Long exposure involves sharply capturing stationary objects against moving objects, often in low light to cause blurring or smearing effects on the moving objects. According to Phil Jackson, a photographer based in Leominster, Boston, "Long exposure is a photographic art that allows a photographer to draw or paint using moving light". Long exposure should not be confused with light painting or light path photography. Though they all use long exposure, the technique is different. The main difference, however, is that there should be a stationary element against which moving objects are portrayed as obscured in long exposure.

Clarity is not the main aim in long exposure, but artistic results are. A moving object will be presented as a streak of light and one may not tell what it was but the results are dramatic, funny at times and generally appealing. Here are a few tips than you need to capture images in long exposure.

1. You will without doubt need a tripod. This is a basic requirement even without being mentioned but its importance cannot be over emphasized. In order to achieve good results, you should have a very steady camera and a good tripod can ensure that. A slight shake can ruin your photos. Some photos displayed here were taken from a flyover and no matter how steady I tried to keep the camera, moving vehicles caused the flyover to shake, hence the shake in the photos. Without a tripod, they would have been worse.
   
2. Select a proper location. Depending on what type of long exposure you want to do, you should select your location accordingly. If you are doing it at home, a dark room would be ideal. If you are doing it outside, avoid places where direct light is hitting the camera as this may cause the shutter to behave differently.
   
3. Use a cable release or remote control to trigger the shutter release. This is needed to avoid shakes on the camera which may ruin your photo. If your camera doesn’t have the facility, you can take the photo normally but you should have a strong tripod and avoid very long exposure as the sensitivity increase.
   
4. It is important to use a small aperture as this will create a more depth of field and create a star effect from stationary lights. A small aperture also lengthens the shutter speed of your long exposure. To be successful in this, you should start with the lowest ISO available on your camera and then use the smallest aperture available on your lens.
   
5. Like stated at the beginning, clarity is not the main aim here. You need to create the most unreal image to be successful in long exposure photography. To achieve this, you need to lengthen the shutter speed since by doing so, you end up creating very unreal images of moving objects.
   
6. If your camera lens can accommodate filters, you should carry them and take your photos with them. Filters help to cut glare and flare especially when photographing in the night when there are many light sources. Such lights can ruin your photo by creating results with different colours and wrong light readings.
   
7. In photography, experimentation is the road to perfection. You may not be able to achieve perfect shots in the first instance of even on your tenth try, but this should not stop you from trying various techniques from different locations. Start with small achievable experiments and once you are good in that, you can try long exposures which can go up to 30 minutes and above.

Final word

An amateur may not start with very long exposures since the equipment and skill may not allow but if you plan to go for very long exposures, you should always carry fully charged and extra batteries for your camera and a few other things you need to stay put at one place, often during odd hours. Finally, don’t be discouraged by watching those spectacular photos taken by experts who use powerful cameras, soon you will be there too!

	Quick read: Long exposure involves sharply capturing stationary objects against moving objects, often in low light to cause blurring or smearing effects on the moving objects. In order to achieve good results, you should have a very steady camera and a good tripod can ensure that. Use a cable release or remote control to trigger the shutter release. It is important to use a small aperture as this will create a more depth of field and create a star effect from stationary lights.

Photos by Nathan Gitonga