Long exposure photography can create some beautiful artwork out of ordinary scenes. Bodies of water become glass, and clouds become painterly waves in the sky. Here are some tips to get started in the endeavor.
Long exposure photography is a bit like a drug. The first time you do it, you're experimenting simply with aperture and shutter speed. Before you know it, you're throwing into the mix, then and, well, the rabbit hole goes very deep.
There are many steps to prepare, and if you make a mistake, it can take many minutes of exposure time to correct it. By then, the sunset or cloud formation you were trying to capture may be gone. That's why, if you're interested in trying this technique, this video from landscape photographer is worth a watch.
After a one-year YouTube hiatus, he's back with a few tips to make sure you get started. One of the things I never think about these days as a mirrorless photographer without an optical viewfinder is to cover up the optical viewfinder on your DSLR. In a moment where Ruffo admits he was in a rush, he had a beautiful shot of mountains that had light streaking across the center of the frame.
The culprit? He forgot to cover his viewfinder. It's the little things that can make or break a shot. I've often taken my best guess when dialing in long exposures, and usually, I get it wrong a couple of times.
For Ruffo, he uses an app (I couldn't find the app he's using on the app store, but it appears to be similar in function to ) that can take .