Photography News Issue 30

Photography News Issue 30 absolutephoto.com

Technique

Long exposures Wait for it... This month, try changing the way you think about exposures, because slowing your shutter from fractions of a second into the zone of minutes can add a simple, elegant beauty to the right kind of scene. Find out how to do it the right way with our guide…

the composition you’ve created. What’s more, some styles of composition work with long exposures and some don’t; and it’s important to find the right length of exposure for what you want to show. Yes, even after getting past the basics of setting up the camera in the right way there’s a lot to get your head around. But by the end of this guide we’re sure you’ll have it sussed. Why shoot long exposures? The main reason for using a long exposure is to render movement in a scene, which is a technique that has several uses; movement can apply the idea of time passing, it can suggest speed, and it can also make anything that’s static in the frame stand out, or look a lot sharper and more solid. For example, in a landscape image with a flowing river or stream, the sharp elements contrast with the

blur of the water; it’s the same with clouds moving past a skyscraper. With the right components, very long exposures can also create a minimalist beauty, clearly defining a lone subject as the focal point. You can even use nothing but movement for an impressionistic effect. And as mentioned before, it’s not just physical movement that long exposures can help with; in fact, given sufficient time, the light itself in the scene moves, creating a more rounded look to the illumination, lowering contrast and filling in shadows. What is a long exposure? A long exposure requires a slow shutter speed, for example one second or longer, and this affects the look of moving subjects – an effect called motion blur. Typically, at slow shutter speeds, anything moving in the scene

Words & pictures by Kingsley Singleton

While it’s true that long exposures are easier to shoot than ever before, they’re still the preserve of creative photographers; not people who just swing camera phones about. The reason is that a true long-exposure requires thought, planning, some skill, but above all the intention to create one. In fact, that’s what separates long exposure photography from simply shooting with a slow-shutter speed; the intention. Anyone can blur movement by accident with a slow shutter speed they didn’t mean to use; a long exposure has just the right amount of movement for the subject and the look you wanted: it’s precise; perfect. Shooting a subject with a long exposure won’t make the picture good on its own though – it can only add to what’s there, building on

Very long exposures can create a minimalist beauty, clearly defining a lone subject

Above Shot at Hunstanton, Norfolk with settings of 2mins, f/8, ISO 100, these collapsing sea defences work with the long exposure to give a serene look.