Select a Single Frame from a Live Photo

HI , you can select the key photos / still images on your iphone with IOS 11 (per below) and there is link with instructions above for doing this on a mac with high Sierra (11.13) installed (sadly new OS does not run on my old 2012 imac

Here is the link / instructions for doing on iphone (it is similar process to burst photos pick the image you like and turn on or off)

https://support.apple.com/en-hk/HT207310

Change your key photo

Want to use a different key photo than the one you see in your photo library? In iOS 11 and later, it's no problem. Choose from the range of frames that make up your Live Photo.

1. Open the Live Photo.
2. Tap Edit.
3. Move the slider to change the frame.
4. Release your finger, then tap Make Key Photo.
5. Tap Done.

You can also toggle the Live Photo effect off when you tap Edit > . If you change your mind, just tap again in Edit.

No Guys here who can fix anything - this is strictly a user to user support forum to help you use Photos - we are all users just like you and have exactly the same ability to fix things as you do - None

and there is nothing to "fix" - it works just fine, maybe not the way yo want but that does not mean it is broken, only that you want something different

You can extract a single frame using this procedure - How to Extract Still Frames from a Live Photo in Photos for Mac

but that does not change the live photo - it only gives a copy of the frame you want as a separate photo

If you want a new feature you can request it here http://www.apple.com/feedback/

LN

You can try the Live Photo into a still image, but not select a specific frame:

Change a Live Photo to a still image: Select the photo, then choose Image > Turn Off Live Photo. To restore the video later, select the photo and choose Image > Turn On Live Photo.

This is actually a helpful post, not because it tells you how to fix it, but it acknowledges there is no solution.

I doubt there will be a fix, because of the way Live Photos are taken. Each live photo is recorded as a pair of only one high quality still frame and a low quality video. Any other frame you could extract from the video will be of a lower resolution and quality than the included still frame and Apple is trying hard to prevent us from using low resolution material. But the user Tip I wrote (- How to Extract Still Frames from a Live Photo in Photos for Mac ) will allow you to import the Live Photo as a video and to extract a different still frame, if the embedded high resolution still frame has been taken at an unfortunate moment.

I found Lively to be pretty easy to use. The only annoying part is that it leaves a watermark on the bottom of the picture, but I easily crop it out.

You can extract different frames, if you reimport the Life Photo as a video.

Use "File > Export > Export Unmodified original". And include the XMP sidecar file option to save the metadata.

This will export three files:

Use File > Import to import the .mov file.

You now have a video, where you can use the video editing tools in Photos to extract a still fame. It will be saved as a TIFF image to the Pictures folder. Import it to Photos from there.

I just took a live photo and I don't like the one it picked for me but there's a good frame I would like to pick. It's corny how you cant pick a frame from Live Photos. Not cool wish you guys would fix this as soon as possible.

Do you by chance know which third party apps may be able to select the various frames?

Another post said to use the app Lively with good replies. I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to try. I want to choose the frame to save to a still photo. Fingers crossed

The "Why" questions are alway so difficult, because Apple rarely tells us why 😁

But we can try an educated guess. Live Photos are typical for the iPhone. They are meant to be shared instantly from the iPhone and to surprise our friends and family with stunning shots. The ability to share over a cellular network requires a very small file size. So only one frame has a quality good enough to be used as a keyframe and we are stuck with this one frame. All other frames taken from the video will be of a very poor quality. The solution is to be very careful when taking the live photo. We will get that photo as the key frame, that we see, when we hit the shutter release button.

I prefer to take 4k video clips with my main camera to the iPhone Live Photos. For a 4k video all frames have a high quality, and I can pick any frame as the keyframe, since it is a video.

It would really be helpful if Apple were to provide some answer/disclosure on this point--sadly these forums are rather more neglected by them than they should be!

Moreover, whilst I'm really grateful for leonie's workaround, it's still ridiculous that Apple doesn't provide its own, more direct solution, just as it does for photo bursts.

This correction to the iPhone camera feature/program is clearly overdue!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Apple included in one of the next software upgrades...?

At the most recent WWDC it has been announced that there will be more editing options for Live Photos on the iPhone. They will probably not be available directly in Photos on High Sierra, as Photos on the Mac is frequently one step behind the iPhone version, but we will be able to edit Live Photos on the iPhone before we transfer them to the Mac, at least. Since the developers are currently working on new options for Live Loops, it might be a good moment to write feedback to Apple about missing features.

G'day Cindyjk,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

I understand that you'd like to select the best frame from Live Photos you've imported into your MacBook Pro's Photos app. I use my iPhone to take pictures all the time and I can assist you.

At this time, it isn't possible to select individual frames on a Live Photo like you can with photo bursts.

Additional information about Live Photos can be found in the Photos Help manual.

Best Regards.

I believe that only captures the first frame of the Live Photo. When that frame is blurry, that's not the one you want to see.

The Live Photos are pairs of a full resolution still frame and the video taken 1.5 second before and after the still frame. Apple doesn't say so, but I expect the ""turn off live photo" command will extract this still frame.