Long Exposure: The Technique Adding Light to Your Photos
Long exposure why? Lights that bring photography to life. The shadows in the frames taken one after another and the unique result. In today's conditions, where everyone is a photographer as cameras come into our pockets, everyone is now a professional photographer. Naturally, people who want to improve in this field make various searches to learn photography terms. These questions they ask push them to seek the answer to the question of what 'long exposure' is. Now let's first look at what the exposure we often hear in the field of photography is.
What is Exposure?
Exposure refers to how much light falls on the plate (sensor) inside the camera while taking a photo. In fact, at a basic level, it determines how dark or how light the photo can be. Photograph When you hold your camera (on the digital number line in the middle), the value from -3 to +3 indicates the exposure. If the value is -3, it is underexposed, meaning it is dark, and if +3, it is overexposed, meaning it is bright. For balance, that is, actually for correct exposure, the value should be close to zero.
There is no fixed exposure value for a good exposure. Exposure value varies depending on the lighting conditions of the environment where the photo was taken. For example, in a very light environment, exposure time is reduced; It is increased in low light environments. This directly affects exposure as it is a moment where we decide how long the light will fall on the sensor.
This comes right to the reason we are here. So how to do 'correct exposure'. In summary, I can tell you this: 'If the amount of light falling on the photo is adjusted correctly by adjusting the location, light, and other factors, the correct exposure will be achieved.
Key Factors Affecting Exposure
There are three main factors that affect exposure. In fact, I can position these as basic level photography terms. These are respectively:
- apperature i.e. diaphragm,
- Shutter/Shutter speed i.e. shutter speed,
- ISO value.
The correct technique is achieved by playing with these three values under changing environmental conditions. Optimal adjustment of these values is of great importance for the accuracy of the exposure. For example, in order to apply this technique, the ISO value is increased as high as possible. This is necessary in dark conditions. The diaphragm is opened as much as possible. This allows more light to enter the camera. Then the 'shutter speed' is reduced to ensure a long exposure of the photo.
How Can I Manage Settings to Help Exposure?
Main Element: Shutter Speed
Our main element and biggest weapon we use when posing in this way is shutter speed. Generally, this value may vary between 1/8000sec and 30sec. This setting means that the photo was taken in as little as 8 thousandths of a second, or that the shutter was exposed to light for 30 seconds while the photo was taken. This value does not necessarily have to be moved to seconds in order to make a long exposure. 1/15 is a good value for long exposure. Any value below 1/15 second gives a long exposure effect to our photo. For example, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, 1'', 2'', 4''… Like 30''.
There is something we need to pay attention to here. Although we want to make this type of exposure, it actually depends on what our camera and environment allow us to do. If we want to take an exposure longer than 30 seconds, we need to switch to the Bulb mode of the camera. We can say that this mode is basically a mode that expands the boundaries. The camera can take photos for over 30 seconds in this mode. There are also machines that use longer shutter speeds such as 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes. Imagine trying to capture all the light in the universe. Isn't it beautiful?
Auxiliary Element: Diaphragm
Basically, if we talk about the diaphragm, the diaphragm is “the system that determines how intense and strong the rays reflected from the object will fall on the sensor.” In other words, it determines how intensely we allow the light to fall on the camera. English aperture It is expressed with the word (openness). The word is French “diaphragmIt was created by deriving from the word “.
The diaphragm has two basic functions here. Aperture generally serves to control light intensity and clear depth of field. If you ask where I can see this value on my machine, it is usually on the machines. F symbol It is shown with . In some brands, it appears with A mode. For example, in Nikon, A mode, or aperture priority mode, means adjusting the aperture for the correct exposure.
Assistant Staff: ISO Value
In order to take a long exposure, it is necessary to set the ISO value to the lowest value. This will give our camera a longer exposure time and allow us to take cleaner photos. Thanks to this assistant, we will be able to take grain-free photographs. ISO value is generally expressed as multiples of 100. In a machine, this value starts with 100 and can go up to thousands depending on the success of the machine.
There is a subject that you have to care. Although lowering the ISO allows you to get grain-free photos, sometimes high exposure distorts the photos. If you want to play with these values on your computer later, I recommend you take the photos in RAW format. In this way, your photos uploaded to programs such as Photoshop can be adjusted to the correct exposure setting without suffering any image loss. Since RAW format will take up more space than Jpeg format, you may need a larger memory card.
What is Long and Short Exposure?
What is Long Exposure?
As I just mentioned, it is the exposure of the photo for a long time with the exposure variables in the camera. It is controlled by shutter speed, especially in low-light environments. There are those who say shutter or shutter speed. In order to take a long exposure, the camera must be positioned at a fixed point. A tripod or a rock works for this. Positioned at a fixed point, the camera is exposed for 1 second to 1 minute and records the light in the environment at that time.
Long exposure is a lifesaver in low-light environments. It is perfect for recording the motion emitted by moving objects with soft light. For example, those famous star photos can actually be taken this way.
What is Underexposure?
Underexposure, just like long exposure, is related to shutter speed, aperture and ISO value. These photos usually appear dark. The reason for this is that the camera cannot receive all the ambient light at the values given to it. For example, if we were to explain it in terms of shutter speed, let's take the value 1/8000. This value means that the photo frame was taken in 1/8000th of a second. In other words, it records the light in the environment at that time in its memory at this speed. The higher this value, the less light is recorded by the camera and the photo will be underexposed.
You can also achieve the same situation by increasing the aperture or increasing the ISO value.
Over and Under Exposure Doesn't Mean the Photo is Wrong
We should not forget that the long and short exposures I have mentioned so far are actually used as a photography technique according to the wishes of the artist and photographer. So the right exposure does not always give the right result. Try to take whatever kind of photos you want, whatever your artistic concerns and imagination desire.
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