Trying out Long Exposure Photography

I had problems sleeping the other night, and while I was watching some late night TV (a rerun of Cowboy Bebop), I noticed this blue light coming off a laptop.

I knew I wanted a shot of the light, but with it being so dark out (it was nearly 3AM), I knew I would have to try a long exposure shot. Learn all about it after the break.

I placed my camera on the floor and set it to a 20 second exposure for the shot above. I also set the timer, so I did not have to worry about camera shake, due to the long exposure.

I like the look of the shot, especially how the light ignites the white paper on the clipboard. I didn’t put anything in this shot, or move any of the objects. Everything is as I found it.

With this shot, I zoomed out and dropped the exposure down to ten seconds. I like the long reach of the blue light. It is haunting, eerie.

This shot had a two minute exposure.

I was amazed by the difference. Look at the background–you can see the light from outside pouring into the windows. This is the same set-up as the other shots, all I did was increase the length of the exposure.

I had my T2i set to Bulb, meaning I held down the shutter button for as long as I wanted. I hope by getting a remote that this will be easier, as my hand got tired fast, and I think it led to a bit of camera shake.

I’m looking forward to trying more night-time long exposure shots, especially those over a minute or so long.

Speaking of, look for a post in a few days about my trying fireworks photography on the Fourth of July.