Okuzeka
Photography vocabulary · Exposure

Long exposure

Meaning in photography, with examples

nounCommon term

In photography, long exposure means: A photo taken with a slow shutter speed, from about a second to several minutes, so that moving things blur while still things stay sharp.

In Turkish: uzun pozlama

How it is used

Used for silky water, light trails from cars, star trails and city squares that look empty. It needs a tripod, often an ND filter in daylight, and a remote release or self-timer. Long exposure noise reduction is a camera setting for night work.

Example sentences

  1. A thirty-second long exposure turned the busy road into red and white light trails.

  2. With a ten-stop ND filter you can do long exposures even at midday.

Common collocations

  • long exposure photography
  • long exposure shot
  • long exposure noise reduction
  • shutter speedThe length of time the shutter stays open to let light reach the sensor, such as 1/1000 of a second or two seconds.
  • tripodA stand with three adjustable legs that holds the camera steady, especially for slow shutter speeds, low light and careful framing.
  • ND filterA neutral density filter: a dark piece of glass placed in front of the lens that reduces the light evenly without changing the colors.
  • motion blurThe streaky, blurred look of something that moves while the shutter is open, or of the whole image when the camera moves.

More terms: Exposure

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