10 Tips for Long Exposures

Monday 26 October 2026, 20:02 by Nando Harmsen | 50 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Photographing with long exposures gives your photo a different look. Simply using a long exposure because you can is pointless. It needs to serve a purpose. Are you going to use long exposures? I have 10 tips for you.

1 - Set up your tripod securely

This sounds obvious, but it always deserves attention. Set up your tripod as securely as possible. Watch out for vibrations caused by people walking past, or by yourself. Keep in mind that sand can be washed away from under the legs.

A securely placed tripod is a good foundation. Make sure you give it enough attention. It reduces the risk of camera movement or, in the worst case, the tripod tipping over.

2 - Use the self-timer

You press the shutter button to take a photo. This means there is a chance that you will move the camera. A cable release or remote control is best. If you do not have one, use the self-timer.

With the self-timer, you press the button and the photo is taken after a short delay. Choose two, five or ten seconds, whatever you prefer. This way, you know for certain that the camera will not move when the photo is taken.

3 - Choose the right long exposure

Simply using a long shutter speed is not a smart idea. You just have to wait and see what the result will be. Choose the shutter speed for the effect you want to achieve: removing movement or showing it instead.

Look at how much movement there is and how you want it to appear in the photo. Use this to decide how long you want to expose. This also tells you which filter you need to make that shutter speed possible.

4 - Do not hang a camera bag from the tripod

Do not hang a camera bag underneath your tripod. It does not make the tripod more stable, it only puts more strain on it. If you are not careful, the weight may exceed the tripod's maximum load capacity.

Is it windy? A camera bag can even move in the wind, making the tripod unstable. This can actually introduce more movement and instability.

5 - Prevent a flapping camera strap

Do you have a camera strap attached to your camera? Make sure it does not flap in the wind. This can move the camera. The camera strap then causes blurry photos.

Remove the camera strap from the camera when photographing with long exposures. If that is not possible, wrap it around the tripod head or secure the strap. Make sure it is not hanging loose.

6 - Use a proper ND filter

Good filters are expensive. You also have to carry a lot of filters to use the desired shutter speed. It is best not to use a variable ND filter. Not even if it seems more practical and cheaper.

Variable ND filters can never block enough light for genuine long exposures. Many variable ND filters also cause uneven exposure across the image.

7 - Turn off long exposure noise reduction

Long exposure noise reduction takes an extra shot after the exposure. This takes just as long as the exposure itself. Thirty seconds then becomes one minute. Five minutes becomes ten minutes.

Turn off long exposure noise reduction. This reduces the waiting time to the shutter speed you have chosen. It makes photographing much more enjoyable. You can leave normal noise reduction switched on.

8 - Use back button focus

It is a good idea to focus before you put the filter in place. If you use the shutter button to focus, you must switch off autofocus after focusing.

You can also use back button focus. This means you no longer use the shutter button for autofocus. In that case, you can simply leave the camera set to autofocus. That saves you another step when photographing.

9 - Image stabilisation is not needed

Does your camera or lens have image stabilisation? If so, it is best to switch it off. You do not need it, and in some cases it can actually unintentionally cause motion blur.

Make sure you know where to switch off image stabilisation. In the camera or on the lens. This way, you know for certain that the system will not work against you.

10 - Allow for changes in light

You choose long exposures based on a light reading. If the light changes during the exposure, the photo will fail. This can happen when clouds move in front of the sun, or when the sun comes out from behind the clouds.

Photographing at dusk also means that the light changes over a short period of time. Take this into account as much as possible, especially with very long exposures.

Do you have any more tips?

There are, of course, many more points to keep in mind. You can find plenty of them in the long exposure course on Photofacts Academy. Perhaps you have some useful tips too. Share them in a comment below this post.

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