A photography technique I really like is using a long exposure. It’s basically as it sounds, you use a long exposure which means a long/slow shutter. It’s a neat way to capture or exaggerate movement, like making streaks with moving car lights:
It’s actually really simple to do! You need a camera that allows manual settings, either a DSLR or a high-end compact camera. You also need a tripod, so your camera stays still while taking the photo. Optionally, you can use a remote shutter, so that you don’t have to push the shutter button, which risks moving the camera.
You basically set up your camera on the tripod, set a slow shutter, then wait for the camera to take the photo. The trickiest part is knowing what settings to use on your camera. To put it in simple terms…
Shutter speed: the slower the shutter, the more light gets in.
Aperture: the lower the aperture, the higher the f-stop, and the less light gets in.
ISO: the lower the ISO, the less light.
How slow you want the shutter is pretty much up to you and may vary on the situation. For example, I typically use 10-20 seconds for these street lights photos. Not 1/10 second but 10 seconds. Since the shutter is so slow, a lot of light is getting in. If we don’t balance out the other 2 settings, the photo will be too bright. So, I use a low aperture (high f-stop) and a low ISO. This photo was taken with a 15 second shutter at ISO100 and f/14.
Long exposures can also be used during the day. When you use it on flowing water, like a stream, river, or waterfall, you get streaks of water.
When used on waves, you get mist.
However, there is a problem when doing this during the day. There’s just too much light, and the photo will still end up way too bright. There’s really no setting you can use to offset the slow shutter. Fortunately, there is a solution. This is a Neutral Density (ND) filter for a SLR lens.
I’ll have an entry about lens filters later, but it’s a type of glass that goes in front of your lens. This one is a ND 3.0, also known as a 10-stop filter. The higher the number, the more light reduction. This one blocks ~90% of light, which lets me simulate night time. With this, I can set my camera settings as I would normally do when it’s dark outside.
Remember that the camera is taking the photo the whole time the shutter is open. Don’t get impatient and mess with the camera before it’s done! The key is that the camera and background are still, and the only thing that’s moving is what you want to capture, whether it’s moving lights or water.
There are also other uses for long exposure. For example, it could be used to make water look still, like on a lake where the water is rippling a little. Another is making people “disappear”. It’s often hard to take good photos of a tourist attraction with so many people walking around. If people are moving enough and the shutter is long enough, a long exposure might work.
The photos above are mine, but here are beautiful photos by others that also use long exposures:
eddy (30 sec)
Plitvice in Green (waterfalls – 183 sec)
Lumsdale III (stream – 6 sec)
Transient (ocean – 2.5 sec)
Palata Albanija (traffic – 13 sec)
wow LOVINGG this post, really! all these effects are foreign to me because i don’t have a DSLR camera and probably won’t ever (not in the near future, at least). but your photos are gorgeous! i love the long exposure effects too!!!
hmm high end point and shoot cameras? do you have any that you recommend? :D
Thanks! I’m glad you like this post! :D
I just realized I wrote point and shoot, when “high end compact” is probably a better term XD;; *changes it real quick* The one I have is the Lumix LX5. The Olympus Pen and Sony Nex series are also popular and can change lenses.
This is a well written and informative blog post. I’ve always loved this photo technique, especially with the lights of a city at night. I’ve never seen it done with a waterfall before… that looks so fricken cool! Haha bravo to your brilliance!
I envy people who can take gorgeous photos. :P I appreciate photography and I love taking it in, but I’m not much of a photographer myself.
I’ve always loved city photos with streaks of lights. They add a sense of movement and vibrancy. All of your photos are beautiful! You’re very talented!
…This whole time I’ve been looking at photos like these all like “fake” (like the ones of the water), “artistically drawn somehow” (the ones that look extremely fake), “fast forwarded through a video and took a picture” (like with the lights)…
So, um. It’s awesome to know how this works — really, really awesome. Thanks for sharing. :3
those are nice shots.. I always love something with lights and beaches. lol I envy you for having a photographer’s eye on taking pics.. wish i could also be like you.. I also wanna get myself an SLR but i think it’ll just go to waste since i wont be using it much.. :((
You are such a pro at this! These pictures are all incredible and they all look like they were professionally taken (I can picture them in a magazine). I have a camera that does allow manual settings, so perhaps I’ll try this on my spare time. :) Thanks for you tips!
They’re really great pictures, I especially like the wave-mist one!
I don’t know much about photography, some of the terms are still very confusing to me but I can’t help but be fascinated by how you work with it :D
I am adding this to my Delicious! On 4th of July I really wanted to take some photos of fireworks, but they came out pretty badly because I couldn’t find a tutorial on long exposure! Why didn’t I read your blog that day?
I will be prepared for New Year’s …
Those photos are so amazing and professional. I will try to improve myself, because all my photos are so minimalistic or badly-lighted documentary.
Thanks! Long exposure would look great with fireworks :) I didn’t think of that for the 4th and now I wish I did. I hope you’ll get some good shots when New Year’s comes around!
Wow… I’m learning so much from you! I love long exposure shots… I’ve done a few, but really it was just luck. I’m going to try all your tips out. Long exposure is just so interesting.
Can’t wait for the lens filter post :)
Now, I really have to try this! My boyfriend has a nice camera that he doesn’t use so I’m going to steal it! Lol
[...] first year my camera gets to celebrate the fourth of July. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see this tutorial in time, so I did not get professional shots. I was also in a hurry and forgot my tripod. Best of [...]
Great tips! Learned a lot. I can’t wait for the next time I’m in the city to use this technique ^____^ Thank you!
I’ve been taking crappy pictures for years and I think I just learned more from this post than anything else I’ve read (including my camera manual!)
OMG those pictures are beautiful! I think my camera might be able to do that, so I might be coming back if I have any troubles or questions! haha
—
thanks for the comment! and yeah, i’ll be trying to keep my personal and academic life in balance from now on, for “you’re always haunted by the idea that you’re wasting your life” <– which is so true for me.
you know what’s funny? I’ve always heard that term “exposure” being thrown around when people mention dslr’s and i never knew what it meant.. lol after reading your post, now i understand! makes sense too.
wow the long exposure technique really makes a magnificient effect on the images! i really like the photos you took, they look so professional~
Cool post. This was definitely helpful (though i’m not a dslr owner. i just use a point and shoot. But still, for future reference. this is great!) Thanks cat~
-Joyce
carouselstreet.com
Thanks! I’m glad it was helpful! Exposure can be applied to non-DSLRs too, since it’s a general photography term :) It’s the amount of light that acts on the film/sensor. The shutter speed is how long the film/sensor is exposed.
Oohh, so that’s how they get those cool light streaks in photos! I love these posts where you really break down different photography elements and effects, as well as the steps necessary to replicate them :) Can’t wait to see more of these posts!
Wow, this post definitely explained a lot of confusions I’ve had with camera settings and terminology. I actually went and looked up more about ISOs too! I don’t think I’ll ever get a DSLR or a high end compact to ever do long exposures though :(
And that’s what an f-stop is? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…
Long exposures can be possible with a point and shoot, but it’d be hard to control if you can’t overwrite the camera’s auto settings XD;; I’m glad that it cleared up some confusion though! f-stop is what aperture is measured in, which kind of tells you the relative size of the aperture opening on a lens.
Yay! Thank you! Optics always confused me @.@