Here are my instructions for how to open Zoom Burst. (or any iOS Photo Editing Extension)
In order to effectively use Zoom Burst, you should understand the principles behind the app. Zoom Burst starts with the original photo serving as the base layer of a composition. It also allows you to make the following adjustments:
Select the blend mode used to compose the layers in the composition (CIColorDodgeBlendMode works best for night photographs)
Specify the amount of scaling used. This determines how much the lights expand or pop.
Specify the amount of rotation used.
Adjust the number of layers. This reduces the gaps between the steps.
Or if you’d prefer, here’s a video of Zoom Burst in action.
Until very recently I had never used a Photo Editing Extension. But now that I’ve built Zoom Burst, I wanted describe the steps involved in opening a photo editing extension.
Step 1. Open the photos app and select a photo
Step 2. Tap edit.
Step 3. Tap the circle with three dots. (in the top right corner of the screen)
Step 4. Select the editing extension of your choice. (eg ZoomBurst)
I’ve been enjoying playing with a Zoom Burst new photo editing extension that I’ve been building. It lets me add zoom burst effects to photos. If you don’t know what zoom burst is, I recommend you read this great article by Dahlia Ambrose. Or if you’d prefer, Wikipedia offers a great introduction. Before creating my Zoom Burst photo editing extension you needed an SLR (digital or otherwise) and a zoom lens to create zoom burst photos.
The procedure was:
Set your shutter speed to 1/60th of a second or longer
Press the shutter release in concert with changing the zoom focal length of the lens
In particular I really enjoyed creating zoom burst photos of lights at night. In early December, it felt like any time I saw Christmas lights, I wished I could create a zoom burst photo. Alas.
Now thanks to the miracle of Core Image, I’m able to convert this:
Into this:
I have been focussing my initial Zoom Burst efforts on getting it to work with photos of lights at night. I’m cautiously optimistic I’ll be able to extend it to also work with non-night photos. In the meantime, here are a few other photos before and after applying Zoom Burst.
Before
After
I think the controls in the Zoom Burst extension are fairly easy to figure out, but I’ve created a short tutorial, that is available here.
I had a bit of trouble organically discovering how to use a Photo Editing Extension. To prevent you from fumbling around like me, here is a list of instructions to open/use a Photo Editing Extension.
