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Exposure on the camera. Long exposure

The Ferris wheel at night, with long exposures, looks very impressive. To capture it you will need a wide-angle lens. Set up your camera on a tripod, frame your shot, and shoot. Since we want the maximum area of ​​the frame to be in focus, it is worth setting the aperture within f/11-f/32. When photographing at night, such an aperture will require a slow shutter speed. You will have to work in manual mode, or shutter priority mode. The shutter speed should be set to a value from 1 to 30 seconds. It is best to shoot using a timer, cable release or remote control remote control. As a result you should get a frame with dark sky, a clear center of the wheel and blurred wheel illumination lights.

Photographing star trails

By shooting at slow shutter speeds, you can achieve beautiful effects that show the movement of stars across the sky. Such photographs can be made much more beautiful thanks to trees and other interesting objects foreground. For this type of shooting, you need to set the camera's shutter speed to "Bulb" mode and set the aperture to f/2.8 - F/4 for optimal results. Use your remote control to activate the shutter button. ISO sensitivity should be set to its minimum value in order for photos to be as sharp and grain-free as possible. After the desired period of time has passed, press the button on the remote control again, thereby completing the process of creating a photo. In this case, at least 15 minutes should pass, and even better, it should be several hours.

Headlight blur

Shooting at long shutter speeds creates a stunning effect from the headlights. Photographing cars is a great way to learn how to work with long shutter speeds in particular, and manual modes in general. For such shooting, you will definitely need a tripod, since any hand shake will lead to blurry frame. In terms of settings, it is advisable to set the aperture to around f/16, this way most of the frame will be in focus and sharp. Then set the shutter speed. The longer the shutter speed you set, the longer the lines from the headlights you will get.

Sea waves blur

When taking photos sea ​​coast with a long shutter speed you will get a beautiful blurred wave effect that will look like fog. For this type of work, it is best to photograph in the last hour before sunset. For this work you will also need a tripod. For photography, it is recommended to use a wide-angle lens with the smallest aperture and focus at infinity. Turn the camera mode dial to manual mode, and use a slow shutter speed (5-30 seconds). The longer the shutter speed, the more fog-like it will look. sea ​​water. To avoid even the slightest blur, use a remote control, cable release or timer.

Exposure determination

The settings used during night operation will depend on certain factors. If, despite the night time, there is light around, then the shutter speed can be set lower, or the aperture can be closed larger. In any case, to create blur effects, it is recommended to set the shutter speed to about 1/2 second, which means using a tripod is mandatory for a high-quality result. If you have little experience shooting at night, then play with the settings and try different options values ​​for aperture and shutter speed.

When photographing at long exposures, important factor To select a setting, you must have an understanding of what effect you want to achieve. It is necessary to use such endurance, which would be sufficient to achieve one or another result. If the shutter speed is too slow at a wide aperture, the photo may end up being overexposed and image detail will be lost. When attempting to create a headlight trail, the shutter must be open for at least 1 second. Use shutter priority mode and, starting with a shutter speed of one second, observe what results are achieved. Then increase the shutter speed to two seconds, and so on, changing either the aperture value or the shutter speed value. Once you do beautiful photo, you will understand it immediately.

In addition to your DSLR or mirrorless camera, you will need a tripod, without one night photography There's practically nothing to do. A tripod will allow you to stabilize the camera, making it stable, and this will prevent blurry images. To practice night photography, your camera must have the ability to manually set the shutter speed and aperture.

Long exposure photography allows you to create interesting photos, providing the photographer with ample opportunities for creativity. This technique can be used in a variety of shooting situations and for completely different purposes. From shooting dynamic scenes to photographing night landscapes. In this article we will talk about how to properly take long exposure photographs to get the best results.

When to use slow shutter speed

First you need to decide what it is. As you know, shutter speed determines the time period (in fractions of a second, seconds or minutes) during which the photosensitive sensor of the camera captures the image. Shutter speed is one of those parameters that, together with the sensitivity of the sensor, corrects the brightness of the image. Conventionally, a long shutter speed can be defined as a shutter speed of more than 1/10 of a second. This period of time is quite enough in a normal shooting situation for moving objects in the final photograph to be blurred. However, in practice, photographers use much longer shutter speeds to achieve the results they need. In what cases should you resort to using long shutter speeds? Here are a few of the most common situations:

— Displaying dynamics in the image

If you want to convey the dynamics of the movement of an object in a photograph, then you should use a long shutter speed. This is relevant not only when photographing cars and other objects, but also when filming a mountain river or a rushing stream. Moreover, the slower the object you want to photograph moves, the higher value shutter speed should be chosen to convey the intensity of movement.

— Elimination of dynamics


This is the opposite situation, where you will need to set an even longer shutter speed. For example, if you want to get a calm water surface in the photo without small splashes and splashes, or you need fast-moving clouds in the sky to turn into a kind of snow sheet covering an urban settlement in the photo. Shooting at a slow shutter speed can blur sea ​​waves on the coast, turning them into a surreal fog. In addition, an ultra-long shutter speed allows you to concentrate the viewer’s attention on the main subject, because the longer the shutter speed, the fewer unnecessary details will remain in the picture.

— Shooting in low light conditions

Of course, long exposures can be used for photography when there is a lack of light. When shooting at night or evening time Often you have to lengthen the shutter speed to get a better and brighter shot. But it’s best if you use a flash or some other light source in the frame. After all, for more long time exposure, you have the opportunity not only to highlight the desired object, but even to create a unique light pattern through the use of a flashlight and other light sources.


Of course, the possibilities for using long shutter speeds when photographing night landscapes are truly endless. Photographing moving cars at night looks very interesting. Thanks to this simple technique, you can create amazing artistic effects from the light of car headlights. The longer the shutter speed you set, the longer the light lines from the headlights will appear in the photo.

These are the most common situations in which you may need to set your shutter speed to a longer one. Now let's look in more detail at what tools need to be used when shooting like this and what you should pay close attention to.

— Choose shooting conditions

Long exposure photography requires very specific shooting conditions. This, in particular, can be the hours of sunrise or sunset, when the contrast in the clouds increases and the photographs turn out to be very interesting. Naturally, it’s good if there is some movement in the frame. The same clouds and wind can bring it into the frame. If you are shooting near a body of water, it is very good to photograph at dusk, when natural light takes on a bluish tint. A cloudy day is suitable for landscape shots. In this case, you can use neutral density filters. IN sunny day You can photograph architectural objects at long exposures. The main thing is that the sky with moving clouds is present in the frame. In general, try to slow your shutter speed only where it is appropriate.

— Use a tripod, cable or remote control

When we are dealing with long exposures, to obtain high-quality frames, of course, a stable tripod with a sturdy design is required. It is necessary that during the exposure time the camera remains completely motionless. Here, any, even the slightest movement can completely “kill” the frame. For landscape photography, choose a stable tripod with sufficient weight.

To eliminate any movement, use a cable release or remote control. Of course, you can simply limit yourself to the timer on the camera, but a cable or remote control makes it possible to avoid the slightest shaking of the device during a long exposure. When using a conventional timer (shutter delay), the efficiency of shooting is greatly deteriorated and there is no opportunity to catch right moment in the frame. So if you are hunting for some exceptional, interesting shot, then it is better to really get a remote control.

— Use filters

Long exposures are an excellent reason to use filters. The Neutral Gray (ND) filter is a translucent glass. It is advisable to use such filters during daylight hours in order to somewhat reduce the light flux entering the camera matrix, and thus make it possible to use long exposures more comfortably.

ND filters differ in the number of dimming levels by which the scene illumination is reduced. One step is a twofold difference in the degree of illumination. Accordingly, neutral gray filters allow you to increase the exposure time of a frame. Today there are nine and ten-stop filters that can be used to use 30-second exposures even in sunny weather.

Neutral gray gradient filters do something a little different. Thanks to this filter, you can even out the brightness in a photo image. The need for this especially often appears when photographing landscapes. For example, when the sky in the frame turns out to be much brighter than objects on the ground. Neutral gray gradient filter allows you to minimize this difference, providing more smooth transition from light to shadow.

- Don't forget about camera settings and composition

Generally, good long exposure photographs are characterized by minimalism and simple composition. Long exposures make it possible to exclude unnecessary, unnecessary details from the frame, making the composition more concise and simple. This is exactly what we should always strive for. By the way, because of this, black and white shots taken at long exposures often look more attractive than color ones. So in many shooting situations it makes sense to shoot monochrome still images.

In low-light conditions or when using a very high-density filter, you should forget about autofocus. In such situations, it is recommended to first decide on the composition of the shot, then adjust the focus manually without using a filter, and only then carefully attach the filter to the camera. Next, all you have to do is press the shutter button. Regarding the settings, it all depends on the effect you want to achieve. Use shutter priority mode and gradually change the exposure time to see what results you get. It is important to find the optimal shutter speed. You can start, for example, with one second and gradually increase the shutter speed. If you use a wide aperture, be careful not to set the shutter speed too long. Otherwise, the picture will be overexposed.

It is best to use the RAW format. This will allow you to capture larger number details in dark and light areas of the frame, and will also make it possible to adjust the white balance during subsequent processing. In addition, RAW photo images are easier to convert into monochrome images, producing high-quality results. Please note that even if minimum indicators sensor sensitivity (ISO) when shooting at long shutter speeds, noise may appear in the photographic image. So post-processing of images with correction or elimination of defects becomes an almost mandatory procedure.

— Activate Bulb mode

When working with long exposures, it is advisable to resort to the Bulb mode, which is present in most modern devices. The fact is that in many DSLRs, the shutter speed that can be used is limited to 30 seconds. Sometimes this is not enough. And this is where the Bulb mode comes to the rescue, allowing you to keep the camera shutter open for as long as you need it. The shutter speed value is determined only by the duration of pressing the shutter button. Of course, here you will definitely need a release cable. Thanks to this mode, you can take interesting shots with a shutter speed of several minutes. Such a very long shutter speed can be used, for example, to effectively blur the water element.

Shooting at long exposures will require more responsibility from you, attention to composition and camera settings. However, this is a very attractive area of ​​photography, which, with the right approach, will allow you to create very unusual and vibrant photographs.

by Thomas Larsen

Many photographers, especially beginners, neglect the possibilities that shutter speed control provides. Most often, the aperture is set, and the shutter speed is used only for compensation in order to obtain a normal exposure. In this short photography tutorial, we'll look at how shutter speed can be used creatively and some of the mistakes photographers make when choosing shutter speed.

You should always know what you are shooting, why you are doing it and what results you can expect.

Five classic camera shutter speeds

1. Freeze motion, or shoot 1/250 s or faster

Using a fast shutter speed helps to get a fairly balanced shot, but makes the photo too static. Any movement in the frame will be frozen. You can fix this by trying to slightly change the camera's tilt to get a more dynamic photo composition. But best option- use the technique of shooting with wiring, which we will write about later.


The faster the subject moves, the shorter the shutter speed should be. For example:

  • fast moving cars or animals: 1/1000 s;
  • mountain bikes or running people: 1/500 s;
  • waves: 1/250 s.

It should be remembered that individual parts of the object can move very quickly. A striking example similar to a helicopter. The fuselage itself can be frozen at a shutter speed of 1/250, but for the blades even 1/2000 may not be enough. Or, for example, when photographing a girl fluttering her hair in order to freeze the ends of her hair, it is also necessary to use shutter speeds of the order of 1/1000 or even less, while the model itself is moving relatively slowly.

How do you solve the problem of “lubrication”?

You can take a lot of shots, but knowing the laws of physics and the peculiarities of recording frames on a memory card, they do it differently. First, about physics: if you throw a ball up, when will it have the highest speed, and at what point the lowest? That's right - the largest one is when the ball just comes off the hand, and the smallest one is at the point where it stops to fly down, i.e. at the peak of its movement along the top-down flight path.

When filming competitions, where, say, motorcyclists take off on a springboard, the most interesting point is the dive, which is also the “slowest” in terms of movement. Taking as many frames as possible is not best approach to solve the problem. At some point, the camera will simply stop to record everything on the flash drive, and at sporting events such a delay can lead to the loss of the best shot.

Instead, use a series of 2-3 frames while your main subject is at the peak of his or her movement. This approach provides the photographer with optimal chances of receiving best images due to the fact that the camera will have enough time to record the frame to the memory card without blocking.

2. Shooting with wiring

When shooting with tracking, when the camera is used to track the movement of an object, shutter speed plays a very important role. important role. It must be in the range from 1/15 to 1/250 s.


If you have a lot of time, you can make calculations - what shutter speed will be needed to photograph cars moving in a certain area, but in reality everything is a little simpler. If everything in the frame is too blurry, then you need to make the shutter speed shorter.

If the frame freezes the movement of the car, then an increase in exposure time is required. And don’t forget that 1/125 is a longer period of time than 1/250

For example, some quantities that photographers most often use:

  • fast moving cars, motorcycles or birds: 1/125 s;
  • mountain bikes close to camera: 1/60 sec;
  • mountain bikes, animal movement or human work: 1/30 sec.

by Jamey Price 1/60

3. How to use slow shutter speed

It is also called creative blur - 1/15 s to 1 s.


Here it is necessary to make a small technical digression and remind you what a camera is. This is an image capture tool that allows you to simulate to some extent human eye, human view. But having created this instrument, man began to obtain unusual effects that are difficult to see in life. Our vision conventionally “takes 25 frames” per second in normal lighting, and we are accustomed to seeing the world as we see it. But the camera, due to the fact that it is different, can show us the world differently.

In particular, make a frame overlay () or with a slightly longer shutter speed show the blur of moving objects, turning them into a line.


A similar effect can be observed with your eyes if you quickly turn a flashlight in complete darkness. An eye adapted to darkness will perceive a moving spotlight as a line.

A slow shutter speed is used to photograph, for example, a waterfall. Specialists in in this case Of course, they use manual settings and , but you can simply set the camera to shutter priority mode (Tv).


by Roland Maria, 3"

Here are some shutter speeds for motion blur:

  • fast waterfall: 1/8 s;
  • people walking near the shooting point; waves; slow water movement: 1/4 sec.

In bright light conditions (on a sunny day), it may be difficult to obtain the required shutter speed (below 1/8 sec.), even by changing the aperture or low values ISO. To reduce the amount of light, use a neutral gray (ND) filter, which is exactly what it is designed for. In ours you can find variable density neutral gray filters, which allow you to reduce the amount of light passing through the lens to almost zero and can even make sunny day night. Well, and of course, when using long exposures, it becomes mandatory to use or.

4. Photography with shutter speed from 1 s to 30 s

There are processes that take a long time, and a shutter speed of up to 1 second is no longer enough. These processes differ not only in time, they differ in perception. At shutter speeds from 1 to 30 seconds, all processes that occur quickly in the frame are erased, leaving only static... soft static. There is a feeling that the world has frozen. The movement disappears again. Only if at shutter speeds of 1/1000 the movement disappears, but a person sees an object that could move, then at a 30 second shutter speed there is no movement left.


This effect can only be achieved if you use a tripod. At the same time, it can no longer be light and portable, but a stable and heavy model is needed, since even a slight wind will affect image acquisition. Photographers often use a simple technique - they hang additional weight on a tripod and most often use this weight to hiking conditions serves as a working photo backpack. On most tripods you can see a hook at the bottom for hanging the load and, accordingly, giving it greater stability. Additionally, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with some other working techniques -.

Excerpts that photographers use to create photos like this:

  • the movement of the wind in the leaves of the trees: 30 s;
  • smooth movement of the sea surface: 15 s;
  • fast moving clouds: 8 sec;
  • waves with some details preserved: 1 s.

If you plan to shoot before sunrise or after sunset, be prepared for the light to change very quickly, so you'll need to change your aperture (or use a faster or slower shutter speed).

5. Shooting at night - shutter speed over 30 s

Shooting at night means there is very little light. Accordingly, many photographers want to increase the value, which most often leads to an increase in noise when individual pixels begin to appear much brighter than others.

If you leave the ISO minimal and just set a long shutter speed, this will lead to some reduction in image noise.

Most often, astrophotographers—that is, people who photograph the starry sky—face such problems. In addition, with long exposures due to the rotation of the Earth, an effect occurs when the stars line up in a round dance.

In order to avoid this, special equatorial mounts (tripods for telescopes) are used, which allow them to compensate for the movement of the Earth.

For example, to photograph the night sky you may need next time excerpts:

  • individual stars or full moon landscapes: 2 min.;
  • star tracks: 10 min.

Global bug fixes

Hand trembling

In addition to the fact that the selected shutter speed should depend on the speed of the object and the amount of light, we remind you that the shutter speed is also affected by such a phenomenon as blur from natural hand trembling. The longer the focal length of the lens, the shorter the shutter speed should be. You can roughly calculate it as follows - the focal length in mm corresponds to the shutter speed in fractions of a second. That is, with a 50 mm lens, you can shoot handheld at a shutter speed of at least 1/50 sec without fear of blurring (unless, of course, you are dancing at this time or riding a tour bus), and for 200 mm you will already need 1/200 sec.


Even a simple monopod allows you to increase shutter speed by 1-2 times. The photographer has the opportunity to shoot with longer shutter speeds. A good tripod allows you to take photographs at any shutter speed.

The exposure time is a quality indicator even at . According to the observations of professional portrait photographers, at a shutter speed of 1/50, portraits turn out “alive.” With longer shutter speeds, blur appears, and with shorter shutter speeds, portraits turn out too frozen.

Failure to correctly use the camera's shutter speed will lead a novice photographer to stagnation. creative development. There is no need to be afraid to master what is initially difficult to perceive. Ask questions, together we will look for answers from advanced and professional photographers.

One of the key concepts in photography is shutter speed. It is this, together with the aperture, that “decides” how much light will get into the camera and what our frame will be like: dark, overexposed or correctly exposed. What is camera shutter speed? This is the amount of time the camera shutter remains open, allowing light to pass through to the sensor.

Since the shutter speed is responsible for the passage of light not alone, but together with the aperture, it cannot be said that it determines what the picture should be like, but a lot depends on it. For example, it is impossible to catch an interesting phase of movement with a long shutter speed. Conversely, if you shoot with a fast shutter speed in low light, the photo will turn out too dark. How to properly set the shutter speed on your camera? Automatic camera modes do not allow the photographer to control the setting of the desired shooting parameters, but in manual mode (M)

or in shutter priority mode it's easy to do. It is available in Canon 600d, Canon 1100d, Canon 60d, Canon 50d, Canon 550d, Nikon d3100, Nikon d5100, Nikon d90, and many other SLR cameras. This mode is for Canon camera indicated by letters TV. Shutter priority Nikon camera(including cameras of other brands) is indicated by the letter S.

If the camera shutter speed is more important for a particular frame than its depth of field, then you need to choose this mode.

To prevent the image from being blurred, you need to remember that you can shoot handheld (that is, without a tripod or stop) with a shutter speed of no more than 1/40 of a second (that is, values ​​of 1/30, 1/15 and more already run the risk of getting blurry photograph). If the subject is moving, then you need to “ask” the shutter to operate even faster - it is better if it is a value of 1/125 (1/250, 1/500 and less).

These are approximate values, since the minimum possible shutter speed for sharp shooting also depends on what focal length you have chosen. The longer the zoom, the more difficult it is to hold it steady, which means that at longer focal lengths the shutter speed will have to be shorter. At long shutter speeds, it is good to shoot in low light - if the subject is motionless or, conversely, you need to show movement “from and to” (for example, the trajectory of the rotation of stars or the movement of cars with lights on).

You can get interesting results by shooting at slow shutter speeds with flash (for example, with second-curtain flash sync).

At very short shutter speeds, you can only shoot in sufficient light - otherwise the image risks being darkened. Unusual moments of movement captured in such a way – both of live models and not only of them – look very impressive: for example, splashes of water, moving vehicles, emotions, etc.

Shutter speed is a great tool for perfecting exposure, controlling blur, and creating interesting effects. Discover what it is and how to use it.

There is an opinion that in mastering photography one should concentrate on developing creative skills, and not on studying the technical side. However, there are some important technical elements, which are simply necessary to master in order to obtain good photos. Endurance is one of these elements.

Shutter speed is one of three elements (along with aperture and ISO) that determine exposure. Shutter speed determines how bright your photo will turn out and also allows you to add many creative effects to your photo. Let's look at what shutter speed is, why it's important, and how you can use it.

Shutter speed is an important tool in photography and needs to be learned.

What is endurance?

A camera shutter is a small curtain that sits directly in front of the sensor inside your camera. When you take a photo, this curtain opens and closes, as if letting in light, which affects the matrix, thereby forming an image. Shutter speed, i.e. shutter speed shows how quickly the curtain opens and closes.

A fast shutter speed indicates that the curtain is opening for a short period of time; long exposure - for a long period.

How is endurance measured?

Shutter speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second. For example, a shutter speed of 1/100 means 1/100th of a second, or 0.01 second. Shutter speed is also called exposure time because shutter speed indicates the period of time during which light is exposed to the sensor.

Most cameras have wide range shutter speeds - from one thousandth of a second to several seconds. SLR cameras (single lens reflex cameras) also have a 'Bulb' mode, which will keep the shutter open for as long as you want.

Best exposure

In auto mode, the camera tries to find the best shutter speed to capture the scene you want. Unfortunately, she does not always succeed in this, and the photographs may turn out underexposed (dark) or blurry.

The best solution is to put the camera in manual mode and determine the shutter speed yourself, taking into account the following.

Camera shake

Camera shake occurs when you hold the camera in your hands. It doesn't matter that you think you're holding it steady, because perfect stability still can't be achieved. This results in blurry or unclear photos.

Handheld photography causes camera shake and blurring of stationary objects.

You can compensate for camera shake with a short shutter speed. This is most noticeable when using lenses with long focal lengths - the longer the focal length, the faster the shutter speed must be to compensate for camera shake.

There is a rule according to which the longest shutter speed should be equal to 1/focal length of the lens. For example, for a 200mm lens, you should use a shutter speed no longer than 1/200 sec. This takes into account the effective focal length of the lens, which is determined by multiplying focal length to the crop factor of the camera.

Motion Blur

Motion blur occurs when you photograph moving subjects, such as a runner. If you use a slow shutter speed, the trailer will move across the frame while the shutter is open, resulting in a blurry streak in the final image.

Use short shutter speed to avoid blur, or long to convey movement more creatively.

You can eliminate blur from your photo by using a fast shutter speed. This will mean that the subject will move less while the shutter is open, thereby reducing the effect of blur. With a fast enough shutter speed, the blur becomes invisible and the action appears frozen.

But before you lower your shutter speed, you should consider whether you really want to eliminate blur. After all, this is a great way to convey speed and movement. You can also take a panoramic shot, i.e. follow the subject with the camera, keeping it in focus and blurring the background.

Exposition

You also need to make sure that the exposure is set correctly. A slower shutter speed lets in more light than a shorter shutter speed. The challenge is to choose a shutter speed that allows just the right amount of light in so that the image is not too bright (overexposed) or too dark (underexposed), and that all important areas of the scene are sufficiently illuminated.

Choosing the right shutter speed is important to get the perfect exposure with good highlights and shadows.

But do not forget that exposure is not only shutter speed, but also aperture and ISO number. A good practice is to select a shutter speed that produces the desired amount of blur (if desired), and then select the appropriate aperture and ISO to obtain the correct exposure.

Creative effects

By using very short or very long shutter speeds, you can achieve interesting, creative effects.

Photographing at very long shutter speeds (from several seconds to several minutes) allows you to create, for example, the effect of blurry clouds, giving moving water a foggy effect, or to obtain light trails from moving cars or stars.

Very long shutter speeds are used to produce interesting abstract effects such as hazy soft water.

Conversely, if you use a very fast shutter speed, you can “freeze” such beautiful movements, such as the flight of birds, an athlete during sports, or splashes of water. In order to learn how to take such shots, you need to practice a lot and learn from mistakes, but once this technique is mastered, the photos look simply amazing.

To freeze movement, use a very fast shutter speed.

The effects that can be achieved by varying shutter speed are countless. Don't be afraid to experiment and use settings you've never used before—you never know what will bring freshness to ordinary everyday objects.

The best way to learn shutter speed is to put your camera in manual or shutter priority mode and practice. Pay attention to how certain shutter speeds affect the photograph, what effects they bring to the image, and then use this experience to bring your photographs to a fundamental level. new level creativity.

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