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Long Exposure Photography Tutorial



Guide to taking Long Exposure Photographs. – http://www.firstmanphotography.com/tutorials/long-exposure-photography-tutorial

In this video tutorial we show you how to take long exposure photographs.

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If you have never seen a long exposure photograph before you are in for a treat and capturing these images brings new challenges and creative possibilities. Essentially what is happening is by increasing the exposure time we introduce movement into our image that would normally be frozen and it gives the picture added interest and a look that would not be seen by your own eyes.

This video focuses on capturing a long exposure landscape during the day but the principles are the same no matter how you use a long exposure.

You will already understand the exposure triangle so when increasing exposure time we need to balance things by reducing ISO or making our aperture smaller to prevent the image being over exposed. However, in daylight conditions, even with ISO at 100 and aperture at say f/16, your shot could be over exposed before even one second has passed. To achieve the desired effect we want our exposure to be at least 30 seconds. The only way to do this is to use ND filters. These are filters added to the front of your lens that reduce the amount of light passing through the lens without severely affecting the colour. ND filters are rated by how many stops of light they reduce the exposure by. For example if you attach a 2 stop filter to your lens you will need to increase exposure in your camera by the same 2 stops to obtain a proper exposure.

In the tutorial we are using a 6 stop filter combined with a 10 stop filter to give a full 16 stops of light reduction which allows us to get some extremely long exposures of several minutes, even in bright daylight conditions.

Exposures of this length have a number of uses. It will reduce the roughest waters to a smooth tranquil scene and add lots of movement to even the slowest moving clouds. In city scenes it can also be used to remove people from your images. At night it can be used for star trail shots and create interesting and varied light painting images. The resulting image will often have a fine art feel, especially when carefully converted to black and white.

In addition to the ND filter you will also need a shutter release cable allowing you to lock the shutter open when using the bulb mode. Keeping your camera very still is also essential so a good sturdy tripod is handy. If you don’t have a tripod you could also place your camera down on a wall or some raised ground. A bean bag can be used to allow a small amount of adjustment or to keep things level on an uneven surface. When using a DSLR it is worth covering your viewfinder with some gaff tape or a viewfinder cap because light can creep in and ruin your image.

Once you are armed with this knowledge and the few tools you need; get out and take some pictures. It is an amazing motivation to go and see the world.

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24 responses to “Long Exposure Photography Tutorial”

  5. Very informative as usual, Adam. The app I use for calculating exposure times is 'Lee Stopper', free on IOS and I assume android as well. Apart from calculating exposure times it also has a stop watch included which sounds an alarm when your exposure is finished. Nothing to touch it in my opinion.

  10. Hey Adam! I want to take some long exposure photo's in the city with people walking about. Say I take a 2 minute exposure of a shopping street, do you think this could turn out nice? And have you any experience with stacking a polarizer filter to a ND filter? I kinda want to take pictures that are hard to take with a phone, to make myself stand out at my facebook feed. Long exposure are really great for this I think. Cool video and grats on passing the 7.5k subscribers. Really taking off now isnt it.

  16. Your video inspires me to try long exposure! Which ND filters would you suggest as good starters? I was thinking a couple of Hoya filters – a 10 stop and a 6 stop. Would that be about right as a start? I'm off to the Scottish Highlands at Easter – Rannoch Moor. Thought I'd try out your tips there. I'm using a Fuji Xt-1. I thought I'd take a 10-24 mm and an 18-135 lens, and get ab ND for each of them.

  17. Great video. I've subscribed and 'liked'! I haven't tried long exposure photography – this helps me to see what I need to do. Be helpful to get some info on the app one uses, otherwise all straightforward. Btw: I've got a clear glass protective filter on – would I need to unscrew it to add the ND?

  24. Hi there a really good in depth explanation into LE indeed and a nice image at the end of your vid
    LE is something I absolutely love doing alot of
    I used to use Nikon D2Xs dslr but now upgraded at the fraction of the price to a D5300 in which I think was right move as the D2Xs is becoming a dinosaur in itself and the D5300 image quality is far superior though the lens has the biggest impact with quality
    I mainly scape with either 10-20mm sigma or the one i use most is 17-70mm macro sigma for all my landscapes + 10stop filter + ND8 my tripod is like scaffolding – benbo mk1 if i remember right so nice and sturdy for those sea shots or wind
    one of the mistakes I always make is forgetting to cover the view finder glad you highlighted that in your vid the amount of times I kick myself for not doing this

    Anyway great vid hope to see more 🙂 Il check your IG out later
    can you tell me which app calculator you use plz

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