ryoder

I love long exposure photography!  Long exposures add the element of motion to your shots.  The motion may come from car lights (like the photo below), from water such as a waterfall, clouds moving in before a storm, or the stars which appear to move as the Earth rotates beneath them.  To take a long exposure photograph you'll need the camera to be perfectly still during the shot and I recommend using a tripod.  You'll also need a camera that allows you to adjust the shutter speed.  The longer the shutter is open the more motion will be captured.  In the photo below I setup the camera on a tripod and took a 20 sec. exposure (f/22, 20 sec., ISO: 100, 17mm) using a Canon 5D Mark III SLR Camera and 17 - 40mm lens. 

This photo was taken in St. Augustine Florida during the 2015 Night of Lights festival.  Areas of the city are strewn with Christmas lights and the narrow streets let you get close to the traffic so it's perfect for a wide angle lens.  To make your long exposure even more dynamic shoot at twilight.  This is the time after the sun sets and before the sky turns dark (note: the "blue hour" is 40 min. before sunrise/ 40 min. after sunset).  You may catch some great colors such as the blue sky here.

Challenge: What long exposure photograph do you have in mind?  :-)