Landscape photography is one of the most highly admired photography genres at this moment. Photographers are engaging themselves in this sort of photography a lot these days. They are experimenting with this genre in different ways using different perspectives. One of the coolest ways to add an extra ambiance to a landscape photo which will make the photograph look more majestic is to use the long exposure photography technique.
This is the technique which many photographers use while capturing a landscape photo. You must have seen those pictures where the sea looks frozen, the clouds look like smoke, light trails on the roads and many other pictures where it looks like time has been slowed down.These are the photos where long exposure technique has been utilized. It may look hard but to be honest capturing photos using long exposure is damn easy. But before capturing any long exposure shots you should at least know how to compose an image and the types of creative photography composition techniques professional suggests. You can also outsource photo editing services if you want some professional to do this for you.
You must also be aware of the rules for capturing digital landscape photography. If you have a strong basic only then you can go forward to capturing a long exposure photograph. In this article I’ll tell you about what long exposure photography is and some cool long exposure photography ideas never seen before.
What is long exposure photography?
Before starting I would like to give you a simple description about what long exposure photography is and how can you click one. Long exposure photography is that type of photography where you can make time slower and can click the slow motion image of any object. To capture a long exposure shot you will just have to use a slow shutter speed and a large aperture value and the ISO according to the scene. This will capture the movement of the objects in slow motion that way you will get an image where everything looks like it’s frozen.
So without further adieu, let’s start talking about the cool long exposure photography ideas that you can use to capture different sorts of long exposure shots right away.
Camera for long exposure photography
For long exposure photography any descent camera can be used. But you just need to make sure it has the option for controlling the shutter speed and has bulb mode. If you have these two things in your camera then you are ready to capture a long exposure shot. Still the most high quality camera brands you can use are Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic and Olympus.
Lens for long exposure photography
Lens is something that will be very much important for capturing a long exposure photo. The lens needs to have a stabilizer mode if you are planning to capture long exposure photo using your hands. Everyone prefers a tripod for taking unshaken images. It is best if you use a wide angle lens in this sort of photography. A wide angle lens will help you capture a wider view of the scene. This way you can capture more lights trails. There are the best wide angle lenses you can buy on a small budget – Samyang AF 24mm f/2.8 FE, Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR, Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 II.
Camera setting
The basic camera setting for long exposure photography is to use a low shutter speed. You can use the shutter priority mode (Av) for controlling the shutter. Then activate the bulb mode on the camera for using the shutter according to you. Then use an auto ISO for letting the camera decide which is best for the situation.
Use city lights
City also emits lights that you can’t see through your naked eyes but it can be seen if you capture a long exposure shot of the city view. Use the long exposure method to capture the light trails of the city reaching the sky. Even the mirror reflection of light can also be captured using long exposure photography.
Use lights from running vehicles
This is the most loved long exposure shot of every photographer. In this kind of long exposure photography you can capture the light trails a vehicle leaves while it’s running on the road. You need to find a free road where cars are moving fast. Then you can capture the light trails of these cars using long exposure photography ideas.
Freeze waves of water
Water waves can also be captured using long exposure photography. You can make the ocean water waves look still in the image. You will have to apply the long exposure technique for capturing this sort of image. Compose the image first then use bulb mode to control the time of shutter. Keep the aperture a higher number so that the exposure stays balanced. Make sure you have the histogram open. Then capture the shot of the ocean waves. The image will look calm and cool.
Take cloud long exposure
Clouds are always moving. It means you can also capture the trails of these movements easily. All you have to do is apply the long exposure rule. I prefer using a ND filter to capture cloud images. It doesn’t cause reflection and also keeps the contrast balanced. You can see the things a ND filter does in photography for more info.
Do astrophotography
Astrophotography or star trail photography is also a type of long exposure photography. In this kind of photo you can capture the motion of the star trails using your camera. You need to use bulb mode with a combination of higher aperture value and auto ISO. Make sure the focus is on manual and set to infinity. You can know how to set the focus on infinity using your lens of the camera. This way you can use the theory of long exposure photography to capture star trails and do astrophotography.
Use fireworks capture sparklers
Most of you have seen sparklers in many photographs and the trails the sparkler creates. You can also capture such photos of the sparklers using your camera and the concept of long exposure photography. Someone just has to light up the sparkler and then move it around to create any shape and then using your camera take a long exposure shot of the firework sparkler.
Use laser lights to create shapes
Laser lights are the most common kinds of tools used for capturing cool light shapes using long exposure photography. The process is simple tell you subject to keep moving the laser light and creating shapes using it then capture the long exposure shot of the light trails.
Conclusion
Long exposure photography is one of the most trending types of photography captured by most of the photographers around the world. They do different sort of photography experiment using this trick. You can also capture such types of shots using these amazing and cool long exposure photography ideas I have provided in this article. So best of luck to you hope that you will also capture some cool long exposure photos soon using these ideas.
