Perfect Photos? New iPhone App Magically Erases People, Moving Objects Using AI

Spectre App Credit: Spectre
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There’s a new iOS camera app that can help you take better long-exposure pictures with the power of artificial intelligence.The app is called Spectre, and it’s developed by the Ben Sandofsky and Sebastiaan de With — the duo behind popular pro photography app Halide.

First and foremost, Spectre uses AI to help deal with some of the quirks of long-exposure images. That includes stabilization, composition, and guessing the correct exposure time.

The app can also help deal with a common issue for medium- and long-duration shots: moving objects. True to its namesake, Spectre can turn cars, crowds and other objects into ghosts — effectively erasing them from your images.

Rather than take a single exposure over a long period of time, Spectre takes hundreds of photos in a relatively short period and merges them together. As an added bonus, Spectre can also convert those images into a video as well as a final still.

As its developers pointed out in a blog post, Spectre can use AI to make a busy bridge at rush hour look completely empty.

The computational photography capabilities extend beyond that. For example, Spectre’s developers say that the AI can automatically detect and analyze a particular scene and pick the best mode to highlight it.

iPhone photography fans can also get creative with the technology. Snapping a picture of moving lights can result in flows of color, while a waterfall can be turned into beautiful images that look more like paintings.

The app itself is fairly intuitive and easy-to-navigate. There aren’t too many settings to deal with. Instead, all you really need to do is select a capture duration (there’s a 3-, 5- and 9-second option). Then, just hold your iPhone steady and hit the shutter.

It also features a handy indicator that lets you know how steadily you’re holding your iPhone. If you’re shooting on an iPhone 8 or later, the app will leverage the Neural Engine to improve shots. Spectre is currently available on the App Store for $2.99.

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