Long Exposure Photography

Long exposure is a genre photography that uses a longer than usual exposure time to emphasize movement in a picture. It is often used to give the effect of flowing water looking smooth, streaks of car lights or trails of people. 

How to take a long exposure picture.

You need:

·        A camera.

·        A tripod, it is very important to keep your camera still as the slightest movement could spoil a picture.

·        A remote, this means that you can take the picture without moving your camera when you press the button to take a picture.

·        A filter, so you can have a long exposure and not let in too much light.

There are 3 things you need to take into account whilst taking a long exposure picture to let you know how much time you should be leaving the shutter open:

·        Exposure: You don’t want to much light coming in so you need to be aware of how much daylight there is, what aperture you’re using and what your ISO is.

·        What do you want your final image to look like : How much blur do you want in your shot. Depending on how long you leave the shutter open, the more your image will be blurred. You can blur things out a little, a lot or make them totally disappear.

·        How fast is your subject: you will have to adjust your shutter speed depending on if your are shooting a fast moving object like a car or something slower like a human.

I like this genre of photography because it can be difficult to show speed or movement in a still picture but through this clever use of exposure and shutter speed photographers can create this surreal and dramatic image that clearly convey what is happening in the picture. 

Here are some of my favorite long exposure photographs:

Photographer: Bill Wadman

Photographer: Cameron Jung

Photographer: Darren Moore

Sources:

http://digital-photography-school.com/8-tips-for-long-exposure-photography/

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/10/24/long-exposure-photography-how-to-set-up-your-camera/