I have always admired long exposure shots, especially ones of the Milky way or other deep space shots. When I first got a DSLR this was one of the things I wanted to do desperately, but obviously, when you set out to do something, you quickly learn it's not quite as easy as it seems. As I discovered when I was in Keswick in March, the one essential bit of kit is a tripod (which I didn’t have). The photos didn't come out too bad, but even when the camera was rested on a wall the photos were quite blurry.
The biggest problem I have faced (as I’m sure 99% of other people have) is weather. Aiming to capture a great shot of the Milky Way requires near perfect conditions, something that’s quite scarce in the UK. As well as this, having a good knowledge of astronomy helps, as well as things like monitoring the moons movements etc. All things that can be quite easily gained using phone or online apps.
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The past few months have generally been quite cloudy for me. Even when the weather’s nice in the day and it seems perfect, the clouds will quickly gather as the sun sets and the chances of a night’s sky are ruined. Then of course when the skies are perfectly clear the moon decides to come out and brighten the sky too much to get a good shot.
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Anyway, over the weekend I wanted to get out and do some long exposure shots regardless of the weather, and I remember years ago my cousin introducing me to the beauty of light trails. So I went out with a few torches and my camera gear. The sky was actually really clear and annoyingly the moon was out, so getting a normal long exposure ended up making the shots look more like mid-afternoon than late night. Despite this, I tried some light trails which actually turned out pretty well, considering I was on my own (also very scared) and using the timer to sprint to the right spot. I think the end results actually turned out pretty well.
I also sampled some by the roadside, the only downside being that I was out in the countryside and cars are pretty rare late at night so it took a lot of waiting. I was pretty pleased with the results, enough to get me to go out next weekend and try again, definitely with someone else to make things 10x easier (and less scary).
Excellent write!
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https://calumlewis.co.uk/learning-art-long-exposure/
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