There are so many things I’ve always wanted to play with but haven’t had the chance. One of them is long exposure times, particularly with night scenes. The other night our youth group had a ‘light party’ and while they were outside I played inside and this was the result:
{How I took it}
- Canon 7d
- 50mm f/1.2
- f/12 (higher apertures makes twinkly lights appear extra twinkly with the starburst – try it when you get your Christmas tree up!)
- 30 second shutter
- ISO 200
I set my camera on a pile of books and set it to self timer so when I pressed the shutter, the subtle jiggle wouldn’t affect the exposure. Then it snapped and stayed open for 30 seconds and took about 20 seconds to process before showing it to me. It’s crooked and by no means a masterpiece, but I’d recommend trying something like this yourself to help you understand how long exposures can be useful. I was really impressed with the result because the room was sooo dark!
