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Long Exposures

How to shoot dynamic waterscapes and take your long exposure photography to the next level

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Long exposures, particularly of water, are something that almost all of us either have tried at some point or will try and some point in the future. Sometimes we might get lucky and nail it on our very first attempt but often we’ll find ourselves struggling to get the image we see in our head. The image we’d like to create. This is because it’s not usually as simple as just sticking an ND over your lens and increasing your shutter speed. There’s a little more to it than that.

In this video, photographer Andy Mumford walks us through the elements of creating long exposure waterscapes to add dynamism to our scene. He gives us the reasoning behind the decisions made when shooting one so that when you face potential problems in your shots or aren’t happy with what you’re getting, you’ve got some idea of what you can change and how they’ll affect your photography.

How to get perfect long exposures the easy way with a 10 stop ND filter

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One of the things I was a bit confused by when I first started out in photography was the subject of filters. What, when and how to be precise. When should I choose a polarising filter over a neutral density filter? What grade of neutral density filter do I need? Circular or square? And don’t even get me started on those gradient neutral density filters. It all seemed so confusing! Luckily I had the sense to enrol in a landscape photography workshop when I was travelling around New Zealand and all became clear. It really isn’t so complicated after all.

One of the things I enjoy about using filters is the ability to get it right in camera. There are some effects and techniques that you simply cannot do in post, and long exposure photography is one of those. In this video, Mike from Perea Photography takes you through his process of creating beautifully smooth long exposure landscapes using a 10-stop ND filter.

Three ways to shoot night time photography that aren’t astrophotography

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Heading out to shoot at night time in the middle of nowhere usually brings visions of astrophotography to mind. But that’s not the only kind of photography you can do at night, as this video from Adam Karnacz at First Man Photography illustrates. Adam heads out to England’s picturesque Lake District to show off three ways you can shoot nighttime photography and open up your creative freedom.

The secrets to great long exposure photography

I remember the first time I saw an image captured using the long exposure photography technique. It blew me away. The skies were stretched across the sky and the water as soft as silk. How was it even possible?

Little did I know that this technique would become a game changer for me. Not only did learning this technique help me understand the fundamental camera settings, it helped develop my creative vision.

A decade later I’m still fascinated with long exposure photography. My approach has changed during the years but it’s still part of who I am.

It’s fair to say that there’s been many ups and downs during these years. From learning the very basics to tackling more complex and creative approaches. Many lessons are learned the hard way and that’s part of what I want to help you avoid.

So, read on and I’ll tell you the secrets of great long exposure photography.

When and why you might want to use ND filters for your photography

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Along with polarizers, Neutral Density (ND) filters are pretty much the only filters most people really need these days. But what are ND filters? How do they work and why might you want to use one for your photography? Put simply, though, ND filters are sort of like sunglasses for your camera to darken down the view coming through your lens.

But how can they really be useful? After all, aren’t we typically looking for more light when we shoot and not less? Well, in this video, Mike Smith gets into the nitty-gritty of ND filters to answer that question, illustrated by images he’s shot using one.

How to fake a long exposure effect in Photoshop using Path Blur

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The Path Blur has been around in Photoshop for a few years now, but it’s not a commonly used or really understood tool. Something that is pretty common, though, at least as far as photography’s concerned, are long exposures. But it’s not always possible to get a long exposure of a scene we really want to.

In this video, Julieanne Kost from Adobe’s official Photoshop Channel shows us how the Path Blur works and how we can use it to simulate a long exposure shot from a regular static still image, for those times when we’re not able to shoot it for real in-camera.

This beginner’s guide walks you through the basics of long exposure photography

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Long exposure photography is a lot of fun, whether it’s landscapes, cityscapes or light painting. It’s a technique that offers a lot of options to show the world in photography in a way that we don’t normally get to see it with the naked eye. How to shoot them sounds obvious. The clue is in the name. “Long exposure”. But it’s not always that easy.

They’re not that difficult to get to grips with, though, and you can shoot them with just about any DSLR or mirrorless camera (or perhaps even your phone!). In this beginners guide to long exposure photography, Paul at Photo Genius walks us through the basics of how to get started with shooting long exposures

Watch and learn how light paint your product photography with LED lights and strobes

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Product photography can be a lot of fun, especially when you start to experiment with light painting. In this video, photographer Mark Duffy shows us how he does his long exposure product photography using the new KYU 6 LED lights and Godox MS300 strobes in the studio on a pair of trainers (or “sneakers”, for those of you in the US).

11 essential tips to master night photography like a pro

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Astrophotography allows you to capture some spectacular images of the night sky, from milky way images, star trail images, and all the way up to deep-sky images. Each requires a slightly different shooting technique to capture them correctly.

But some things don’t change, you do them every time to give yourself the best chance of getting the image you planned for. Below are 11 tips that will help you get started capturing some amazing night pictures.

Five techniques to calculate long exposure times with a 10-stop ND filter

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Have you ever seen the long exposure image using 10-stops ND filters? They are visually energetic and dynamic, due to the motion blur caused by the moving clouds over a long duration of exposure. It is common that most people trying to guess the exposure time when using these high strength ND filters, like 10-stops ND filters.

However, I bet you don’t want to stand in the cold and windy beach for a 5 minutes long exposure shot during sunrise or sunset and find out that your shot is over-exposed or under-exposed, and then retake with a minute more or less, keep trial-and-error by adjusting the exposure, and eventually the light is gone before you figure out the perfect exposure!

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