Long Exposure
Long exposure is the most ambitious shutter technique: exposures of tens of seconds to minutes that compress time into a single frame. Clouds stretch into streaks, water dissolves into mist, crowds of people vanish into ghosts, and stars arc across the sky.
Everything depends on a rock-solid setup — a sturdy tripod, or the camera wedged dead-still on a ledge or railing, plus a remote or timer — because the smallest movement over that much time ruins the shot.
In daylight there's far too much light for a multi-second exposure, so you'll need a strong ND filter to avoid a pure-white photo. At night — streaking clouds, mist, a thinning crowd — it's far more forgiving. Shutter Priority reaches all the way to 30 seconds, plenty to smear clouds or dissolve water. True star trails run longer than that and need full manual control — you'll take the wheel for those in the Manual tree.
Shutter Priority (S or Tv), after dark — no filter needed: 20–30s on moving clouds, ISO 100, with the camera on a tripod or wedged dead-still and a 2-second timer or remote. If autofocus hunts in the dark, switch to manual focus. (Star trails and the daytime ND version reach beyond Shutter Priority — that's the Manual tree.)
Time is visibly smoothed — clouds become streaks, water becomes mist, or moving people fade away — while fixed elements stay sharp. It should look unmistakably like a long exposure — from a clifftop or your own windowsill, both count.
The assignment
Use an extended exposure for dramatic time-smoothing — moving clouds, a crowd dissolving into ghosts, or right from a window or balcony, clouds overhead or traffic on the street below at night.
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