Long Exposure Drawing With Lights
Place your camera on a tripod and focus the lens to infinity.
Long exposure drawing with lights. Practiced since the 1880s the technique. Some people will use nd filters for super long exposures but i have yet to be so inclined. I don t use any filters for night shooting lest they create unwanted flares or distort points of light.
One of the things i ve really enjoyed playing around with over the years is drawing pictures with light using long exposures. Remember that if your lenses have image stabilisation to turn this off for the long exposure. Moving traffic under long exposure creates streams of white and red light from the head and tail lights.
A camera that allows you to set your shutter speed. A long exposure on a starry night can produce beautiful light trails created by the stars and the rotation of the earth. Another excellent example would be using a camera rotation tool to spin the camera in a 360º motion during the exposure using stationary city lights to create the image below.
F 11 8 secs iso 200. If your camera is not capable of a exposure that long then you just have to adjust your speed accordingly. Not all light painting activities require a lengthy exposure anything from 10 20 seconds will be enough to get you started.
Take a look at these ideas for some quick inspiration in using long exposure. The possibilities are endless. If you re using a long exposure then you will need to keep the camera still to avoid any blur so a tripod is a must.
Shooting on bulb mode. A sturdy tripod or solid surface. Light painting painting with light light drawing or light art performance photography are terms that describe photographic techniques of moving a light source while taking a long exposure photograph either to illuminate a subject or space or to shine light at the camera to draw or by moving the camera itself during exposure of light sources.
A example of a kinetic light painting would be holding a camera in your hands opening the shutter for a long exposure and using the light from a full moon to create a moonlight drawing. The best way to frame the image is to include an element of interest such as an old tree in the foreground. These photographs definitely aren t hard to do.
