3. Time Exposure.

Usually this terminology applys to the dim lighting conditions, when the quantity of the available light is not sufficient to render the entire tonal range of the scene within a brief opening of the camera's shutter, and therefore, a longer time is required to produce a tonally sufficient print. To make this photo possible, I made two exposures on the same frame, photogrpahing the moon first at 1/30 of a socond at f.16, then I shot the second exposure for a bit less than seven minutes, so the total exposure time would be 7 minutes. I used Kodachrome 64 film, a Bogen tripod, wide angle lens f = 28 - 70 mm set at the apperture of 22 exposed for almost 7 minutes to take this photo of downtown with full moon over it.

Many conventional cameras allow for such an exposure control, which is often desired when photographing at dawn, dusk or even at night. Depending upon the design and their designation, those cameras are capable of making both automatic and manual time exposures. By programming some of the cameras, the shutter can stay open for up to several hours, while some other cameras' shutter opening's length could be controled manually only, by pressing the shutter button via cable release as long as needed for the correct exposure.

You may desire to use these features in order to photograph fireworks' displays, as I did from a different location, a year later, but using the same technique, amusement parks, colorful light of the strip-shopping-malls, sunrises, sunsets, a city skyline at night, a moonlit ocean, lighted store windows, or the colorful advertisements of the businesses lit by the neon lights at night.

If your exposure time is longer than a second, reciprocity will change colors in your photo. If it is crucial for your final image's color to remain what it realy is during the time of exposure and it is critical to stick to the reality in your image, you can control reciprocity by using special complicated graphs with data to manage it, or if you like spontanuity and creativity, you can simply "let it flow" as I do it, and do not make any adjustments to calculate for the reciprocity. It is crucial to remember that the long exposures require a steady camera support. Be it a sturdy tripod, a window sill, a nearby wall, or simply a flat and rigid surface serving as a camera-steadying device used by you, support will prevent your camera from shaking, and therefore, will allow you to avoid blur in your long time exposure photographs. It is essential to bracket your shots, allowing for some more and less light entering into your lens, experimenting with several different time exposures, in order to determine what exposure time is required by various and fast-changing lighting conditions. Also, it is helpful taking notes of your experiments, comparing them with your results until you have built up an instinct for this type of photography.

When taking time exposures at night, it is essential that you find that precious turning point in time when there is still enough of the available that is present in the scene, but the artificial light sources could add color and life to your picture as in these photos.

Remember not to underestimate a role of the neons and colorful streaks of light left by the passing by cars, it all can contribute to your final image, just as it did in these photographs. General rule for this type of photography is to start shooting 20 minutes after the sunset or 20 minutes before the sunrise. Many photographers tend to shoot during the dusk, preferring it to photographing at dawn primarily-for the reason of not being willing to get up early in the morning when the dreams seem to be especially sweet, forgetting that often the early morning light could be acceptionally rewarding.

Time exposure is also used when photographing water in motion, requiring very slow shutter speed and a small lens' opening to make a cotton-like special effect.

To photograph this waterfall falling over a palm-tree I set the time control at 1/2 of a socond at f.16 using Ektachrome slow speed film, a Bogen tripod and a wide angle lens f = 28 - 70 mm.