The Main Street Monthly Preview Issue - August 2015 | Page 11

In Focus

Long Exposure Technique
by Bill Sferrazza

I have always felt that the Walt Disney World Resort is a perfect place to practice photography. So many unique
and interesting things to train a camera on!. Park icons like Cinderella castle, Spaceship Earth and the Tree of Life
are perfect subjects. Perhaps you want to capture some of the amazing details the Imagineers built into the resort,
or maybe you just want pictures of your family with some of the their favorite characters. Whatever it is you want
to photograph, Eric and I hope to make it a little easier and less intimidating by sharing some of our favorite photography techniques with you each month.
This month, I will be discussing long exposure photography and the ways you can try using this technique to take
your own stunning photos in the parks. So how long exactly is a long exposure? I guess it depends on what you
are trying to photograph and what you want the resulting image to look like. A photographer trying to capture
star trails may need an exposure of an hour or more, while someone else trying to blur a carousel spinning may
only need an exposure of a second or two. Long exposure photography entails using a long-duration shutter speed
to sharply capture stationary subjects or images while blurring or smearing the moving elements of the image.
However, when doing this type of photography, the camera must be supported in some way to achieve a sharp
image. This can be achieved by using a tripod, which is the recommended way to support your camera, or by
placing your camera on or up against any stationary object available to you. This I’ll get into a bit later.

92