Long-exposure photography sets itself apart from other forms of photography because more goes into preparation and planning. You must get several things right beforehand to get as great of a shot as possible. It can be frustrating when your shoot doesn’t go as planned. To help you with your preparation, I have listed some of the most common long-exposure mistakes to avoid and some helpful solutions.
Mistake 1: Poor Time Management
Planning your shot is essential, and time management is a big factor in that. You have very little time during sunset and twilight to capture an incredible image. Plus, crowds can take over popular photo spots during these times. So, it is important to arrive early so you have time to check out your vantage points, and compositions and set up your gear.
Usually, I like to arrive at my photo spot about two hours before sunset, so I can secure my spot before the crowds arrive. Plus, this will give me enough time to prepare my composition and set up my camera and tripod.
Mistake 2: Overexposed Light Trails
When shooting for light trails, you want to make sure that you get long, soft trails. Colorful light trails really complement an image very well.
It is easy to overexpose light trails in your shot and blow out the highlights. This will cause your light trails to just look like a long white line. This can be very distracting in an image.
The solution to this is to underexpose the shot. You have a couple of choices here. You could either increase your shutter speed. If you want to keep your shutter open longer, then you could lower the aperture to somewhere in the f/16 to f/22 range. But always remember to keep your ISO as low as possible.
Another solution for this problem can be using an ND filter on your lens, especially if you are doing exposures for longer than 30 seconds. Sometimes during twilight, I may use an ND32 or ND64 filter.
Mistake 3: Shooting with a Dirty Sensor or Lens.
This is a mistake I have been guilty of making often. Usually, this can result from changing lenses frequently. Sensor dust spots will appear in your image, especially if you shoot with an aperture lower than f/16.
You could remove spots in the sky and water during post-processing. But spots can also show up on your subject, and this could prove extremely difficult to remove.
Check your sensor before your shoot, and make sure it is clear of dust spots. Also, clean your lenses before heading out.
Mistake 4: Shooting When it is Pitch Dark
What I mean by pitch dark is any time after twilight. There is nothing wrong per se with shooting at night, but it depends on the lighting and the subject. Usually, the problem with shooting at night is the extreme contrast, which can make an image flat and boring.
Having some atmospheric light in your scene is ideal to create a mood. This mood is why photographers always seek to shoot between golden and blue hours.
Blue hour is my favorite time to shoot cityscapes. I always try to capture the right combination of city lights juxta positioned with the remaining blue of the sky.
I like to take a few shots right after sunset, then a few shots during the blue hour, and then a few more right as the sky turns black. Then I combine the images in post-processing.
Mistake 5: Using Too Long of a Shutter Speed
Another common mistake, and I have been guilty of this, especially at night. There is no correct shutter speed since it will be dictated by the circumstances of the location and the amount of light available.
One common problem with daytime long-exposures is blowing out the highlights in the sky, even with an ND filter. Blown-out highlights can ruin an image and make it difficult to print.
This makes the daytime exposure calculations even more important.
With long-exposure night photography, it is easy to overexpose the highlights from lights and street signs. It is better to underexpose a bit. If you are shooting in RAW format, you can recover the shadows later. But fixing blown-out highlights is pretty much impossible.
When I shoot at night, I will take several sample shots, starting at a 30-second exposure. If it is too dark, I will increase the exposure by 10 seconds and keep increasing it until it looks right. If I find that it is too bright, I will decrease it by 10 seconds.
Mistake 6: Not Checking the Histogram
The histogram is sometimes overlooked by photographers because they may not understand how to read it or they may be in a hurry.
However, the histogram serves an important purpose. It is there to help you expose your shot properly.
When I set up my camera, I check to ensure there is no clipping of the highlights or shadows. I want the graph to be centered. If it is too far to the right, that means it is clipping for the highlights. If it goes too far to the left, then it is clipping for the shadows.
Checking the histogram is especially important when prepping for cityscape shots at night. The bright signs, headlights, and streetlights are easy to blow out.
Mistake 7: Forgetting to close (or put tape on) the viewfinder
Another thing many photographers might not think about is taping up the viewfinder. This may sound like a strange thing to do, but this is a necessary step to prevent light leaks.
There were times when I have taken some very long daytime exposures, only to come home, upload my files to my computer, and find out that they have an ugly color cast to them.
Mistake 8: Not Setting Up Your Tripod Correctly
You must make sure that your tripod is as stable as possible. When you extend your tripod legs, be sure that they are properly locked. If your tripod has a hook under the center column, try and hang your camera bag from it to provide more stability. This tip has helped me at times when I have shot photos from a freeway overpass, as they tend to vibrate slightly.
Conclusion
These are just some of the most annoying mistakes that I and others have made in the beginning stages of the photography journey. However, without making mistakes, there is no way to learn or improve. I hope these tips will be of help to any beginner so that your journey to photography success will be quicker.