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44 votes
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What are the reasons for not taking super long exposures (hours) in astrophotography?

@Michael Clark and @Itai have provided good answers. A few more thoughts from the perspective of the enthusiastic amateur: Tracking technology isn't perfect and sometimes its better to work within ...
MartinV's user avatar
  • 536
30 votes
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Why did my ND filter produce washed out exposures?

You've got the sun almost in the frame. This is causing huge amounts of veiling flare — light bouncing all around, reducing contrast. You'll get better results from a different angle, or at a ...
mattdm's user avatar
  • 143k
21 votes

Why does my Canon 700D take so long processing when I take a long exposure?

To reduce the processing time for long exposures, you want to turn off Long Exposure Noise Reduction. However, you may not want to give up the benefit of LENR. Long Exposure Noise Reduction (LENR) is ...
Michael C's user avatar
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20 votes
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Can I stack ND Filter and Polarizer together?

Absolutely you can. Many square filter holders are specifically designed for this: The Lee Filters systems (Sev5n, 100mm) have optional front threaded rings designed to hold a polarizer in front of ...
scottbb's user avatar
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19 votes

What are the reasons for not taking super long exposures (hours) in astrophotography?

It is firstly because we can now. Bulb photography can indeed shoot exposures of minutes to several hours, depending on the camera. Using a film camera, astrophotography is done with very long ...
Itai's user avatar
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19 votes

What are the reasons for not taking super long exposures (hours) in astrophotography?

The main advantage of stacking is to average out the randomized Poisson distribution "shot noise" that can be a problem in low light images such as astrophotography. Another advantage for stacking ...
Michael C's user avatar
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17 votes
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Does the EXIF data "DateTimeOriginal" get recorded at the start or end of the exposure?

The EXIF standard describes the DateTimeOriginal tag simply as "the date and time when the original image data was generated." It gives no guidance about what ...
Blrfl's user avatar
  • 5,602
15 votes

Why did my ND filter produce washed out exposures?

Why did my ND filter produce washed out exposures? You're shooting straight into the sun with a dirty, unshaded, and flat surface on the front of your lens. The image demonstrates all three classic ...
Michael C's user avatar
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14 votes
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Is there any way to take stable Long exposure photos without using Tripod?

I just try to see if there's any stable surface available nearby and try to use it That's the basic idea. Be careful to watch for slight slippage. Also note that vibrations can also affects the ...
StephenG - Help Ukraine's user avatar
14 votes

How to get soft-blur effect on flowing water with iPhone?

The easiest way is to take a Live Photo, then while viewing it in the Photos app, swipe up to access effects and choose Long Exposure. This will blend the frames of Live Photo together into a single ...
BallpointBen's user avatar
13 votes
Accepted

Taking a skyline photo with a person closer to the camera during night time

You can do this with a single exposure. Use a longish shutter speed to expose the background and the flash to properly expose and freeze your subject. You'll likely need to have your camera on a ...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 176k
13 votes

Does the EXIF data "DateTimeOriginal" get recorded at the start or end of the exposure?

Experimentally (on my EOS 70D), this is the beginning of the exposure, and not the end. But: this seems truncated to the second it depends how accurate is the time of the camera (before doing this ...
xenoid's user avatar
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12 votes

Is there any way to take stable Long exposure photos without using Tripod?

On a tight budget or when you can't use a tripod, bean bags are the way to go. Find a stable surface, place the bag and wiggle the camera around until you are happy with the framing. FYI ordinary ...
Richard Smith's user avatar
11 votes

Any alternative for manual cable releases?

You can hold it down with your finger. That's the only other option. Cable releases are inexpensive and easy to get. Your only issue might be the tight timeline you've left yourself, but if you ...
Jim MacKenzie's user avatar
11 votes

Does a long exposure in DSLR camera have a similar effect to a global shutter?

I think you've slightly misunderstood how the shutter works. Initially, the first shutter covers the sensor and the second does not. The first shutter then slides away to expose the sensor, and the ...
David Richerby's user avatar
10 votes
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How can I improve my fireworks photography?

Think about what happens in a fireworks display. Essentially, the sky is black. Within the sky, a series of bright lights turn themselves on and then off in random places. The important thing to ...
David Richerby's user avatar
9 votes

What are the reasons for not taking super long exposures (hours) in astrophotography?

Digital sensors heat up over long exposures; I've had exposures as short as 6 minutes exhibiting very visible colour distortion in the corners of the frame. Run the chip continually for hours without ...
eftpotrm's user avatar
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9 votes
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Why is my 2 second long exposure shot overexposed?

We have no idea of the brightness of the scene you are photographing. Are you on a Mediterranean beach? In a forest at night? Put the camera on automatic, take a photo, and see what iso, aperture and ...
osullic's user avatar
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9 votes
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How many stops should I compensate for with SFX200 and Hoya R72 Filter?

SFX200 is sensitive to light up to 740nm. The Hoya R72 blocks all wavelengths up to 720nm. So, first and foremost, you need to be aware that you are photographing a range that you can't see and your ...
OnBreak.'s user avatar
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9 votes
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How to improve my milky way shot?

Your image has a severe case of light pollution, there isn't much contrast and the horizon is drowned. The bottom of the picture is much lighter than the top and this seriously reduces your editing ...
xenoid's user avatar
  • 21.7k
9 votes

Black smudges during long exposure shots? What are these called and why are they there?

Not a problem with your equipment. They are reflections of the clouds. Non-smooth water will cause vertical smears. The effect is subtle here, but it is more obvious when the sun is reflected. Why ...
Mattman944's user avatar
  • 1,234
8 votes

How can I get smooth water and a city skyline including the city light with a bright sky?

This looks to be a fairly standard long exposure. The shutter speed needs to be slower than the 'period' of the waves (or 1 over the frequency) - this will cause the water to look flat. The colour ...
Harry Harrison's user avatar
8 votes

Is there any way to take stable Long exposure photos without using Tripod?

If inexpensive tripods are too expensive, I suggest making your own stable platform. The tripod socket on cameras is 1/4" × 20 thread-per-inch UNC, a.k.a. 1/4-20. (Do not try to use metric, such as M6-...
scottbb's user avatar
  • 33.2k
8 votes

Photostacking - Why does this technique fail for my astrophotos?

You have to remap the images such that the stars are aligned precisely, this requires pixel level aligning throughout the entire picture. This is best done with specialized software, such as Hugin (...
Count Iblis's user avatar
  • 3,616
8 votes

Why does my Canon 700D take so long processing when I take a long exposure?

It's not actually processing for most of that extra time. It is taking a second exposure with the shutter closed, for dark frame subtraction. This removes sensor-based pattern noise. Of course, there ...
mattdm's user avatar
  • 143k
8 votes

Does a long exposure in DSLR camera have a similar effect to a global shutter?

Most DSLRs have shutter curtains that transit the face of the sensor in approximately 2-4 milliseconds. For any particular camera model, barring a mechanical malfunction, the transit time for each ...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 176k
8 votes
Accepted

How to get soft-blur effect on flowing water with iPhone?

Third-party camera application It does not appear that the default application on iOS has any fine-grained control mode. But you can achieve that if you use a third-party camera application that gives ...
MichaelK's user avatar
  • 261
8 votes
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Choosing between 9-stop and 10-stop ND filter for flowing water long exposures

It doesn't matter much which filter you get. If you get the "wrong" one, you will have gained invaluable XP that will contribute to your continued advancement in photography. Options to consider: ...
xiota's user avatar
  • 27k
8 votes

Choosing between 9-stop and 10-stop ND filter for flowing water long exposures

TL;DR: Get the best 10-stop filter you are willing to afford. There are several to choose from, compared to shopping for a 9-stop filter. In no particular order, some considerations: This is very ...
scottbb's user avatar
  • 33.2k
8 votes
Accepted

Does Long Exposure set to ON resulting in blurred objects?

No, the Long Exposure NR setting is not causing any blurriness or interfering with the camera focus. Long Exposure Noise Reduction only kicks in if the exposure is longer than 1 second, and really is ...
scottbb's user avatar
  • 33.2k

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