Shutter vs Clos: which app to use for your FaceTime photoshoot
Things have come a long way since I pioneered the FaceTime photoshoot in March 2020. The technology has caught up with the concept!
In the early days (god how does it feel so long ago?! What a year it’s been!) I was literally shooting through facetime, using the Live Photos feature and getting 1280px videos which I was then pulling stills from. While I loved the results, they were undeniably lo-fi!
Now thanks to a couple of incredible apps anyone can shoot with the full power and resolution of anyone else’s phone-camera, remotely, through the internet!
If that’s not magic I don’t know what is.
The two apps I use are Clos, and Shutter, and I thought it would be helpful to write a guide on the specific benefits of each.
Key benefits of both apps over the original method are the ability to shoot full-res images with the subject’s camera, which are then saved to their phone and uploaded to the cloud as quickly or slowly as their internet connection allows - the key is this means poor video-call quality does not affect the final image in any way - a huge benefit!
Also the ability to manually control the exposure and the focus point make shooting super easy and fun, allowing you to focus on the subject rather than thinking about how to trick the camera into the exposure you’re trying to achieve!
CLOS:
This was the first app I used, and what an absolute game changer it was!
Clos is a slick, polished iOS app, and needs both photographer and subject to be using iPhones, which obviously isn’t always the case - that’s where Shutter comes in!
The main features Clos has that Shutter doesn’t are:
the ability to shot from your phone rather than your computer - useful if you’re on the move!
Also Clos has the ability to shoot video which is not currently available on the Shutter app.
Images can be set to be uploaded to the cloud from the subjects phone, so as the photographer you can cull and edit before delivery, ensuring the subject only sees the finished image. This is a great feature that was not previously available.
I wish that Clos didn’t tell the subject exactly how many images were shot in the session but that’s a minor gripe.
Overall Clos is a fantastic option where both photographer and subject are using iPhones.
Shutter:
Shutter is a brilliant app, offering compatibility with both iOS and Android phones, making it my first choice when shooting subjects with Android phones.
Shutter’s web interface is great, allowing you to shoot from a browser window on you computer. The extra screen size really helps both when shooting, and in showing you the images as you’re shooting. The ability to then download them straight to your computer is fantastic.
Conclusion:
If you and your subject are using iPhones then Clos is a great option, and is the only option for shooting video.
Shutter is a great option for subjects with both iPhones and android phones, and the extra screen space you gain by shooting from your computer is super useful.
They are both free to use, Clos has a premium subscription but you don’t need it to test out the app, so give them both a whirl and see which works best for you!
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