CREATIVE WAYS TO USE SHUTTER SPEED

Master the art of adapting the shutter speed to create beautiful Works of art

- Jeremy Flint

Capture star trails

Shoot a lengthy exposure of several minutes to create star trails

Capturing star trails is a wonderfully creative technique to convey the movement of stars. It involves opening the shutter for a long period of time, which records the stars as the earth rotates creating the effect that they are moving. Experiment with the exposure time and find the ultimate duration that suits the curve you want.

You can either capture a single frame for an extended period using a low ISO, which results in less noise or blend a series of shorter-length frames to achieve a similar result. Personally, I prefer to shoot a single image as it takes up less space on my hard drive and is quicker to process.

Set up for star trails

Get your camera settings ready for night landscape scenes

1 Choose the right location

Seek a dark location away from the streetlights and ambient lights of towns or cities, which can be too bright to keep the shutter open for long periods.

Taking photos of the night sky away from light pollution enables long exposures of a few minutes.

2 Check the weather

When looking for the optimum weather conditions to shoot star trails, clear skies are essential. A new moon also ensures less light impacts on your image, which is the case when a full moon is visible.

3 Choose the right lens

A wide-angle lens is a great choice to capture more stars in your frame. This wider field of view also allows you to add some of the landscape in the photo, broadening the subject.