Long Exposure Photography-Part 2

Long Exposure Photography

            From the splitting of an atom, to galaxies far, far away, pictures have been used to develop and spread information all across humanity. It has played an outlandishly large role in the development of society since it’s introduction in France in the early 1800s.  Joseph Nicéphore Niépce most likely knew, upon taking his first photo, he had stumbled upon something that would revolutionize the way information was spread. This invention along with the variety and artistry involved with taking and examining photos continues to shape the way we live our lives; more so than the typical person may be aware of.  There are many different types of photography. One such type is Long exposure Photography.

Long exposure photography is a style in which the shutter is left open for as longer amount of time (be in 8 seconds or 8 hours) as to let more light in. therefore brightening and sometimes blurring any movement.  It captures a different point of view and skews the way a viewer perceives time. It’s almost an eccentric way of capturing movement yet it has also been used to capture an eerily still environment.  One of the many different styles of long exposure photography is the way in which space is examined. It’s used for research purposes and artistic purposes. 

Many photographers use long exposure photography for artistic purposes. One such photographer is Lincoln Harrison. Lincoln Harrison takes most of his pictures in his homeland of Australia. His choice of setting and angle is the reason he is one of my favorite photographers in this genre.  Lincoln uses a website called “500Px” to display his pictures. His work has over 359,000 views and 18,500 positive reviews.  His works have been viewed all over the world as a great representation of what great long exposure photographs should look like.

Another one of my favorite long exposure photographers weighs around 24,000 pounds, travels 17,000 miles per hour, and has been taking non-stop shots for around 22 years now. The Hubble telescope was carried into space in 1990 and remains active today. When long exposures are used while traveling 17,000 miles per hour, compensation must be made in order to keep the shots from turning out as a blurry mess. This compensation is met using technical equations regarding motion versus distance and mirrors implanted into the telescope that stabilize the lens. As you can assume, many upgrades and tweaks have been made to the telescope since its launch and it remains as one of the most technical pieces of equipment NASA has ever built.  The pictures this telescope transmits to Earth are objects hundreds of thousands of light years away, yet the detail they portray remains captivating. Hubble has been used primarily for research. It has shed light on distant universes and given scientists an even closer look as to how small and insignificant Earth truly is in the scheme of things.

Long exposure photography will always be a big interest in mine and I feel, like all photography, I will never truly master it. This art takes practice and, most certainly, persistence. After all, it’s a bit more disappointing when you find your shot to be blurry after waiting 8 hours.