Running water

Running water is a great subject for slow shutter speed photography. As long as you can keep the camera steady, which is no problem if you have a tripod. And secondly if you can avoid over exposure. Which can be prevented with either a neutral density filter or a large f-stop.

Firstly find a subject. This can be as simple as a running tap in the sink or a creek, stream or waterfall. Frame up your photo to include the ‘splash zone’ or ‘white wash’. If your using a tripod I recommend a 2 second timer or use a cable release or even a remote shutter.

For optimal results, its best not to let your shutter speed exceed 1-5 seconds (In most cases) but the lower the lighting, the longer you can go! For starters, try 1/4 second or 0.5 seconds.

You will be able to produce some amazing shots with this little creative technique.

My examples:

Night time photography tips and tricks.

Suggested spec’s: ‘TV’ mode, f22(to avoid over exposure), ISO 100 (<– With long shutter speeds, you will get enough light to correctly expose your photo so I suggest keeping your ISO low.) This helps to reduce noise too.

1. First step is to acquire a tripod because long shutter speeds will be hard to hand hold without camera shake.
2. Set the camera up with either lens and set the camera to ‘TV’ mode.
3. You may like to choose a location beside a road (To capture the moment of headlights and tail lights) and set the shutter speed between 10 and 30 seconds for example, but with a cable release you can extend this time extensively.
4. To avoid camera shake upon pressing the the shutter button, you should put a 2 second timer on.
5. Experiment with different locations and shutter speeds, you may also want to try different apertures.

The stars

This is one of my new favorite night shots!
Shooting the stars requires nice clear weather, (which Albany usually lacks) but once in a while when the sky is clear and there is no wind, you can face your camera to the sky and shoot something like this!

Equipment: Tripod, cable release.

 

Above is shot with cable release for 10 Minutes and 10 Seconds.

Below was shot with cable release for 20 Minutes and 20 Seconds.

65 Minutes

CD Lights

This technique I learnt from a youtube tutorial video and just thought I would share it with you…

Equipment=  A CD (preferably blank), Camera with long shutter speed capability, Tripod, something to apply water droplets to the back of the disk, a Torch or portable light source, Also a cable release if possible is handy to prevent camera shake.

Method: Set the camera up facing down on the overturned disk that you carefully dripped water on, then whilst lighting is good, set your focus then switch to manual focus to avoid AF. Turn off all lights and make sure you are in a dark area (long exposure can easily lead to over exposure).

Set the camera to ‘Manual’ mode and stop the aperture down to the largest number (Eg: f22-29) and set your shutter speed to “BULB”. Trigger your shutter then move your torch/lights source around and above the water covered disk. (Standard exposure time can be around 10-30 seconds or as desired)

Results:

Any Questions? Please ask…

Photography

This blog will be used to display some of my travel photography as I travel around
Australia. I will also post new blogs and detailing methods of achieving techniques with photos I have taken.

Denmark river-Western Australia

Bokeh Stencil

Bokeh stencils are creative and interesting if you can master the concept…

Equipment:  Scissors, paper Christmas lights or something similar…A fast Lens if possible, (Eg: 50mm f1.8) Or you can just use a large focal length (Eg: 100mm f5.6)

Method: Cut a small hole or shape in a piece of paper (Approx 1cm in size) place this paper over the top of the lens. Turn the camera to manual mode and switch the lens to Manual Focus. You can focus on a subject in the foreground but the important thing is to render the lights in the background out of focus.

Before Bokeh: 

After: