Do you feel "Need for Speed"? You've probably seen those cool photos where a certain dynamic action is shown frozen forever in time and wanted to learn how to take them yourself. Maybe you want to try some “photo magic” and make objects freeze in the air? Let me show you how it's done.

Canon 50D with 50mm f/1.8 Canon lens - 1/2000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 400. Daylight only - flash disabled.

The longer you practice photography, the more you begin to appreciate the camera's ability to create magic. One of the special functions of our “magic boxes” is the ability to stop time. I like the expression of the artist John Burger: “Photography seems a strange invention, because its main working materials are light and time.”

When you press the shutter button, you are literally using light to capture a moment in time that did not exist before and will not exist after. Days go by, but the frozen moment remains, and the shorter the shutter speed, the thinner this fragment of time is.

High-speed photography - what is it?

For the purposes of this article, we will define high-speed photography as the ability to adjust the shutter speed of a photograph so that all movement is frozen, and the viewer can see what is impossible to see with the naked eye. There are two main ways to do this: the first is to reduce the shutter speed, the second is to use the flash with a minimum duration. The common denominator of these two methods is very short exposure times. But how small should it be? As with most things in photography, it's a relative term.

Shooting in daylight

When you use only natural light, for example, outside on a sunny day, it is logical that the first method is already applied. You probably know that to keep a moving subject in a photograph from moving, you need to use a fast shutter speed. And more specifically? If you want to completely freeze the subject, the shutter speed should be fast enough that there is no distinct movement during the exposure.

The required shutter speed depends on the speed of the subject. The direction of movement relative to the camera (towards or away from the photographer, diagonally or perpendicular) also plays a role. Don't forget about the distance to the subject and the power of the zoom.

To work with very fast objects (for example, a flying bullet), a xenon flash is unlikely to give the desired result. The so-called air-gap flash can produce images at a shutter speed of 1/1,000,000 second instead of the standard 1/35,000. Air is used as a replacement for xenon, and instead of 100 volts of voltage, a deadly 30 thousand volts are used. If you do this, you will undoubtedly cross the beginner line and move to the next level.

It is clear that such high-speed photography is inaccessible not only to the average person, but also to many professionals, since simple cameras are not designed for this. But nevertheless, there are quite a lot of pictures from the “stop a moment” series. Let's put aside the high-speed cameras for scientific experiments.

What does it take to get a super-fast photo? There are 3 components:

• Very short shutter speed. From 1/6000 and above
• Good lighting
• The shutter must fire at the right moment.

Upon closer examination, this is not very realistic. Top class DSLRs produce a maximum of 1/8000 and cost a lot of money. A light source that allows you to shoot at such shutter speeds will burn our eyes to the back wall of the skull. We will no longer reach the right moment. :)

But there is a solution. Unfortunately, there are very few articles on the Internet on how to take high-speed photographs at home. In Russian there is even less. In fact, the only thing we could find in Russian was an article by Evgeny Orlov on the Hooligan Element website, but it suffers from the heavy legacy of a full-fledged academic education :). The author strongly deviates into the scientifically experimental area, moving towards the creation of homemade flashes.

In fact, everything is more prosaic.

And another method for shooting “water macro” is described in another article Quick guide to Simple High Speed ​​Macro Photography. It is somewhat simpler and different from the previous two, but its scope is more limited.

In conclusion, to boost morale, a selection of high-speed photos from SmashingMagazine

Long exposure photography is often associated with art photography as one of the types of " visual arts” because it allows photographers to achieve surreal and otherworldly effects, often from rather banal phenomena. Most cameras aren't designed specifically for long exposure photography, but you can get great results with just about any camera with the right exposure and focus.

A tripod helped achieve this 13-second exposure. Prolonged exposure blurs all water movements, giving a creamy appearance to the water surface. City lighting adds a warm tone that matches the colors of the fireworks. Mounting your camera on a tripod allows you to use much slower shutter speeds than is possible with handheld photography, even if the lens and body are stabilized.

Another important advantage that a tripod provides is the ability to set the shutter speed on your camera to over a minute (preferably at least 30 seconds or longer).

Camera requirements for long exposure photography

Long exposure photography doesn't require any special lenses, and it doesn't matter if your camera has the ability to accommodate interchangeable lenses. The two most important requirements are the ability to shoot with shutter speeds longer than one minute and the ability to shutter without camera shake (remote shutter release, timer shooting).

Most cameras have self-timers that delay the start of the frame's exposure by two, five, or 10 seconds, allowing the camera to stabilize before the shutter opens. The longer the delay, the more likely the camera is stable.

An alternative is remote control, which can be either wireless or wired. Wireless remotes are preferable because they have no physical contact with the camera, whereas the cable can get slammed. A locking remote control is necessary for very long exposures. You can also use a smartphone with special software to release the shutter remotely if your camera has wi-fi.

It is better if the camera supports shutter speed B (Bulb) and, or T (Time).

B (Bulb) Bulb exposure or manual exposure is a mode of operation of the camera shutter in which the frame window opens when the shutter release button is pressed and closes when it is released. In this case, the shutter speed is set manually. In modern equipment it is designated by the Latin letter “B”.

Traditionally, the B setting keeps the shutter open when the shutter button (or remote) is held down, and the T setting opens the shutter the first time you press the shutter and closes it the second time you press it.

However, many camera manufacturers are making changes to the exposure controls. Some limit the exposure length for Bulb or Time, often limiting the exposure to a time interval of less than 30 minutes, which is not ideal for astrophotography, for example. Check your camera's manual for all the features.

Many different phenomena can be photographed with long exposures; you need to decide whether you want to capture the moving subject itself sharply or blur and blur the movement. If it's the first option, you'll be looking for interesting lighting. The second case manifests itself in blurry effects.

Photo of tourists around a fire. This 10-second exposure at ISO 400, taken with a small-sensor digital camera, shows some blur caused by the subject's movement, as well as traces of image noise.

Popular long exposure photography subjects that contain movement include astrophotography and light trails from passing traffic, blurred clouds or swaying grass in landscapes and blurred waves in seascapes, photographs of streams or rivers, or ethereal effects created with waterfalls. In the city, long exposures can be used to make crowds of people disappear on the street or ghostly images of passersby to appear.

This 10-minute exposure showing star trails would not have been possible without a tripod.

It helps to scout out places in advance so you have good idea, where you can set up your tripod. Huge coverage can be fleeting, and you want to be ready to shoot when it appears.

Check the weather forecast before you leave home, you need to know if and when it will rain or wind. You can use weather conditions in your photos or avoid them. Either way, when planning a photo shoot, it's worth knowing what to expect. Check the high and low tide times if you are photographing seascapes.

Exposure settings for long exposure photography

: First turn off the flash, turn off image stabilization and select manual shooting mode. Set up your camera on a tripod and focus on the area you want to capture. Smaller lens apertures allow longer exposure times and the widest depth of field. They are ideal for scenes photographed with wide-angle lenses.

Exposures for fireworks photography shouldn't be too long, but they tend to be longer than you can realistically hold the camera steady even with stabilization.

Mounting your camera on a tripod allows you to use the lowest sensitivity settings to minimize noise in your photo. Reducing noise when shooting using the camera's processor can soften the image slightly in some cases, but should reduce the frequency of the noise.

Timing long exposures can be difficult because some camera metering systems do not work at very low light levels and the brightness ranges of the subject are often wider than the dynamic range of the camera sensor. When this is the case, it is best to choose your exposure empirically - through trial and error - and be prepared to take several shots at different exposure settings. If the camera is mounted on a tripod, pictures can be combined to obtain correct by using software for editing images by creating panoramas.

To properly expose the sky, a shutter speed of 20 seconds is required at ISO 200. This results in the foreground being underexposed to the point that it appears as a silhouette, and no detail can be extracted when post-processing the photo. The solution may be to take a second shot with a longer exposure and a little higher sensitivity to properly expose the foreground, which can then be combined with the first one in Photoshop.

Unless your camera has special settings for astrophotography, an exposure of at least 30 minutes must be provided to capture star trail lines. The most impressive photographs require longer exposures, often several hours.

Light trails from moving vehicles usually require much shorter shutter speeds. In a busy area, a 30-second exposure should show a decent effect. Mount your camera on a tripod, and use an aperture of f/11 or smaller for maximum depth of field.

Blurred water shots can be achieved with exposures ranging from five to 30 seconds - or several minutes. The longer the exposure, the more hazy the water becomes.

Photos containing the moon are difficult to record due to differences in brightness between the moon and the rest of the composition. The best results are achieved when the moon is close to the horizon, where its brightness is dimmed by the atmosphere, especially when there is any haze in the air or when it is cloudy.

Sydney Harbor on New Year's Eve, photographed with a 75mm full frame lens SLR camera. A shutter speed of 8 seconds blurs the movement of boats in the bay at ISO 800 with an aperture of f/8.

Light painting and long exposure photography

Sometimes the light is too bright for the main subject to appear as anything other than a silhouette. In such cases, it is easy to add lighting effects to the subject without resorting to flash, “painting” it with the light from a flashlight or laser pointer. An example of light painting in the video below

Light painting requires very long exposures, usually at least 30 seconds, as you need time to reproduce the light pattern on the subject. Move the light carefully to ensure even exposure. The best light painting technique is to move the light from one side of the subject to the other so that the light covers it from top to bottom.

A two-second exposure of the carousel in motion creates a powerful impression of speed. Photo taken with a Samsung NX1 camera at ISO 100 with a focal length of 16mm and an aperture of f/22 for maximum depth of field.

When capturing a light trail, use shutter priority mode and start with the camera's lowest setting and an exposure of two to five seconds. Check the result and if the trail is too short and/or the scene as a whole is underexposed, double the exposure time. Continue shooting and checking the result, increasing the exposure time until you get the desired effect.

Scenes where water is the main subject are usually best photographed just after the sun has risen. This ensures there is enough light in the sky for reflections on still water to be sharp and clear, while also preserving dawn highlights.

Choosing a tripod for long exposure photography

The choice of tripod depends on how much weight you can carry and your preference for adjusting the tripod head that holds the camera. If you can customize your gear by having a car (or other vehicle), you have a great opportunity to use a heavy, rigid tripod. For really long exposures (a few minutes to an hour or more), a sturdier tripod is better.

Travelers and photographers who need to carry their equipment for a kilometer or more will likely prefer a lightweight tripod. This forces trade-offs between weight, stability and cost, and can limit the height at which the camera can be placed. Tripods from carbon fiber provide the best combination of light weight and reliability. But they typically cost two to four times more than a similar aluminum tripod.

Cheaper tripods can be used for exposures of less than 30 seconds, for photography in windless conditions. But make sure the tripod legs are well and firmly planted on the ground. If there is a slight breeze, attach a heavy weight to the center post to prevent possible vibrations.

There are several types of tripods: pan heads and ball heads are the most popular, but gear heads allow more precise adjustments and are more preferred by architectural photographers. Ball heads are more compact than tilt heads, but the latter are easier to adjust.