Tag Archives: slow exposure

River Of Fire

Posted on by
Reply

Traffic flowed like molten lava spilling from a volcano in this long exposure of a busy city street. The rain last night and the resulting wet surfaces enhanced the liquid look.

I was at first tempted to use a Joby GorillaPod to clamp the camera onto the railing of the bridge where I stood. There was too much vibration so I opted for the Manfrotto 190CX carbon fibre tripod on the concrete floor. It is fairly stable given its small footprint and is light enough for gun and run-style shooting. Certain overhead pedestrian bridges are dark and known spots for mugging so is a good idea to stay agile.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 10 seconds.

Lava Lawa

Afterglow

Posted on by
Reply

The warm and magical afterglow over Kuala Lumpur city after the sunset at 7:50 pm just now. In a long exposure, the camera sees what our eyes cannot. I didn’t even noticed the crescent moon when I was looking through the viewfinder.

Apart from composing and framing the shot, there are quite a number of things to worry about when doing a shot like this. It is always a race against time as the glow fades and hues change very fast.

A solid tripod is required. Set the ISO to the lowest value and turn off IS. Since I didn’t bring my remote release cable, I used the camera’s 2 sec timer to eliminate camera shake from the finger. I also kept the camera switched off until I am ready. This reduced potential noise from a heated-up sensor.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f6.3, 4 sec

Afterglow

The Milky River

Posted on by
Reply

While it was blue skies in the morning, the afternoon saw torrential rain in Hulu Langat. The area known for its rivers and waterfalls is a favourite haunt for picnickers.

Rain means the Pangsun River is fast flowing but there is one way to slow it down for the camera. An ND (neutral density) filter coupled with a very long exposure. The result is a creamy and silky river.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f11, 30 sec on tripod.

The Milky River