Turn on the secret of long exposures in photography

Long exposure photography is a concept not unfamiliar to people taking photos, especially for those who often take night photos, take photos of the sea, . During the shooting process, the photographer will extend the time turn exposure to light, thereby giving a bright enough picture but also adding fancy and unique effects. However, long exposures have many secrets around which you may not know.

1. Long exposure affects the sensor:

This is something we all get "alerted" when using DSLR cameras. But the truth is that there are hundreds of photographers doing long exposures on their cameras every day, and astronomers even make exposures in extremely long periods of time often. And their cameras are as stable or even longer than other low-light cameras. This is because when you shoot, the shutter and the flip mirror perform a shift that affects the parts of the camera. So please don't hesitate to take long exposures.

2. Take long exposures in dark conditions:

In many cases you will need long exposure even in the daytime, even if it is noon. In order to be exposed to such strong light conditions you will need to use ND filters. Now ND400 or ND1000 filter will be reasonable choices for you. Filters like ND4 or ND8 can extend your exposure time but not enough to make a difference.

3. Reduce noise when shooting long exposure:

During a long exposure, the temperature of the sensor increased, resulting in more noise. In fact, when you are exposed to less than 1 minute, the noise phenomenon is almost absent, but if exposure is more than 1 minute it will depend on the temperature of the sensor. Exposure in a 5 minute time on a DSLR camera to the night sky will make the image very bad with loud noise.

So when shooting star-trails, you should try to take a few shots and put them together instead of drying for as long as 20 minutes.

4. Turn off camera noise reduction mode:

Yes and no. New cameras today usually have two noise reduction features. A mode is performed to eliminate noise during long exposures and you should turn it on or automatically in this mode if you have long exposure and only take a single shot. The camera will automatically split into different shots at different times, then determine the "dark" area on the image and eliminate noise there.

The second mode is a high-level noise reduction mode. This mode only works with JPG files and is similar to other noise reduction software on the computer. You can turn it off or on to let the machine fix itself.

5. Better image results:

This is a very wrong idea. In many cases, exposure depends on what you shoot, how far away, the wind and some other factors. For example, if you want to describe the flow of water, exposure for a reasonable period of time accurately describes the movement of the water flow, and the result is the same as when you are long exposing. When you expose the waterfall, about 1/8 to 2 seconds will produce more beautiful and standard results. Long exposure makes the water surface slightly flat and gives a nice effect.

Refer to the following articles:

1. 10 tips for taking beautiful photos with digital cameras

1. 7 tricks to take better photos

1. Basic guide when buying digital cameras

Hope the above article is useful to you!