Long Exposure photography

• Use to create motion blur to indicate dynamic movement.
• Use to erase moving objects such as traffic, animals, people.
• Avoid wind unless it is not an issue or gives desired effect.
• Camera in manual mode (including fixed ISO). Or use shutter priority mode.
• Set focus point (on non-blur area) and ensure switched to manual focus.
• Leaf in the foreground is great, but may need narrow aperture for high depth of field that gives reduced sharpness.
• Shutter speed around 1/15 or lower.
• Low ISO (typically 100)
• Narrow aperture (typically f11-16 with depth of focus intent).
• Use a sturdy tripod or bean bag to hold camera still (so stationary things remain sharp).
• Use remote release (cord or wireless).
• Check resultant photos for white-out burn. Methods include visual scan, zebra, blinkies, histogram.
• Take normal photo to get suitable camera settings, then add neutral density filter and slow shutter using table, app, experiment or rule of thumb.
• With 'N stop' filters, double shutter speed for each stop.
• Common ND filters used are Lee 'Big stopper' (10 stop) or 'Little stopper' (5 stop)
• Less stops on ND filter in darker environment, eg. forest or evening.
• Ensure no light leakage around ND filter, eg. by ensuring screws are firmly closed (but not so firm you can't unscrew them) and that filters are properly inserted in proper enclosures.
• 1/5 to 1/8 second to blur people and keep them anonymous.
• 1 to 1/8 second to blur water.
• If in doubt, experiment up and down starting about 1/2 second.
• Try firing flash to get freeze effect, eg. of leaves above moving stream.
• Try panning with moving subject.
• Try second-curtain sync with flash.
• Take multiple photos and use stacking in Affinity Photo to also remove people.

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