Spirit of Photography

Mentoring and Learning => Weekly Photography Assignments => Topic started by: keithsnell on June 29, 2009, 07:52:22 PM

Title: "Long Exposure," Weekly Photography Assignment for 29 June - 5 July 2009
Post by: keithsnell on June 29, 2009, 07:52:22 PM

The assignment for the week of 29 June - 5 July 2009 is "Long Exposure."  For the purpose of the assignment I will define a long exposure as an exposure that uses a one second or longer shutter speed.  This would be a great opportunity to try to show "motion" in your images by incorporating the blur caused by objects moving within the frame.  Note that for many cameras you will need to be in Shutter Speed Priority or Manual mode in order to set a shutter speed of 1 second or longer.

You might want to experiment with long exposures to record fireworks during a 4th of July celebration if you live in the States.  In one of the Kodak guides, they recommend a "starting point" of f5.6 and a shutter speed of 3-4 seconds at ISO 100 for recording "bursts" of fireworks.  You can try these settings, and experiment from there.  If the base ISO on your camera is 200, then don't forget to adjust your aperture to f8 to compensate for the higher sensitivity of the sensor.  You should try to anticipate the explosion and time your shutter release for the instant just before the explosion.  If you wait until the boom to press the shutter, you will miss much of the action.

Your assignment is to create an image (of a subject of your choosing) using a shutter speed of 1 second or longer.  Please upload your images to the "Long Exposure" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no later than midnight Mountain Time (GMT - 07:00) on Sunday, 5 July 2009.

We've had several new members join in the last week, and I'd like to invite you to participate as well.  If you have questions about submitting for the weekly assignments, please don't hesitate to ask.  You can also read the forum post titled "How do I participate in weekly assignments"  (http://community.spiritofphotography.com/index.php?topic=320.0) for additional guidelines.  It's a "low stress" way to practice your photography techniques and improve your photography skills.

I'll look forward to seeing your images.

Keith

Title: Re: "Long Exposure," Weekly Photography Assignment for 29 June - 5 July 2009
Post by: burzilai on July 02, 2009, 12:28:04 AM

I love long exposures, but Im not sure I can capture firewroks this week, Been very busy at work, which really frustrates me. I will submit one of my first time try on Night photos using long exposures.