There is no genre as historically inflexible as street photography. The 35mm lens, Leica cameras, and monochrome... it never seems to change. As these tools reach more and more people, though, it's become increasingly difficult to carve out a creative bubble for your work, but there's a simple solution: take inspiration from other photographers. As an award-winning wildlife photographer myself, I've made a habit of 'borrowing' gear from genres like landscape, travel, and sports - a superzoom lens, for instance. But what techniques can you use from other fields to impact your own shooting habits? One of the best is the long exposure. With with nothing more than an ISO setting of 100 and an f/22 aperture, you can create stunningly mystical long exposures. You don't need massively lengthy shutter speeds - the above image was taken with a 1/6 of a second exposure time and some panning. You can, with practice, achieve a dreamy look that appears both blurry and sharp at the same time. Without having to worry much about focus, editing, or sharpness, 1 in 5 photos could easily be keepers, and all fantastic shots.
A Short Take on Long Exposures
Updated: Oct 14, 2020
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