Page 14 - Cape-Camera-March-2024

March 2024 Cape Camera Cape Camera March 2024

E & D report back — 20 March 2024
Long exposure by Steff Hughes

Long exposure images capture our emotions, often evoking a feeling of serenity, ex-

plains Steff, who treated us to an informative and thought-provoking talk about
the what, where, when and how of long exposure shots. She believes they allow us

to see the world in a way that our eyes cannot perceive as we are not able to see the
passage of time with the naked eye.

Report and images by Steffne Hughes.

Whether your long exposure image is a fraction of a sec- shutter speeds, so you don’t want to unintentionally
ond or a few seconds long, you can capture time pass- over- or under expose your image. The longer you leave
ing. This is visible in a few ways: by the movement of the shutter open, the more light you let in. I use the his-
water, clouds, plants, vehicles, and peo- togram on my camera while shooting as
ple. Your shutter needs to stay open this gives me a visual indicator of my ex-
long enough to capture the movement. posure - from the darkest to the lightest
As well as capturing movement, you can tones. A bad composition will result in a
use it to intentionally blur images as you poor image
would with ICM. As with all other genres, composition is
Long exposure photography, also called critical. More so, I feel, because the ele-
slow shutter photography, is often used ments in your image are simplified. Look
to create fine art images rather than a sci- for a strong subject, like a rock, that you
entifically correct images. It is also used can base your image on. Then frame it
when you need to capture images in up so that the moving elements will sup-
poor light conditions or at night. port the main subject. Long exposure
photography opens the window to your
Manual mode creativity. Choose the shutter speed ac-

Before setting out to do long exposure cording to the type of movement you
photos, make sure that you’re comforta- want to capture.
ble shooting in manual mode so that you Steff responding to questions How long is long?
can control all elements of the exposure at the E&D meeting.
triangle. You will be shooting at longer Photo: Trudi du Toit Do you want a gentle Continued p15

14 Cape Town Photographic Society