
If you want exposures beyond 10 seconds you’ll need the strongest there is. How do you expose for longer though, during the bright daylight? The answer is by using an ND filter. A tripod is necessary because exposure times will be more than one second.

The first thing to bear in mind is that you’ll need specific equipment to take daytime long exposures. During the day moving elements such as clouds and water will be affected. Slowing everything down can create dramatic effects. Taking daytime long exposures is a lot of fun, and is a way to create compelling images. This image is an abstract zoom burst of leafs during autumn. A simple kit lens is great to practice with, and for this type of zoom, it works best when you zoom in.

Keep the parallel line around 20 to 50m away.

To add extra interest it’s great to have static elements in the frame, such as a stationary pedestrian. The exact shutter speed you’ll use will depend on how fast the object happens to be moving. In all cases, there is a moving element in the frame, and you’re aiming to give the photo more of a narrative by showing movement. With this type of photo you might be attempting to capture the motion of passing pedestrians, a train as it pulls into a station, or perhaps a drummer beating his drum. This is what happens when you keep the camera completely still, but there are moving elements around the camera. But most photos in this category will be taken somewhere between these two shutter speeds. You can create much more dynamic photos by using shutter speeds between 1/40th of a second down to 1/2 a second.ĭepending on several factors you might photograph slightly faster or slower. Creative Photography Techniques With Slow Shutter Speed Some lenses have image stabilisation, and this might allow you to use a slightly slower shutter speed. You can follow this correlation as you change your focal length. The focal length you’re photographing at determines the slowest shutter speed you can use handheld.Īt 20mm you can photograph at 1/20th second, and at 200mm you’ll need to photograph at 1/200th.

You can take handheld slow shutter photos too, but just keep in mind the following thing. You’ll need a tripod once the shutter speed drops below a level where you can hold your camera in hand, without camera shake. It’s better to use a tripod even at these relatively faster slow shutter speeds, with the exception being camera rotation.
