or OFF.
Multiple lenses no problem
It’s also good to see that Specter supports the multiple lenses on your iPhone. Nowadays, thanks to Night Mode on the more recent iPhones, you can take excellent pictures in (twilight) darkness via the main lens; the ultra-wide angle lens is clearly less light sensitive. And then Specter comes in handy! To switch between the lenses, just like with the native iOS camera app, you use the magnification factor stated in the white circle immediately to the left of the stability meter. Furthermore, the exposure can be adjusted from automatic to manual. To do this, tap the little sun at the top left of the screen and use the slider.
Few settings
For enthusiasts, Specter can be tweaked a bit via the settings gear at the top right. Tap it and you can at least go through a guide to shooting tips with the app. Tap on Recording Settings and you will see a switch for capturing Live Photos. These are the short micro-video clips – familiar to iOS users – that are automatically shown when opening a photo in the Photos app. The only other configurable option (first tap < top left of the image) is Siri & Assignments. The options listed below speak for themselves.
Enough options
Every time you have taken a photo, you eventually end up in a photo overview. Tap the downward-facing caret at the top of this overview to return to the camera. The only virtual button that remains is the switch button (right below the motion indicator) with which you switch between the rear and front camera for selfies. For the rest, you don’t have to set anything and you can fully focus on the shooting itself. Besides ‘capturing’ moving water in a still image or filtering out people, there are countless other possibilities. Think, for example, of fireworks, or using Specter during sporting events.
Or go ‘draw’ with a (flash)light in a photo. Where you then decide the option LIGHT TRAILS on ON must put. A final advantage of taking photos with slow shutter speeds in this way is that you hardly suffer from noise. From now on you can also shoot tight-looking, long-exposed photos of street scenes without a ‘big’ camera and accompanying tripod. A child can do the laundry!
Night Mode vs Spectre
And we mentioned that Night Mode of more recent iPhones earlier in this article. The photos that this technique and Specter produce differ. It’s a matter of trying out what you prefer. In any case, Specter provides more control over the effects caused by the slow shutter speeds. While noise also seems less in many cases. On the other hand, Specter sometimes seems to cause some selective blur. In short: experiment, we would say!
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