Next to false light, shaking is the most common reason for failed shots in long-exposure photography.Īt night, factors that can cause your tripod and camera to shake are usually lessened: lighter wind, fewer waves, and less traffic, for example.īut during the day, these factors are stronger, heavier, and more problematic for daytime long-exposure photography strong wind or heavy traffic can make your tripod shake or vibrate, resulting in blurred or unsharp shots. Furthermore, if you don’t own a 10 stop neutral density filter, using a less strong ND-filter and taking multiple images to combine later will give you similar results. Photo stacking your daytime long-exposure photos will ensure that you get correctly exposed shots. Long-exposure photography in daytime light using a 10 stop ND-filter might still result in an overexposed shot.Īt night or during the blue hour, when the light is limited, you can adjust your camera settings to give you a 2 or 4 minutes exposure even without using neutral density filters. When to Use Photo Stacking False Lightĭuring the day, you’ll often have too much light available for long-exposure photography. However, it is important to recognise when you need it during shooting. Photo stacking is not a technique for every situation, but sometimes stacking your long-exposures is the only way to get a good shot. With exposure time around 4 minutes, you can easily waste a lot of time trying to capture the perfect shot of soft clouds or silky waves.īut by dividing the shot into several shorter exposures of the same subject and stacking them together in Photoshop, you can overcome most of the issues, spend less time on wasted shots, and come away with better images. When doing long-exposure photography–photography that requires light to hit your camera sensor for more than 2 minutes a lot of problems can arise and those can easily ruin your shot: false light, camera shake, accidentally tripping over your tripod, etc.

Photo Stacking for Daytime Long-Exposures This post will help you improve your long-exposure skills and overcome the most common challenges that occur in daytime long-exposure photography. Are you planning on shooting soft, silky waves? Do you wish to create dreamy, daytime landscapes with smooth, stretched clouds?

Exposure stacking software