Static Blur Tutorials

One of the easiest and simplest "tricks" to perform with a camera is using long exposure (1, 2, 3) to the advantage of the photographer. This is done by manually adjusting the shutter speed on your camera. All SLR cameras have the manual function where both shutter speed and aperture are adjusted and some Point and Shoot cameras also have this feature.

In normal conditions, the shutter speed set on your camera must be perfectly adjusted so that images are not blurry or underexposed. But here, we will use a long shutter speed, that would normally make photos unattractive and blurry, to create a sense of movement and an overall interesting photo.

You will need: a tripod or a steady surface to place your camera on, and moving subjects to capture the movement of.

It is important that you take the photograph at night or late evening because the lack of light is the most important factor of long exposure photography. Set your camera to a shutter speed of about 3 seconds. And experiment! Take lot and lots of photos of the same thing adjusting your shutter speed, this way you will be able to learn which setting works best in a certain light condition.

Place your camera on a tripod or any flat surface, like a picnic bench in a park, and pick a subject. Anything that moves will work but subjects that emit light, like cars or a person holding a flashlight, turn out to be much more effective. A tip to remember is to keep something in the photo that is not moving so that the eye of the viewer has something to compare the movement of the photo to.

Remember to take multiple photos of the same thing, each time changing something in the way the photo was take, moving the camera to adjust the frame of the photo or adjusting the shutter speed to a faster or slower setting.