advice – Creativescans

Long Exposure Photography

Here are a few quick tips when trying long exposure photography at night or during the day.

Use a solid tripod. A shaky tripod leads to blurry photos.

Set up the tripod on a solid surface. Solid ground or concrete or similar are best. Beware of setting up in sand or loose soil because the tripod legs can slip and move. Also be careful on bridges…they can shake when cars or trucks drive by or when people walk by.

If you have a UV filter on the lens you will be using take it off. You can sometimes get unwanted light reflections bouncing around between the filter and the front glass of the lens that can show up in your photos.

Turn off noise reduction. This is optional but I do this when photographing fireworks. If left on it slows down the in camera processing of photos which means waiting to take your next image.

Shoot in RAW. This gives you the best image possible and gives you the most control when editing your photos. Then save your image as a jpg when you want to share or upload your final image.

Use a remote cable to reduce camera shake. If you don’t have a cable release use the self timer available on most cameras. Using the self timer gives the camera time to settle before the shutter action.

Below are are a few examples of long exposure photography. All of these long exposure photos were done without the use of ND (neutral density) filter. I will write about them and that technique of long exposure photography another time.

Sport event photography

I like photographing all types of events but I really enjoy sports photography. Partly because I am a sports fan and partly because sports photography is challenging in its own way.

I wanted to photograph the Gastown Grand Prix bicycle races earlier in July but missed them. I didn’t see any commercials or interviews on TV about the event or see anything about the races on the social media channels I follow…Twitter or Facebook. Lesson learned. Luckily for me there was another set of cycling races 2 days later on Friday in Poco (Port Coquitlam) as part of BC Super Week.

On Thursday evening I went through my usual routine of making sure my gear is ready for a full day of shooting. I clean all my lenses (both ends) and make sure the camera sensor is clean. I also make sure all my batteries (4 of them) have a full charge. And I decide which lenses and other accessories to bring with me to an event.

The night before (or earlier) I also check information about the event. Where is it exactly, when does it start and when does it end.

I try to get to the event early so I can see the layout and figure out where I want to shoot the event. For a cycling event I try and get images from multiple locations around the track. Corners can be a great spot to get images of the cyclists leaning into the corner. Accidents are more common at the corners of bicycle races so there is a chance you may get images of a racing mishap as well.

As far as camera settings go, I used a variety of settings depending on a lot of factors. For the shots of cyclists at the start line (not moving much, if at all) I used full manual settings. For shots of the cyclists during a race I used full manual trying to get the fastest shutter speed I could. This meant higher ISO as the day went on and the light started to fade, larger aperture (smaller f number) to get a faster shutter speed (bigger number). For some shots I also tried to drag the shutter slowing it down to a longer exposure to blur the image to try and convey a sense of speed.

I also set the camera to “shutter priority” during some parts of the races. Set your focus priority (continuous) and ISO and the shutter speed you want and the camera takes care of the aperture for you. This comes in handy when you don’t have time to change settings when conditions or what you are shooting is constantly changing.

So there you have a few tips on photographing a sports event. Enjoy!

Faat action

At the start line

Corner action

Long shutter speed to blur the image and convey speed

Look for a new perspective…

Photographically speaking, try shooting from a very low angle next time you are out and about with your camera. Show a subject you might photograph from normal or standing height from a new perspective. Try this on a subject you might never think of photographing. A few examples of what can make for an interesting photo if shot from a different perspective are flowers, walking paths, cars and tall buildings. There are a lot of things you can try this technique on so give it a try.

Below are a few examples of things photographed from a different perspective:

Middle of the road. Shotr when the road was closed. Do not attmpt on an open road.

Formula1 car from down low.

A marine bollard (used to tie up boats) from down low.

The Space Needle in Seattle from down below.

Photography tip, use a lens hood…

I see a lot of people out and about using nice cameras who do not use a lens hood on the front end of an attached lens. Why should you use a lens hood?

Using a lens hood can help stop lens flare from showing up on your photos. The hood helps stop light entering the lens from the sides causing lens flare. A lens hood can help with the color and contrast of your photos by stopping light from coming into the lens from the side of the lens. Try taking a photo on a sunny day with the sun at at your side and you may see notice the image is washed out. Using a lens hood can help stop that from happening. Also a lens hood can help protect the face of the lens from finger prints and can help prevent a more serious issue like the lens getting scratched.

IMG_4846s — Lens cap on my 75-300mm lens.