Take motion photos & use Top Shot on your Pixel phone

Take motion photos to capture something in motion and then pick a favorite shot from your motion photo or video using Top Shot.

Take photos with your camera | Pixel

Use Motion Mode to take an Action Pan or Long Exposure photo

Important: This feature is only available on Pixel 6 & Pixel 6 Pro.

1. Open your Google Camera app.
2. Scroll to Motion.
3. Choose which blur effect to use:
   • Action Pan: Add a creative blur to the background. Hold your camera still or follow a moving subject to add a creative blur to the background. Tap Capture  when you have the photo just right. 
   • Long Exposure:  Add a creative blur to a moving subject. Hold your camera still or follow a moving subject to add a creative blur to the subject. Tap Capture  when you have the photo just right.

Tips for taking an Action Pan photo

Action Pan works best when:

• The subject is a person with a visible face.
• The subject is moving. Photos of still or very slow-moving subjects may show no or little effect.
• There’s one obvious main subject. Try to keep the main subject in the foreground and in front of any other people in the photo.
• The subject is a large part of the photo and has been in the viewfinder for more than a second before you tap capture.

Tips for taking a Long Exposure photo

Long Exposure works best when you hold your phone still. Long Exposure photos start when you tap Capture. 

The length of exposure adapts to motion in the scene depending on size and speed of the item in focus.

Use Top Shot to save individual shots from a motion photo or video

When you take a photo or quick video, you might get recommendations for a better-quality Top Shot from your photo or video.

Important: These features are only available on Pixel 3 & later.

Turn on Top Shot

1. Open your Google Camera app.
2. At the top left, tap the Down arrow . 
3. Set Top Shot to Auto  or On .

Pick a Top Shot

Take motion photos to capture something in motion and then pick a favorite shot from your motion photo or video using Top Shot.

Tip: Recommended shots are saved in higher resolution and in HDR.

To save the motion photo as a video, tap More  Export  Video  Export.

Turn Frequent Faces on or off

You can help the camera on your Pixel 4 or later identify and recommend better shots of the faces you photograph or record the most.

When your camera finds and recommends other shots within your photos or quick videos, your camera recognizes which shots include the faces you capture often. Then, your camera recommends better photos of those faces.

If you turn on Frequent Faces, your camera saves data about the faces you photograph or record. All face data is saved on your phone, not sent to Google. If you turn off Frequent Faces, your data is deleted.
 

To turn on Frequent Faces:

1. Open your Google Camera app . Learn how.
2. At the top, tap the Down arrow   More settings.
3. Tap Frequent Faces.
4. Turn on Frequent Faces.

Tip: On Pixel 6 & Pixel 6 Pro, Frequent Faces can also help the camera show skin tones more accurately.