I use long-exposure photos a lot at my weddings. Usually, on the dance floor, I use a long exposure to add motion to my pictures. Of course, this still doesn't explain what long exposure is. Alright, fine here is the Trevauhn Perfektion Studios explanation.
Each camera has a shutter. It is a piece of plastic or glass that opens and shuts letting light into the camera. When the shutter opens and shuts it snaps the picture. When you're using a camera and you hear the clip or snap, that is usually the sound of the shutter opening and closing. On professional cameras, you can slow down how fast that shutter opens and closes. The faster the shutter opens and closes, the sharper the image is because it simply captures a moment in time. Most pro cameras can capture up to 1/8000th of a second in time.
What do you think would happen if we slowed it down? What would happen if we captured a longer moment in time; 1/6th of a second or even a full second? Answer - "THE DAILY DOUBLE!!"
j/k
If you slow down the shutter (aka drag the shutter) then it opens longer and captures motion blur. You can use the motion blur in all sorts of artistic applications.
Motorcycle Shoot
A client recently bought a motorcycle and wanted to get some portraits of himself on it. I
dragged the shutter so I might get some motion blur and make it look like he was going really fast. In actuality, he was probably going 15 mph.
If I shot this at a fast shutter speed, everything would be tack sharp. You'd be able to see the trees in the background. You would also lose the sense of motion and speed.
Night Time Shots
I was out one night and had my camera with me. I decided to shoot some nighttime fine art-type stuff. I really had no idea what the heck I was going to shoot. It was just an eerie night, foggy and the entire town felt abandoned except for a few cars on the streets. So I dragged the shutter to capture some of the cars as they passed one of my favorite diners.
Night Time Photoshoot
The wife and I went out with the intention of shooting at a coffee shop in downtown New Haven. We ended up doing some long exposure shots like this. She felt awkward with the poses but I love them. Trust your photographer.
I Wanna Dance With Somebody [Reception]
I'm always looking for a new way to capture the energy of the dance floor once the first dance is over and Jimmy, Billy, and Danny hit the dance floor. If the DJ has great lights, I try to incorporate them into the shot and create light trails while using my flash to stop the motion of the guests dancing.
There are plenty of ways to be creative with long exposure and shutter drag. I've only scratched the surface here. As a peruse my archives of images for more shutter drag and long exposure photos, I'll update this post to reflect the new images.
Comments