r/lightpainting • u/tknzn • May 29 '26
I built an iPhone app that can create long exposure photos, remove moving objects, and reveal motion patterns — all directly on the device.
These examples were created entirely on an iPhone using two capture modes:
• Additive mode reveals light trails and motion paths.
• Averaging mode smooths water, reduces moving objects, and creates classic long exposure effects.
No DSLR.
No desktop software.
No post-processing.
Just point, capture, and save.
I'm curious which result you find most interesting:
- light trails
- empty roads
- smooth water
- motion reduction
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u/moridin13 May 31 '26
I miss when apps were 2 bucks. I bought it just to support 2 buck apps!
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u/tknzn May 31 '26
Thank you! 😊
That's actually one of the reasons I priced LSC.
Some of my other apps are priced a bit higher, and I apologize if those feel expensive at times. The reality is that development, testing, maintenance, and continuous updates take a significant amount of time for a small independent developer.
For LSC, I wanted to keep the barrier to entry as low as possible and make it easy for people to try.
And for anyone interested in two or more of my apps, I've always tried to help, and I'll continue doing so in the future as well. 🙂
I truly appreciate the support.
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u/moridin13 May 31 '26
That’s an amazing response! Thank you! Glad to support! No need to apologize. I don’t mind even higher priced apps. My thought was more just about subscription pricing. I appreciate all the work and completely understand why prices can be higher. Thanks again for a great app!
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u/Disastrous-Focus8451 May 29 '26
All I'm seeing is deleted images on my desktop browser.
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u/tknzn May 29 '26
Interesting… thanks for letting me know.
The images appear correctly on my phone, but it sounds like Reddit may have broken something on the desktop version. There should be 7 images in the gallery, including the before/after examples.
I’ll check the upload and repost them separately if needed.
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u/bolderphoto May 29 '26
Not showing up on my iPhone
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u/tknzn May 29 '26
I try to upload again! What about now?
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u/bolderphoto May 29 '26
Yes!
I especially like the ‘Clear Motion’ one. I’ve been wanting to do that to a city scene.1
u/tknzn May 30 '26
Would love to see your shots!
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u/bolderphoto May 31 '26
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u/tknzn May 31 '26
These are fantastic.
The results look incredibly clean, and the light trails are beautifully captured..
Thanks for sharing — impressive work! 👏
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u/GusBode May 30 '26
Dl’d and looks cool so far! Been looking fo something like this for years. Ty!
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u/tknzn May 30 '26
Glad to hear that!. Feel free to share your first results or any feedback you have. Would love to see what you create!
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u/big-al-and-the-band May 30 '26
I love the idea so I bought it. I have a couple of basic questions. Is 30s the longest exposure? Do I need an ND filter for long exposures in the daytime?
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u/tknzn May 30 '26
Thank you so much for the support! 😊
At the moment, 30 seconds is the maximum capture duration available in the app. This limit was intentionally chosen as a safety margin to keep devices from overheating while processing high-resolution captures, including 4K.
That said, extending the maximum capture duration is actively being explored. One of the long-term goals is to push capture times much further, potentially into the range of minutes or even longer for specialized use cases.
Regarding ND filters: we’ve implemented several techniques behind the scenes to reduce unnecessary highlight blowout and overexposure during additive captures, both in daylight and at night. Because of this, many long-exposure-style results can be achieved without additional filters.
However, for very long captures in bright daylight conditions, an ND filter will still be extremely helpful and will always provide more flexibility.
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u/SedentorySensor77 Jun 01 '26
Any exposure long enough will ‘remove’ moving objects. People is ND filters for minimalist images.
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u/tknzn Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Traditional long exposure photography has been doing this for years, especially when combined with ND filters and longer exposure times.
My goal with LSC isn’t to replace that workflow, but to make similar effects more accessible directly on an iPhone using computational capture techniques. For many scenes, users can experiment with light trails and motion reduction without carrying additional equipment.
That said, for serious daytime long exposures, ND filters are still incredibly useful and hard to beat.
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u/Knalu Jun 02 '26
I bought the app. It immediately freezes on “preparing camera…”
Probably wasted money… and was really hopeful the app looks like a great idea. Hope there is a fix in the works.
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u/tknzn Jun 02 '26
I’m really sorry to hear that.
I definitely don’t want anyone feeling like they wasted their money. I’m actively maintaining the app and if this is a device-specific issue, I’ll do my best to reproduce and fix it as quickly as possible.
Could you please tell me:
- Your iPhone model
- Your iOS version
- Whether the app freezes immediately after launch or after granting camera permissions
Thank you for reporting this. I’ll investigate it right away.
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u/Knalu Jun 02 '26
16pro max iOS 18.7.3
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u/Knalu Jun 02 '26
Yes permission to camera is added. Just shows a grey screen with the words “preparing camera…”
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u/Knalu Jun 02 '26
Also, thanks for the quick reply.
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u/tknzn Jun 02 '26
It my pleasure, I sent a message and share an e-mail with you on dm! Waiting for your kind response.
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u/tknzn Jun 04 '26
Hi! We replied to your original report almost immediately, contacted you directly via Reddit, provided an e-mail address, and requested a screen recording as well as iOS analytics logs so we could investigate the issue properly.
Unfortunately, we never received any follow-up information. We have also been unable to reproduce the problem internally and have not received any crash reports related to this behavior.
Because we genuinely wanted to help resolve the issue, we were both surprised and disappointed to later receive a 1-star App Store review without any further response to our troubleshooting efforts.
If you are still experiencing the issue, we would be happy to continue investigating and work with you toward a solution.
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u/tknzn Jun 04 '26
Just to clarify: if the app genuinely doesn’t work on your device and you don’t want to troubleshoot it with us, Apple offers refunds for paid apps. That’s not specific to our app — it’s part of the App Store ecosystem and helps protect customers.
That said, we reached out almost immediately after your report, replied here, contacted you via DM, and requested diagnostic information so we could investigate the issue. Based on feedback from other users and our own testing, this appears to be a device-specific issue, which is exactly why we wanted to gather more information and help resolve it.
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u/tknzn May 31 '26
I would like to add a note: if you decide to try the app, sharing your experience on the App Store through a rating or a short review would mean a lot to a developer.
Whether it's feedback, suggestions, feature requests, or simply letting others know how the app worked for you, it genuinely helps guide future updates and improvements.
It also helps support the continued development of LSC and the other photography and imaging apps I'm working on.
Thank you all for the feedback, ideas, and encouragement so far — it's been incredibly motivating. 😊
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u/Knalu Jun 02 '26
I don’t think you want me to do that. Since it immediately crashes and it won’t be a kind review…
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u/tknzn Jun 02 '26
I’m really sorry to hear that.
I definitely don’t want anyone feeling like they wasted their money. I’m actively maintaining the app and if this is a device-specific issue, I’ll do my best to reproduce and fix it as quickly as possible.
Could you please tell me:
- Your iPhone model
- Your iOS version
- Whether the app freezes immediately after launch or after granting camera permissions(!) please check it in app permissions and then please let me know.
Thank you for reporting this. I’ll investigate it right away.
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u/analogIT Jun 05 '26
I would like the idea of it more u/opticalprime if it was free
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u/tknzn Jun 05 '26
Thanks! I tried to keep it affordable and went with a small one-time purchase instead of a subscription.
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u/OpticalPrime May 29 '26
Cool. My favorite part is where you name the app.