Take motion photos & use Top Shot on your Pixel phone

To capture something in motion, you can take a motion photo. To select a favorite individual shot from a motion photo or video, you can use Top Shot on your Pixel phone.

Turn on motion photos

To turn on motion photos, tap the Down arrow Down arrow. Then, tap either Motion auto Motion auto or Motion on Motion on.

Take a motion photo

To take a photo that contains a short video:

  1. Open your Google Camera app Google Camera. Learn how.
  2. At the top of the screen, tap the Down arrow Down arrow and then Motion on Motion on.
    1. To use motion photos, you may have to turn off Social media depth features. To turn it off,  at the top of the screen, tap the Down arrow and then Settings Settings and then Advanced More.
    2. Turn off Social media depth features.
  3. Tap Capture Capture photo.

To view your motion photo, in the bottom right, tap the small photo. If the motion video doesn't play at first, at the top, tap Play motion photo Play motion photo.

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

Save individual shots from a motion photo or video

When you take a motion photo or quick video, your Pixel 3 or later may recommend a better-quality photo from your motion photo or video. You can also pick your favorite shot.

  1. Open your Google Camera app Google Camera. Learn how.
  2. At the top of the screen, tap the Down arrow Down arrow and then Motion on Motion on.
  3. Take a photo or video:
    • To take a photo, tap Capture Capture photo.
    • To take a video, touch and hold Capture Capture photo.
  4. Open your photo or video and swipe up.
  5. Tap Shots in this photo or Shots in this video.
  6. Scroll through the shots and pick your favorite.

Recommended shots are saved in higher resolution and in HDR. They have a white dot over them.

Automatically focus on faces you photograph often

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 motion 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 Google Camera. Learn how.
  2. At the top, tap the Down arrow Down arrow and then Settings Settings and then Frequent Faces.
  3. Turn on Frequent Faces.
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