Photography Tricks

Taken during a lunar eclipse in 2014, I shot this with an inexpensive Fuji bridge camera. A bridge camera has a fixed lens, but allows you to use manual mode similar to a DSLR. The location is Lake Baldwin Park in Orlando, FL.

Here is an image I took with a long shutter speed. The settings for this were a fStop 22 and a shutter open for 15 seconds. This is how you get more light onto the sensor chip than you can detect with your eye. And it lends itself to a glow effect.

This shot at Lake Baldwin Park in Orlando was shot with a 10 second shutter at fStop 22

The effect is wonderful. And you will need to use a tripod. As this scene in reality was very dark, the image here shows you how the light source can overload the chip. This gives you flares of white light. And it makes them seem much brighter than they are.

Here is basically the same shot as the one above. Except here I pulled back the shutter speed to 3 seconds. Notice how the surroundings do not seem to glow as they do in the longer shutter speed opening of the previous shot? That is the effect of light hitting the sensor chip for a longer period.

Likewise, long shutter speed settings can also imply motion. Here I took a shot an infamous carnival ride known as The Zipper. I only had the shutter open for 1.5 seconds. And the fStop was 22. This is because it was dusk, and there was too much ambient light to keep the shutter open for longer than only a few seconds. Also, this was hand held, as I knew I did not have to stand still for long.

Another technique I enjoy is using a long shutter speed and manually moving the camera around and adjusting the focal length. This gives you streaks and makes it appear as if the light somehow is jumping off the image at you. This was shot fStop 22 with a 30 second shutter. The image source is a tug boat as it traveled out of a harbor. And with a little photographic trickery, you get a beautiful abstract image.