Do you want to add a dash of magic to your wedding photography portfolio? Long exposure portraits are the perfect way to show off your skills and capture memorable wedding day moments in an ethereal, dreamlike style. Mastering the technique will take plenty of practice, but with the right tips, tricks, and know-how, anyone can learn to use this style to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind images. From setting your aperture to finding the perfect location, in this blog post, we offer you some essential tips that could help you level up your long exposure photography game. So, let’s dive right in!
5 Tips & Techniques To Master Long Exposure Photography
1. Capture The Moment With The Right Gear
Creating portraits with long exposure techniques is an art that requires you to capture the essence of the moment. Following are the right tools that can help you create unique long exposure portraits:
- Sturdy tripods or other stable platforms ensure image stabilization by eliminating camera shake, a necessity for long exposure portrait photography.
- Timer remote is a great toolkit addition that allows you to take the shot without touching your camera and potentially causing motion blur.
- Reflectors can help add depth and interest to your exposure shots, while proper lighting creates a flattering and realistic image.
- Neutral Density filters (ND) help reduce the amount of light entering your lens, allowing you to use different shutter speeds, even in daylight, for creative long exposure images.
2. Find The Right Composition
The long exposure effect tends to blur the background, so it is necessary to balance the foreground and background elements. Look for interesting, eye-catching locations to pose your clients, such as beautiful landscapes, striking architectural elements, or a simple street scene.
Finding the right composition for long exposure photos can elevate your portraits to a whole new level. To achieve those jaw-dropping shots, it’s essential to find the right wedding photography composition that balances creativity and exposure techniques. Identify the perfect angle and composition, and pay attention to the horizon alignment that will make your shots stand out. Play around with different compositions; experiment with leading lines, symmetry, and negative space to create a balanced and harmonious image.
3. Work With Your Lights
Achieving striking long exposure portraits requires a little know-how when it comes to working with light. From using flashlights to carefully placed lamps and even playing with natural light sources, the possibilities are endless when it comes to capturing the beauty and romance of a wedding day through long exposure photography.
You can use lighting tools like a flashlight, sparkler, or even lanterns to create a magical effect. You can enhance the aesthetic of your photos and create different effects with lighting tools. Lamps can offer a warm and intimate feel to the portraits, while strobes can add movement and drama to your composition. Using flashes, softboxes, or reflectors will help highlight key areas of the long exposure shot.
Suggested Read: Exploring Different Wedding Ceremony Lighting Scenarios
4. Get The Correct Camera Settings
The right camera settings enable longer exposure time for trailing lights and a still subject. You will find the ideal camera settings for long exposure photos below:
Shutter speed is key to capturing movement, and a slow shutter speed will create that dazzling motion blur. The exact shutter speed you need to use for your shot depends on the amount of motion you’d like to capture. The more prolonged the shutter speed, the more the exposure will capture light and motion blur. It’s recommended that you start around 1–2 seconds for sharp images with slight motion blur and then adjust from there based on the desired effect.
Aperture helps control the amount of light that enters the lens and controls the depth of field, so choose a wider aperture value (like f/2.8 or wider) to blur out the background and make your couple stand out. You can also choose a small aperture with a high f-stop range (f/8-f/16) to let less light into the camera and to keep the whole scene in focus.
ISO determines how sensitive your camera is to light. Keep it low (around 100–400) to avoid digital noise and grain in your images.
Additionally, using a shutter release instead of the shutter button can prevent any camera shake. It’s also good practice to take a test shot to ensure the correct settings and then switch to manual mode. Even in cases of too much light, you can experiment with bulb mode and shoot long exposure photos.
Suggested Read: Guide To Understanding Exposure In Photography
5. Art Of Creating Movement
Creating movement while capturing a long exposure photograph will have stunning and dynamic results that are sure to impress your clients. Listed below are different ways to create movement:
- Have the couple subtly sway or twirl, or make them walk along a path or staircase for an extended exposure time. The movement can also come from objects in the background, like swaying branches or flowing water. Use techniques like panning and zooming, or experiment with light painting and sparklers to add an extra dynamic to your portraits.
- Make your couple walk towards the camera while the shutter remains open, creating a blur effect that adds depth and dimension to the photo. Use tools like flashes, gels, or torches to create dramatic light streaks with the movement.
- Move your camera during long exposures; either tilt it slightly up or down or move it in a circle while capturing the photo. This photography technique gives a unique, dreamy effect creating unique light trails that can be especially effective when photographing a couple dancing or walking down the aisle.
Further Read: Double Exposure Wedding Photography Tips
From waves to the wind – you can use the above tips and photography techniques to play with different elements around you when creating a long exposure photo of your couple. Use a tripod and choose the right settings in shutter priority mode to create breathtaking shots with star trails or fireworks, and elevate your couple’s wedding photos. And with post-processing, you can bring out the best in your image by adjusting the contrast, saturation, and highlights. Just remember to keep it natural!
At ShootDotEdit, we offer tips to improve your photography skills and assist you by reducing your post-production workload through custom photo editing services. Check our pricing plans to see how we can help your wedding photography business.