Shutter Speed – Light Painting and Long Exposures

The tasks

Activity 5.3: Long exposure photography

Long exposure photography refers to images captured using a long, or slow, shutter speed—often in the seconds, rather than fractions of seconds.

Ideal subjects for long exposure photography are sunrises, waterfalls, fireworks, night shots and more. A tripod is essential and a shutter release cable, or camera remote, a bonus.

Activity 5.4: Light painting

Light painting is a technique which involves moving a portable or handheld light source, such as a torch, while taking a long exposure.

The light source can be used either to illuminate the subject or to shine directly at the camera.

The Results

Long exposure photography has long been a favourite of mine or as I like to call it Playing with Light. I don’t get out as often as I should to capture beautiful sunrises , waterfalls, fountains or light trails. For my long exposure in this exercise I chose to nip around the corner to Victoria Road and capture some light trails. For the light painting we used sparklers as I couldn’t find the finger lights. The featured image is one I took at Homebush Bay Near Wentworth Point on The Parramatta River, looking across to Rhodes from Homebush Bay /Olympic Park at Sunset, I used a Nikkor 18-55 mm lens Nikon D3200 ISO 100 F/36 1 sec 55mm and also a pink graduated filter to enhance the pinks and purples in the clouds.

This set of exercises was a great deal of fun, and I got to indulge in one of my favourite activities and get my daughter to join in by letting her dance around with sparklers. It took her a few goes to get what I wanted and while I didn’t get the perfect shot I was after it was fun and it’s more for the technique for the excercise in Camera and Capture module 5.

The location for the light trails isn’t the most interesting as I just popped down around the corner to Maccas because know it’s busy and I could focus easier on the signs in the dark.

For all of the light trails and light painting shots, I shot in bulb mode with tripod and camera release remote so I could shoot for longer periods of time without camera shake.

I really wish I’d had a filter on when I was shooting the light trails so the street lights looked better in the photos but that’s about my only gripe and something I’ll remember next time as it was on my 55-200 mm lens and not on the 18-55 lens I was using when I was shooting.