6 tips to follow for long exposure photography

Long exposure photography is a great photography skill to master. You can create beautiful and unique looking photos this way. Here are 6 tips to follow for long exposure photography.
Just like with any other photograph, lighting is important to get your long exposure shots right. Being patient and practicing will help you improve your long exposure shots. Keep the below tips in mind when starting out.
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1. No vibrations
Keep vibrations at a minimum, or your shots will not come out right. Use a tripod to prevent any camera movement. You might also want to put heavy objects on the tripod, such as sandbags. This will weigh down the tripod further to keep it from shaking.
2. Lighting
You don't necessarily need a bunch of light for slower shutter speeds with long exposure photography. Add a flash if you are including objects and subjects for an interesting looking shot. Make sure you test out the lighting before taking your photographs so they look the way you want them to in your viewfinder.
3. Filters
Most likely the shutter speed on your camera won't be slow enough for a long exposure. Neutral Density filters, also known as ND filters, will keep light out of your lens so that that the exposure can be longer and shutter speed slowed down. You won't be able to see the scene from your viewfinder, but the camera will be able to take in as much of the scene as possible with help from filters.
4. Remote shutter
Use a remote shutter so that you don't have to manually press the camera's shutter's button, which can make the camera and tripod shake. Set up the camera and take test shots, then step away from the camera an tripod to take more shots with the remote shutter.
5. People
If there are people walking around when you are taking these long exposure shots, they will probably come out in a blur. To keep people in a shot, have a subject stand out in your scene. The rest of the photo will still have a blur from the other people walking around, but having a single subject will make the shot interesting.
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6. Test shots
Before taking photographs, have the bulb mode on the camera. In this mode, the shutter will stay open for a minute or longer, perfect for long exposure shots. Take a look at the photo after its been taken. If you don't like the light or something else in the shot, change around the settings. Take plenty of shots while changing some of the settings until you get a perfect long exposure shot the way you want it.