Everyone has encountered long exposure photography at some point. A prominent Australian electrical company is currently using long exposure shots to advertise their service; the photos look stunning but the effect is simple to achieve once you know how it' s done. Note that this is not the sort of photography which takes a moment. There is a lot of trial and error involved and a lot of waiting for the shutter, but if you master the basics you can have a lot of fun!
There are several kinds of Long Exposure photograph that people play around with, and I'll go through some of the main ones in upcoming blog posts. Needless to say you will need a tripod, and having a friend with you while wandering around at night is always a good idea!
Long Exposure Landscapes
This is the easiest form to begin with. You only need to go to an outdoor area which you think looks interesting, such as your local park or beach, at night time. Wander around for a bit before setting up your equipment really get a good feel for the area and which spots would create the more interesting lighting effects.
Once you have found your ideal spot, set the camera up on the tripod and, in the Manual setting, open the aperture as wide as you can. The ISO settings will depend on what camera you have and how long you want the shutter to remain open. The higher the ISO the grainier the image tends to be, however this will vary from camera to camera. Generally 800iso tends to do the trick, however older cameras still might be grainy.
Next, set your shutter speed. This really will depend on your lighting situation for example an area with a street light will require a shorter exposure time than area lit only by moonlight. The best thing to do here is to play with your shutter speeds and see what effects you get from shot to shot. Try starting with half a second and going longer and longer, taking note of the effects that the exposure has. If you want to shoot longer than 30 seconds, most cameras have a bulb setting which means that you hold the shutter down and release it when the desired time has passed. Best results are achieved with a shutter release cable, as you can lock them open rather than continually holding them down for the bulb setting. They also negate the shake caused by pressing the shutter button. If you don't want to use the bulb setting, the timer setting also gets rid of the camera shutter shake.
What the photographer needs to understand is that it is rare that you will be in a location with a complete absence of light. Very often (especially if you are outdoors) if you are shooting in the dark and leave the shutter open for long enough you will get some kind of light on the film or sensor. The photographer also needs to bear in mind that the camera will not necessarily take a photo in the same way that you see it. How the picture is affected varies greatly depending on the light source the closer and brighter the light source the stronger it will be and the closer the source is to a reflective surface the greater definition the surface will have.
Now that you have mastered the basics, stay tuned for info about some special effects you can achieve with your long exposure photography. Until then, happy shooting!
Click here to read Part 2