Long-exposure photography

A long-exposure photograph of a street in Carson, California, 1986. The trails along the street are from headlights and taillights, while the circles in the sky are from a police helicopter.
The central square of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, during blue hour. Notice how a long exposure blurs moving vehicles and pedestrians while buildings retain sharp focus.
In this 45-minute exposure taken on a dark clear night at Paranal Observatory, the stars leave trails as they appear to revolve around the south celestial pole (left), due to Earth's rotation.
Long-exposure photograph of a break in pool.

Long-exposure, time-exposure, or slow-shutter photography involves using a long-duration shutter speed to sharply capture the stationary elements of images while blurring, smearing, or obscuring the moving elements. Long-exposure photography captures one element that conventional photography does not: an extended period of time.

The paths of bright moving objects become clearly visible—clouds form broad bands, vehicle lights draw bright streaks, stars leave trails in the sky, and water waves appear smooth. Only bright objects leave visible trails, whereas dark objects usually disappear. Boats in long exposures disappear during the daytime, but draw bright trails from their lights at night.


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