No not that sort of exposing! Long exposure or slow shutter speed, where the cameras shutter is left open for a long time ie. anything over 1 second. To achieve this, you need to use a dark filter (neutral density filter) to reduce the amount of light enters.
Long exposure using a digital camera, especially a mirrorless camera, is very easy – just need a steady tripod and away you go. You can then quickly look at the result and adjust the shutter speed to get the correct exposure.
Using a film camera adds several layers of problems! The first you can’t see what you have captured until it has been developed and then there’s working out your shutter speed, film reacts slower as the exposure time extends, this is called reciprocity failure.
1. Calculate a the correct normal exposure – there’s an APP for this
2. Add on time depending on the darkness of your filter – there’s an APP for this
3. Add on the time for your films reciprocity failure – there’s an APP for this
4. Take you photograph, with finger crossed, actually take several, just in case – No APP for this!
I chose a slightly easier route, I used my digital camera to calculate the exposure time and I then added time for the films reciprocity failure. The exposure time was 10 seconds and I’m really pleased with the result, more to follow, I’m sure….
I have used the long exposure to smooth out the sea, which helps emphasis the shapes of the outlet and cliffs. If you’re wondering what a normal exposure would look like, here is the same image, but taken at 125th second.
It was still early, so I had a wander along Weymouth seafront and used the rest of the film.
