Long exposures blur moving light sources into bright streaks.
Photographers do their best to avoid motion blur in most shots, but in light photography, this often undesirable quality can become a work of art. Long exposures of moving lights create glowing trails that lend a surreal quality to shots of common objects, such as freeways, amusement park rides, fireworks and stars. You can also use this technique to create words and pictures in the air using flames and flashlights.
Instructions
1. Arrive at your location just before sunset or after dark. Light photography is best performed when ambient light levels are low.
2. Put your camera on a tripod. As a rule of thumb, you cannot hand hold your camera at shutter speeds that are slower than the inverse of the ISO without introducing camera shake. When using the long exposures needed for light photography, your picture will be nearly unrecognizable without a tripod.
3. Attach a remote shutter release if your camera has an output jack that supports it. A remote release allows you to activate your shutter without introducing camera shake by touching the button on the camera body. Check the manual that came with your camera if you are not sure whether your model supports remote releases.
4. Set your ISO to 400 or less to minimize noise, which makes your image look grainy.
5. Turn your mode dial to "Manual" or "Bulb" mode. Manual is the most commonly available setting and allows you to select a custom shutter speed and aperture. Sometimes the Bulb mode is integrated into this setting, but it may also be its own mode, which allows you to hold the shutter button as long as you want the shutter to stay open.
6. Estimate the amount of time it will take for the light to travel across the frame and make this time your shutter speed.
7. Set your aperture at f/8 or above. Choose a wider aperture for a brighter picture and a smaller one for a dim look.
8. Examine your histogram, which charts your light values. If the histogram is mostly on the left side of the chart, your exposure is probably correct. If a significant portion of it is concentrated on the right side, your shot will be overexposed. Choose a smaller aperture setting.
9. Shoot RAW, if available. If your camera does not support this file format, shoot the format that introduces the least amount of compression, such as TIFF or a high-quality JPEG.
10. Manually focus the camera on your subject. At low light levels, many cameras will have difficulty autofocusing, which may ruin the picture.
11. Shoot the picture by pressing the shutter button in Manual mode or by pressing and holding the button in Bulb mode. When using the latter setting, place a dark cloth over the shutter when you first open it, then remove it to begin the exposure after the camera shake caused by the motion of the shutter and mirror has dissipated.
12. Examine the picture's overall illumination as well as the length and style of the light streaks. Light photography is not an exact science, so you may need to experiment several times before you find the settings that will allow you to shoot the picture you want. Open up or stop down the aperture to make the overall picture lighter or darker. Decrease the shutter speed to include more and longer light streaks or increase the speed to shorten them.
Tags: your camera, Bulb mode, camera shake, shutter speed, introducing camera, introducing camera shake
