I must admit to loving long exposure photography. With a bit of patience and an interesting subject you can achieve a different look to your photos. Some say its not real but from
an artistic point of view it is rewarding to show something different for the eye to see other than the “real” image. When it isn’t what the eye can see I regard it as art.
Living by the sea I take every opportunity to use long exposure photography to give the water a polished look.
By experimenting with your shutter speed you can achieve different looks to water, from a smoky look to a polished look with lovely reflections in between. To do this on a brighter day or anytime other than the magic hours of dusk or dawn, an ND filter might need to be used to enable you to slow down your shutter speed more. I use a 10 stop filter which I find very useful.
Another use is to slow down waterfalls to give a different look. Rather than the fast water you normally see, slow it down to give a softer appearance. It can look magical.
Experimenting is half the fun, take your time and have a go. I must admit I haven’t gone onto manual yet but I use the shutter speed (TV) dial and use live preview on my Canon 70D to see if it is right. Each second gives a different feel depending whether its the sea or a waterfall. With experimenting you will find out what suits you best. Also you need to consider the speed of the water beforehand as it can change what exposure you will need to use.
Below is a tutorial from Digital Photo school on reasons to get out and experiment with slow shutter speed. Good luck.
daysandmonths 
I found a 6th reason. Looking at your outstanding photos. I like long exposure photography but haven’t done enough in the past. Thanks for the motivation boost. Reinhold
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I have to say I am quite taken with long exposures as well and love how I can use them. We are going to be a great pair around AB.
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I think so too! Do you do bracketed shots. I have been doing the one scene at three different exposures and putting them together in Photomatix but wonder whether it is worth it as I feel just the one exposure might work better because its sharper??
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Yes, I bracket nearly everything, though not so much with the long exposures, especially if they are really long. I rarely do HDR’s now, they often seem too surreal to me, sometimes they are better though. I like to bracket for many things so I have more choices, I can decide which shot I think works best.
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We must talk more on our week away… 🙂
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Sounds like a plan. 😀
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You are obviously a very good photographer. I especially liked Kirra sunset but Night Sentinel was my favourite. Thanks for sharing your talents!
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Thanks for your lovely feedback. I was quite surprised how night Sentinel turned out actually and I liked it too, its a bit ‘darker’ than my usual in sentiment I think 🙂
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I like them all Kaz but I think Night Sentinel is extra special, extra atmospheric!
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Thanks Jane, yes it is very moody I think 🙂
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Long exposures are always fun!
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Yes aren’t they 🙂
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Very beautiful! I love your pastel sort of look. I’ve just started trying them as well and I love how you put it about not seeing something as it is but as art. Wonderful!
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Thank you for explaining the long exposure photography, Kaz! These long exposure photos are beautiful. 🙂
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Thanks Amy 🙂
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You know, I’ll put it on my list of things to try out in photography. Thanks for talking about it.
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Your welcome, its a bit daunting at first but once you have a few second shot and it looks good you are hooked. Let me know how you go 🙂
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me too!! Like yours that is!! they are gorgeous Kaz!
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Kaz, I could swear I left a comment on this post a bit ago. Alas, it was likely from my iPad and things sometimes seem to go wrong when posting from there. Anyway, you know how much I love your water shots, and especially so because of your gift with long exposures! I recently realized that clouds were also another wonderful target for long exposures and tried my hand at it while on my last trip to NYC. I was working a scene of the Statue of Liberty against the clouds, but try as I might, I wasn’t getting the effect I wanted. I remember asking you what I might have been doing wrong (after explaining some of the details), but in the interim, I realized that the problem was the clouds were simply not moving very fast. So even with my 10-stop filter, I couldn’t keep it open long enough to capture movement without greatly overexposing the photo. So lessons learned 😀
I love the idea of your Techie Tuesdays, and though I’m very far behind in reading posts, I’m going to go looking for more of your tips and tidbits! Keep ’em coming 😀
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Thanks Artsy. You know I’ve had trouble to with replying. I start to toe and somehow its deleted who i was responding to which has happened a couple of times. So it could have been me. I’m not tech savvy by any means and if i fund a DPS article i like a ill try to bring it up but with some pics I’ve done. Unfortunately it can be a time issue. Am i to late for this month’s one focus Friday?
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Okay, first question: “Artsy”? Or is autocorrect on a rampage? 😂 And, um, I’d say you get the technicalities of long exposure down pat!! As for 1PF, send it on!
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Sorry Stacy it was on my mobile. Dont worry its not my new nickname for your lol! Im doing the post as we speak, hopefully by this evening I will have it done. Cant find your original email though with link 😦
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LOL 😀 Here’s the link (http://wp.me/p14eaH-1L3) though it won’t go live for another 60-plus hours… You’re ahead of the game 😉
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Thanks 😊
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Thanks! Beautiful photos and great advice. I have been lazy about experimenting with this. Thanks for the encouragement.
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Thanks for reading and commenting. Good luck I hope it helps 🙂
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