I enjoy experimenting with long exposures. I use them a lot in night photography, astro, lightning, city lights and more. But I really love to use them during the day to give some really cool effects of movement in the photo. It could be clouds, waterfalls, streams, waves, or vehicles. One thing that is a mandatory piece of kit for this type of photography is a strong, sturdy tripod. Once you have used a really solid unit; you won't go back. The other thing that can be very useful is an ND filter. This shot was taken on a very still afternoon at the lake with an ND filter.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 30 sec
Aperture: f/14
ISO: 100
ND Filter: Lee 6 stop
During the day and when there is a bit of light around, ND filters come in very handy to enable much longer exposures. This shot was taken just after sunset in Hervey Bay and was a 179 second exposure. The movement of the cloud is very cool and the water looks still and calm.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 179 sec
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
ND Filter: Lee 10 stop (The Big Stopper)
From an exposure of nearly 3 mins in the last shot to just 10 seconds in the next, there is so much you can do while playing around with the shutter speed. The shot of the Story Bridge was taken just after sunset while there was still some light in the sky and the lights on the bridge were starting to take effect.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 10 sec
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
If I hear about a supermoon, I will try and get out to take a shot. I tried this shot a few times over the years and this is the best result that I got. This shot was taken in 2014 and I now know how to do it (see next image). This was taken from Tamborine Mountain looking east as the supermoon rose over the Gold Coast. If I get back down that way, I will try this one again.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM
Shutter speed: 5 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100
After seeing some amazing photos of supermoons and moons generally in front of iconic locations and amazing landscapes, I turned to YouTube to see what I could find out. There is a plethora of information out there, it is just a matter of sifting through it. I found a great video on how to blend two photos using Photoshop and the resulting image is below. The main image of a cargo ship leaving the Port of Mackay was shot at 1600 ISO and a 1/25 exposure. The moon is a 1/25 at 100 ISO. The exposure times are not that long for this one, but I am pretty happy with the result. I am looking forward to more opportunities to practice this technique.
Camera: Canon EOS R8
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM
2 photos blended.
You can have a lot of fun with long exposures with things like steel wool, light painting, fire twirlers, fireworks, even the kids with sparklers can be fun. This shot was taken at an organised steel wool spinning night with the spinners very serious about their craft. It made for some pretty epic photos.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 20 sec
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 100
There are a couple of ways to take the next image. One way is to use the Bulb (B) setting on your camera, along with a remote control, and take a very long exposure. 30 minutes up to a few hours or more will give you a good result. The other way is to take a series of photos, again using a remote control, and then stack them into a single image. There is a range of software available and for this shot I used StarStax. This is a stack of about 120 photos of 20 sec exposure. One interesting thing in this image is a squiggly red line from the right-hand side to the chapel, down quite low. This was me walking through the shot with a flash (pilot light) that I put in the chapel to give some light in there. I thought that was funny, so I left it in.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 20 sec (multiple shots stacked and processed through StarStax)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 3200
This image is a single shot from the 120 odd 20 second exposures that I used to make the previous image. The technique of using multiple images gives you options on what you want to do with the photos. You can do single images, stacked to make star trails or even a timelapse. Other stacking software is available to track and stack giving you a really strong image of the stars without the movement.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 20 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 3200
I do enjoy sticking around after sunset to see what I can capture. It really makes it very pleasurable if you happen to be at a roof top bar in Bangkok. This shot was taken as the last light of the night sky disappeared and the lights of the city began to shine.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 30 sec
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
This image was taken way back in 2013 and is still one of my favourite shots. It is of the Urangan Pier and was for many years my go to sunrise spot in Hervey Bay. This particular morning, I didn't think I was going to get a shot as the cloud was quite heavy. But the result of some of the long exposures was great even though the sunrise colours didn't eventuate.
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: Canon EF
Shutter speed: 21 sec
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
Another cloudy morning and lack of sunrise colour, this time at Currumbin Beach. Again, time to have some fun with exposure. This one I like because the waves look like mist as they swirled through the rocks at the beach.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 15 sec
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
The last photo in this series is again, one of my favourite shots. This was, for a long time, my go to spot for sunsets. I think I will do a blog just on sunsets from here. On this day I had just witnessed a spectacular sunset which moved through colours from burnt orange and yellow to these pinks and purples. this shot was taken well after sunset, you can even see stars in the sky. The pastel colours and reflections in this one were amazing. It is a 30 second exposure with no filters required as it was already quite dark. I will continue to learn and experiment more with long exposure and enjoy the challenges of this type of photography.
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM
Shutter speed: 30 sec
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100