A Beginner's Guide to Long Exposure Photography: When and How to Do It

Long exposures are something almost every photographer tries at some point, and they can be a fun way to create images that the naked eye would never be able to see. This great video will discuss some motivations for shooting long exposure images and how to do it.

Coming to you from Attilio Ruffo, this helpful video talks about taking long exposure photos, both why and how to do them. I personally love long exposures; they can be a great way to calm a chaotic scene and they always offer a uniquely different perspective on a landscape. As you'll see in the video, clouds can really make or break such a shot, as an empty sky can be a bit plain. If you run into this problem, I generally recommend considering converting the image to black and white and painting with the light in post a bit. Generally, this will allow you to push the sky toward white and take advantage of the contrast to bring out interesting elements in the frame. And of course, before you head out, make sure you have a good tripod and set of ND filters. Give it a try for yourself this weekend! 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

Log in or register to post comments
6 Comments

Good video to share with friends and family members, but the only thing I would add is there is a lot of info for a beginner to take in.

Go try it and then view the video again.

The usual smarty-pants answer I see. What makes you think long exposure has not been done before by others with a beginner.

This video could have definitely been condensed to 2 minutes.

Why did you select 3 minutes exposure when your Lee Filter app suggested 4 minutes?

A very long soap opera for such little content .... This guy should try standup comedy