Long Exposure?

Question

i am new to long exposure...and am planning on giving it a try this weekend- have any tips?

i know nothing of it really...and am not sure how to time it to get the correct exposure

and i am gathering with long-exposure it would have to be night photography right?

if i kept the shutter open for lets say 305 seconds.... would it have to be nearly pitch-black outside??

sorry for the dumb questions...its just ive seen AMAZING photographs taken with long-exposure and am totally clueless on the subject :)

thank you

Answer 1

The enemy of long exposures is camera movement. You are correct that most are done in low light situations....but I consider anything over 1 sec. to be long exposure. (This would include long exposures of water falls and streams so the water looks smooth on sunny days.) Have a sturdy shooting surface....tripod or a small bean bag works nice. If the camera has a self timer you may want to try that so you don't move the camera when you open or close the shutter. If you don't have a self timer you may look for a cable release that allows you control of the shutter remotely. Five minute exposures are REALLY long. You will get a lot of star trails if you incorporate the night sky. If you can determine the North Star and point the camera you will get circles of star trails...kinda cool. I would start with very low ASAs...50 or 100. If you use film you will get a dramatic (not necessarily a good thing) color shift. Film is designed to capture images in fractions of seconds. It doesn't do well on long exposures. If you use digital you should be able to see the results quickly and the histogram should tell you about any color shift.

Good Luck and have fun.

Answer 2

The two main things to consider from the get go (once you have a subject in mind) are the aperture and the shutter speed. Choosing aperture over shutter gives you the ability to give special effects to the depth of field. The smaller the aperture however, will make for a longer exposure time. You also should experiment using both the lowest ISO and the highest. All this should be done using a tripod. I do a lot of sky work via both high power binoculars and my scope. The beauty of digital is the instant result, letting you make changes on the fly.

Answer 3

get a tripod and a cable release or use the remote control if your camera has one. if you're using a real camera and not a pinhole then you probably will need to shoot at night. starlight/moonlight is ample to shoot under. if you're familiar with exposure value you can calculate long exposure by knowing your film speed and f/stop. use a very fast film. iso 400 will work but you will have longer exposure at higher f/stops. for example, shooting under moonlight is ev -2. using iso 400 with f/22 (highest f/stop for most detail) your exposure time would be 16 minutes.
anytime you have exposure times longer than 1 sec you will get reciprocity failure which basically means all guidelines are just guidelines and you will need to experiment with your exposure times.
the sites below explain exposure value fairly well. learn that and you'll have a great jumping off point to long exposure photography.

Answer 4

I grew up in Minnesota, USA and on occasion we'd be able to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borialis) in the summer. I used an old Cannon AE-1 camera to photograph them late at night. With the aperture wide open, I used the setting to leave the shutter open for 6-15 seconds to capture the wisps of light in the sky. This is just one example of how a long exposure time works to capture dim light at night. Without a professional-level light meter, your best bet is to set up your shot and take multiple exposures starting with one second, then two, then three, etc. Good luck!

Answer 5

Somehow or other you have to compensate for the long exposure not overexposing the picture. Low light is probably the most common (you'll have to experiment to get the right exposure - try 5 minutes on a moonlit night), but other methods, possibly in combination, would be (very) small f/stop, (very) slow film and neutral density filters.

Answer 6

I HAVE BEEN FASCINATED WITH PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY WHICH HAS CERTAIN LONG EXPOSURE TIMINGS AND YOU CAN MAKE A CAMERA OUT OF ANYTHING, EVEN SOME FOOD! THERE IS EVEN A PINHOLE CELEBRATION DAY FOR IT. I'M NOT SURE IT'S WHAT YOU HAD IN MIND BUT I FOUND THESE SITES THAT HAD SOME INTERESTING STUFF. I JUST TYPED IN 'LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY' AND GOT A LOT OF STUFF. AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT ASKING DUMB QUESTIONS... IT'S THE DUMB ANSWERS YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH! HAVE FUN!

Answer 7

This site should help you
http://www.danheller.com/tech-longexp.html