Photo Disect - Long Exposure Movement

Here I'll be disecting two basic types of long exposure photography - one where the background is steady but the subject is moving, and one where the subject is steady and the background moving. Both of these especially convey movement, and will give different effects depending on the subject and technique involved. Here are the shots I've chosen:


The first is a very cool moving shot of some scooters in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The shot for me sums up the extremely hectic pace of the city and its constant traffic. One of the scooters is pin sharp with the background of the shot in motion blur. This kind of shot is fantastic for conveying speed and chaos. What you have to do to get this kind of shot is keep your lens pointed directly at the moving target. You may need to take 10 shots in a row to get a sharp one, but it will be worth it. I usually work these types of shots at a shutter speed between 1/4 of a second and 1/50th of a second depending on how fast the subject is travelling and how long your lens is.

This shot, I was shooting on Tv (Shutter speed priority) at 1/20th of a second, ISO100. This shutter speed was fast enough that I could expect my subject to be sharp, but slow enough to show lots of movement. Have a try yourself! Set your camera on shutter speed priority mode, ISO100, and work between 1/4 and 1/50th tracking and shooting cars as they go past and see what results you can get. This technique is very interesting and popular as it really stands out.

As for the second photo, this is working with a very similar concept but in a different way. You will need a tripod for this method. This shot keeps a still background with your subject a blurry moving object in the foreground. I was standing across from the opera house close to sunset getting shot after shot, the same boring view, and wanted to get something different. Instead of waiting for the ferries to go pass before I took a photo, I decided to try to include them. A regular snapshot would just have the ferry looking stationary in front of the opera house - it would just make me look like an amateur! So I thought the ferries might look good in motion skimming across the water in front of the opera house instead - it would be less distracting and would show off the movement that occurs so constantly in the harbour.

The ferries weren't going as fast as the scooter, and I had a tripod to keep the shot stable so I decided to go for a longer shutter speed of about 3 seconds. I was shooting my lens at 35mm, I connected my remote shutter to my camera and waited for the moment that two ferries were about to pass each other exactly in front of the opera house. I hit the button, the camera did its thing, and voila! There was a few attempts before and after this one, but it came out the best.

Neither of these had any editing done apart from a simple levels (brightness/contrast) adjustment.

So you can see the kind of cool results that are possible shooting longer exposure times to show movement. Whichever option you choose will be dependent on your environment and what you are trying to shoot.

Good luck!

Cheers
Tal