6 Tips for Shooting Long Exposure Night Photographs

[Reyed Mia (Apprentice, DIU)]

6 Tips for Shooting Long Exposure Night Photographs

1: Try to avoid using a Neutral Density filter

On this photo (below) I did a 25 second exposure. That is quite a long exposure and to help prevent it from blowing out, I took the photo right at the end of sunset. There was less light, so that I didn't have to put an ND Filter on.
If you put an ND filter on it is going to give you a color cast during long exposures. Yes you can use a polarizer, but avoid Neutral Density filters. Shoot when the sun is going down and keep your camera at a low ISO like 100 or 200. Don't get me wrong, I love ND filters but not at night.

2: The best time for long exposures is 25 seconds

I know that's a bold statement. Not as bold as stating that French food is the best in the world, but still a bold statement. Here is why I recommend this; I've found that when I shoot at 25 seconds it makes the water silky and the clouds stretchy and this has a beautiful look that sells well. Obviously it's also an artistic choice, but as a photographer you likely want people to buy your photos. The best indicator that people like your photos is that they buy them.

3: Try different exposures of the same scene

Even though I said that 25 seconds exposure is the best, it's always good to shoot different exposures because this may be different for your situation. For example, I thought that this first image was my go-to photo.

4: Shoot towards the sun

When you are doing a long exposure without an ND filter (so as to avoid the color cast, tip #1), a good thing to do is to shoot toward the sun. When it is behind the horizon line it will always give you a nice sky with lots of color and gradations.

5: Make sure you have water and the sky in your photo

Those are two important things for a long exposure which help to really elevate your photos into what I like to call miracle photos.

6: Try to get the clouds coming towards you

You can study meteorological information to get a sense of which direction the clouds are moving and try to position your shot accordingly. There are even a few apps which great for this.

As I said, this is not always easy but I got lucky on this one. The clouds are going to be stretchy and create leading lines and that help make this photo really interesting.

Source: http://shorturl.at/einAS