التعريض الضوئي الزمني .. قواعد بسيطة للقطات ناجحة .. مجلة فن التصوير اللبنانية _ ع٢٣

Time exposure Simple rules for successful shots

In most cameras, there is a reference to the time exposure that we rarely use, although it will give us good creative pictures if we try to make a little effort to get distinctive shots, knowing that we will not need more than a camera and a tripod with slow-motion film.

Time exposure (*) means shooting in very weak light: while the shutter remains open for a specific and relatively long period of time, which leads to the film obtaining a sufficient percentage of light to reach an appropriate exposure that cannot be obtained without the shutter remaining open for a period that may exceed seconds. the many.
And although most reflex cameras - 35 mm - are equipped with this type of shutter - time exposure shutter - but few photographers
They use it because they believe that this requires special equipment, long experience, specialization, and extreme accuracy.
The attempt in this direction is very worth conducting experiments, because with it you will get dramatic and creative results.
Examples include capturing a street night scene in which cars penetrate with their lights, which will appear on the film as colored blurry spots flowing on the street.
Photographing fireworks and night parks, such as amusement parks, public parks, and the like
Animated and still life, as well as getting unique shots of the sunset or the moon, stars, lightning, and more.
With all these things, it is necessary to work with the available lighting with the time exposure so that the exposure time varies with the different quality of the scene.
In some cameras, it is possible to work with automatic exposures of up to two seconds, in addition to the presence of a feature of overriding the time period manually, to allow room for long-term exposures.
The tripod is one of the most important accessories or rather necessities for the photographer who will follow the time exposure method, and it is an indispensable accessory in this field. With the shutter left open for a long period of time, it is necessary to emphasize the complete stability of the camera in order to avoid the importance of the camera to blur Image .
And its quality with the importance of the substrate, not from stopping also at the film that we will choose, because the quality of the film is also one of the main ingredients for obtaining a successful image using the time exposure method, and here we confirm that the slower the sensitivity of the film, the greater the period during which we can leave the shutter open.
It is known that faster films need less exposure times, but these films will lead to more visible graininess on the final print.
100 aza films give an image characterized by more color saturation compared to 400 or 1000 aza films, and what is known to us, of course, is that the pointillization appears more clearly the more we enlarge the shot.. On this basis, slow speed films are the best choice for clear and bright enlargements.
One of the most difficult things for a photographer is to try to give an accurate calculation of exposure times in this field, so it is better to conduct experiments by making different exposures within one period of time and work according to them or according to their results.

An example of this is that we put the camera on a tripod against a building as a model for our experiments and start working at the beginning of the evening, before it is completely dark so that we start to bag the shutter button, once every ten minutes at f / 8 - this means that the camera will prepare a speed The shutter is automatic - and with the increase in darkness little by little, the sky begins to shine, and the lights inside the buildings begin to appear. At night to deal with the automatic time shutter.

The experiment can be repeated with cars on the edge of the roads. Other slots, F / 8, or others, can be adopted for more experiments, so that they capture one or two frames every five minutes, and with the end of dusk and the emergence of lights, the camera will work to record many dramatic and colorful pictures, and it is also possible to take several Take shots at different time intervals to find out which exposures give the best results.
With the adoption of encircling, sometimes this field is advised to move one stop lower and two stops larger, with transparency film, and one stop larger than normal films - negatives. . That is, the lack of exposure to the print film often makes the image darker than it should be, while transparency, slides, one-stop, downward can give more color saturation.
There are two useful devices for timed exposure photography:

Exposure calculator (Ad Dial - A-Photo).
And a calculator (Kodak professional photoguide). Both are available in camera stores.
They provide important advice on exposure required in available light conditions. They also help eliminate the experimentation and guesswork in this exposure time zone as well as being a good starting point for the up and down flanking.
The way these two devices work is as follows:
First, it is necessary to ascertain the type of available light under which you will work. Is it the light of the sky ten minutes after sunset? Or neon lights, shining, or a scene of a brightly lit business district?
In the case of relying on the first calculator (... Ad) or the second (Kodak), the cursor must be placed on the type of lighting that we are dealing with, and then we have to express it according to the caliber of the film - the degree of brightness -

In the event that we intend to photograph traffic systems with a 100 aza film, we will find that the Kodak indicator gives us a two-second exposure time at f / 11. It is more likely that with the exposure set when working in Auto, you will practice the exposure according to this method. Provided that preparing the camera on manual work and according to the information mentioned with any of the two devices referred to, you will get an ideal exposure for a very successful image.

When photographing fireworks, it is preferable to place the camera over manual work, because the games appear in the form of light explosives, and there may not be enough time for the counter to adapt to the existing situation, so that the light explosion precedes the setting itself for a black sky, and this will lead to the destruction of the image permanently with the emission of light fireworks .

To correct this situation, we can refer to one of the two devices referred to, which are concerned with calculating the time exposure, in order to obtain the f-stop. Appropriate and consistent with the speed of the film used so that we set F, depending on what the device indicates
Exposure, then we control the shutter speed manually at the signal of the device as well, and with the explosion of fireworks, you press the shutter button... and we will definitely get a typical shot of fireworks.