Long exposure photography can create some beautiful works of art from ordinary scenes. Water bodies become glass and clouds become picturesque waves in the sky. Here are some tips to get you started in this endeavor.
Long exposure photography is like a drug. The first time you do it, you’re just experimenting with aperture and shutter speed. Before you know it, you’re throwing ND filter into the mixture, then graduated ND filter And, well, the rabbit hole goes deep. There are a lot of steps to take, and if you make a mistake, it can take several minutes of exposure to fix it. By then, the sunset or cloud you were trying to capture may be gone.
That’s why, if you’re interested in trying this technique, this video from landscape photographer Attilio Ruffo worth watching. After a year-long YouTube hiatus, he’s back with a few tips to get you started.
One of the things I never think about these days as a mirrorless photographer without an optical viewfinder is covering the optical viewfinder on your DSLR. In a moment of what Ruffo admits was a rush, he captured a beautiful shot of the mountains with light streaming through the center of the frame. The culprit? He forgot to cover his viewfinder. Little things can make or break a photo.
I usually make my best guess when dialing in long exposures, and I’m usually wrong a few times. For Ruffo, he uses an app (I can’t find the app he’s using in the app store, but it seems to have similar functionality to Long Exposure Calculator) can shoot a “normal” exposure and then calculate a long exposure based on the number of stops of the ND filter. Definitely something to add to the checklist when using these apps.
While I still use screw-in filters, in the past few years many companies have come out with magnetic filters that make attaching them much easier. This Freewell M2 Quick Swap Magnetic The filter will make the job much easier without the risk of bumping the focus ring or focus ring, as I often do when screwing the filter on.
Ruffo offers more tips on finding the right composition and editing in the video above, and it’s well worth watching to see him go through the process and how he creates the final product.
Do you have any long exposure photography tips to share? Leave them in the comments below.
