One of the questions I get asked a lot is ‘what is long exposure photography‘?  A good way to explain it in simple terms, is that long exposure photography, and very long exposure photography uses shutter speeds of multiple seconds to create images in which the moving elements are blurred.

For some camera’s you will need to access the Bulb mode to achieve a shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds. My Canon 7D mkii is an example of this.

This lighthouse was taken with a shutter speed of 130 seconds.

Blurring Water

Making water look all dreamy is one of the first things people want to achieve with their longer exposures. These images of a waterfall, were all taken using a variety of settings. The exposure times go from .6 of a second to 4 seconds. ISO remains stable at 100. Focal length goes from 18mm to 238mm.

 

 

 

 

Long Exposure Photography

Some images require very long exposures. The longer your exposure, the smoother elements, )such as water), will appear. The longest exposure I used for the images above was 4 seconds, and is not what a lot of photographers would class as very long exposure photography.

Images taken with shutter speeds of a minute or longer have a completely different look or feel than those taken with slower shutter speeds.

This photo of the beach at sunset was taken using a shutter speed of 10 seconds. Without the influence of wind the trees look fairly sharp, as does the water in between the sand bars due to the lack of movement. The sky however, has streaked due to movement during the exposure.

In the next image both the water and clouds are blurred due to the 105 second exposure time. The longer exposure images work best with immovable objects such as rock formations or permanant landmarks. Using trees is tricky as you will get blur. You can get around this by taking an image with a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement in the trees and then a long exposure image which is blended in Photoshop to create the desired effect.

As you can see from the images so far, some of my settings never change, for example the ISO, which is always set at 100, (the lowest my camera can go.) The aperture is normally somewhere between f/8 and f/f13. This seems to be the sweet spot for my camera, however, yours might be different.

‘What do I mean when I say the ‘sweet spot?‘ The sweet spot refers to the aperture that gives you the best quality and sharpest image. The only way to find this is to experiment but most people agree that f/8 to f/11 is about right for most cameras.

Another good question might be, ‘which shutter speed is most appropriate for the image I want to capture?’  Sometimes a shutter speed of one second gives the amount of blur and motion that you need. Another time you may need a shutter speed of two minutes.

If you are unsure about using aperture, exposure and ISO then you might be interested in this post.

What subjects can you take long exposure photos of?

The majority of long exposure photos are of landscapes or architecture; the blurred elements are water or clouds. You very rarely see a human element in long exposure unless the photographer deliberately looks for them to be blurred as well, and this will add to the drama of the image.

Including both water and clouds during long exposure photography gives an image their unique fine art appearance.

Personally I love black and white long exposure images, especially when shooting architecture. The buildings below were shot at 30 seconds at f/11. A combination of solid composition and a long exposure produces a dramatic version of what could be a fairly mundane image.

Equipment required for long exposure photography

In order to start taking long exposure images you will need, a digital camera, a wide-angle lens, a tripod (or stable base such as my camera plate.) A cable release is useful but using the built in timer modes works just as well. You may also find neutral density filters help you obtain longer exposures. I will be doing a separate post on using ND filters in the next couple of weeks. However, if you shoot in the evening when the light is low filters aren’t always necessary.

For example, I didn’t use any filters with this photo, which I captured using a shutter speed of 90 seconds after sunset. Still not sure I like the unintentional vapor trail.

Why do I LOVE long exposure photos in black & white?

Like everything else in photography, your preference for black and white verses colour is purely and individual choice. It is true that long exposure photography lends itself to a stark minimalist style of image, and this can sometimes be best expressed in the black and white medium. But there’s no rule that says you can’t work in color – it’s a matter of personal preference more than anything.

This is another of my favorite long exposure photos, and one that definitely has a minimalist composition. Personally I just did not think this would work in colour so instead I applied a split tone effect which retains the stark minimalist effect I was after.