Magic Tricks and how to use Them

Yesterday, I mentioned what I need to make sure I can take clear pictures of fast-moving objects. Today, I'm discussing the opposite. Unfortunately, the tricks I'm about to outline require a DSLR - unless someone can prove me wrong.

The easier one to explain is how to handle nighttime exposures. It's quite simple - use a long exposure. Example:



Here's a 30 second exposure taken at night. There were people milling around, but you wouldn't know it by looking at this. As I've mentioned before, the key to such a long exposure is to stabilize the camera.

So, how does this work during the day? A 30 second exposure will result in a picture that is completely blown out and unusable. I've used this trick a few times, but I don't have a recent example for you: Use a neutral density filter (I own one, but I don't use it as much as I could) and take several shots with relatively long exposures. Start at 1/4 second and go slower. This works best with cars, in my opinion. It's not so terrific when you're testing this out with humans.

So, how would it work with humans? Not very well, I'm afraid. There are options with Photoshop, but as some of you know, I don't like using Photoshop for technical editing. My solution is to make it work with the people in it (and obtain the appropriate releases, if applicable):



Or, show up very early, like here:



As you can see, there isn't a soul out here. That's because I walked over at 7:00 am. No one was awake!

Tomorrow - an interesting idea and another printing option.