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I can sketch with light.

A couple of days after getting the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G, a respectable if not fully fascinating Android smartphone that delivers Pro-level functionality at a flagship price, I began diving into the camera app's functions.

I've always been a OnePlus lover with its huge camera swings. It was the first smartphone I ever used, for instance, to enable macro photography. I adored photographing close-up shots of the innards of flowers, beetles, and droplets of water. Not everyone appreciated it, however and the OnePlus 10 Pro does not contain a macro camera. It does, however, have Long Exposure.

Most smartphones now provide some type of night photography or long exposure settings after Google initiated the trend in 2018 with Night Sight on its Pixel 3. Today's large array of long-exposure, night-shooting choices includes presets and, occasionally, some amount of customization to increase the exposure (more if you place the phone on a tripod) (more if you put the phone on a tripod).

Previous OnePlus phones would enable you make long exposure photographs by altering the manual camera settings (shutter speed, ISO) (shutter speed, ISO). The OnePlus 10 Pro 5G makes the shot style a preset (somewhat concealed beneath the Camera app's More option).

While I'm glad to use manual settings to try to catch stars (I do a lot of DSLR photography), I do enjoy when smartphone manufacturers combine the best they can give in lens and sensors with software and algorithms to make what would usually be complex easy.

And, if I'm being honest, I've been attempting to get specific sorts of long-exposure images on every single smartphone I've tested over the previous several years, with varied degrees of success.

Here's what I want: streets with nothing but automobile lights flashing past. People blurred as they walk by me while the rest of the world is motionless. Light art.

With the OnePlus 10 Pro Long Exposure option, I achieved all three.

As I noted, the setting is easy enough to discover, but what's more amazing is that it's dead simple to use (and also restricted for that same reason) (and also limited for that same reason).

You don't get to pick the lens or magnification. The default is the 48MP primary camera, which as far as I'm concerned, is perfect.

You also can't select the duration of the exposure. It defaults to 5 seconds. I know, it doesn't seem like a lot, and I had no illusions about catching the stars spinning above at night. That said, a lot can happen in five seconds and I thought I could capture it all in photographs.

I could think of no better location to test my idea than on the crowded streets of Manhattan at night.

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Five seconds isn't much time yet it is plenty for your hands and body to tremor or move. To catch the motion, I had to pause, plant my feet and hold firm. I don't remember whether I held my breath or exhaled slowly.

I began by directing the camera towards other midnight commuters racing toward me. In the unedited photo above, they've all morphed into wispy ghost-like blurs scarcely humans. Still, the result is stunning.

Next, I directed the OnePlus 10 Pro towards traffic. For these images, I stood on the sidewalk near the roadway and, in one case, leaned on a post to stabilize myself further. Looking for additional traffic, I proceeded to a junction. Five years ago, I couldn't fathom getting these types of photographs with a smartphone camera.

I attempted some additional experimenting. At a gathering with a lot of wall and party lights, I tried sweeping the phone by them and up from partygoers to the lights. I would think the outcomes are fascinating and arty, albeit not fully functional.

As I indicated, you don't need a tripod to get these photos, but utilizing one presents another intriguing photography opportunity.

The following morning, I took a tripod, another smartphone, and the OnePlus 10 Pro and proceeded to my dark basement. I put the OnePlus 10 Pro on the tripod and switched on the flashlight on my iPhone 13 Pro.

I set the timer on the OnePlus to 10 seconds and then hurried to stand in front of the camera. I could hear the OnePlus10 Pro ticking down 10 seconds, but unlike an iPhone, it doesn't flash the back LED light to indicate you it's going down. That was a bit bothersome.

My intention was to move the iPhone as swiftly as possible, with the expectation that the OnePlus's Long Exposure would catch the full-light path.

I found out how to write "hello" backward and as the countdown finished, I rapidly typed it out. The results are not horrible at all (I did trim the picture a little) (I did crop the image a bit).

Next, I formed a spiral. That was beautiful, too. Next time, I'll use a different colored light.

If I have one general issue about OnePlus Pro 10 5G's Long Exposure mode, it's that the picture processing looks to be conducting numerous long exposures and assembling them into one image. You can notice this in how the light breaks at regular intervals in the spiral or in how the automobile lights look to nearly stutter their way through. I hope future software upgrades smooth things out a little.

I can, of course, plunge into Pro mode and open the shutter for up to 32 seconds. That also entails tweaking the ISO and focus, though. For consumers, this Long Exposure preset is just enough and they should be able to produce their own crazy photographs with a minimum of trouble.