The Theme of this week’s photo contest is long exposure photography! Click here for more details.

Don’t be discouraged from long exposure photography just because you don’t have a DSLR camera! Yes, you probably won’t be able to capture the quintessential flowing waterfall photo, but there are many other ways to utilize long exposures!

Does your camera let you change exposure time? ISO?  If not, does it have a “fireworks” or “night time” scene setting? If the answer is yes to any of the above, you can take long exposure photos with  your camera. We used a Sony Cyber-shot WX80 to take the following photos, but any camera of the same level should work fine.

These first photos we did by putting the Camera on manual and adjusting the ISO. Then we turned the light off, lit a match, and captured the trails of light as we waved it in front of the camera. *NOTE: all photos aside from the “ISO 100, taken with tripod” were taken without using a tripod. We did so for the expediency of creating this blog post, and apologize for the hypocrisy. We still highly suggest using a tripod when shooting long exposures! (However, as you can see it is not the end of the world if you do not have one.)

ISO 100 (Taken without Tripod)

ISO 100, Taken with Tripod (much sharper! use a tripod!)

These next two photos were taken by putting the camera on “Fireworks” scene setting:

Finally, we tried the “Nighttime” setting:

As you can see, the coloring changed slightly with the different settings. We suggest you explore them on your camera and find out which one you like best. The scene might not be named “fireworks” or “nighttime”, but any “low light” scene setting will lower the ISO. ISO of 60-100 is ideal, but if your camera cannot go that low try experimenting with its lowest possible setting. Below we have some examples of photos with higher ISO’s:

ISO 3400                                                                                                 ISO 12,800

As you can see, the higher the ISO, the more light in the picture, but also more noise. Also, remember to disable your flash if you are shooting at night.

So, time to pull out your point and shoot, and see what it can do! If you are interested in learning more about long exposure photography, or have a DSLR and want to try it at the next level, we liked this article of 8 Tips For Long Exposure Photography from Digital Photography School. It talks about neutral density filters and DSLR settings and timing.

Happy photographing!

Japanese photographer Tsuneaki Hiramatsu took these slow shutter and multi-exposure composites of fireflies in Japan during the mating season (end of May through July) when they come out in large numbers and blink their lights to find a mate. It is a natural light made from a chemical reaction in the insects abdomen.

He used a Nikon D800 to capture these beautiful and surreal photographs. To see more of his work look at the Digital Photo Blog, or his portfolio.

The theme of our weekly photo contest this week is natural light! To see more about it go here: https://www.focuscamera.com/blog/april-8th-april-15th-the-theme-of-the-week-is-natural-light/

The “Golden Hour” is a term used by photographers for the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset when light is especially conducive to beautiful pictures. During sunrise and sunset, when the sun is near or below the horizon, its light has to travel through more of the earth’s atmosphere before it reaches you. This decreases the intensity of direct sunlight, and so it is more balanced with the indirect light coming from the sky, creating less glare spots or shadows on your subjects. Think of it as being in a studio, and using only one 1500 Watt diffused light (midday sun), vs. using a 1000 Watt and a 500 watt diffused light (Golden Hour).

The Golden Horse in Iceland by Trey Ratcliff

The “golden” or softer orange and red tones come from the light being more diffused by traveling through more of the atmosphere before it reaches your eyes. Purple and Blue light have short wavelengths and scatter over the longer distance, while colors with longer wavelengths like reds and oranges continue on their way and are seen the most during sunrise and sunset.

Joshua Tree at Sunset by Sandy Redding

There are many factors that affect how long the golden hour in any given location might last. Locations far from the equator where during certain seasons the sun never fully rises, the golden hour can last all day. Locations closer to the equator where the sun makes a complete arc year round will have a shorter golden hour.

Bagan Balloons, Mynamar by Martin Sojka

So if you are an early riser, wake up and explore the sunrise with your camera. If you like to sleep in, pay attention to when the sun sets in your location, and plan to head out and photograph then. Shooting during the golden hour doesn’t ensure amazing photographs, but it is a great way to test your creativity and learn more about light!