How can I take a long exposure picture... without over exposing ??

I purchased a timer.

So lets say I got into manual mode then I will change the exposure time to "BULB". With this setting I can take a picture with an exposure longer than 30 seconds.

The problem is, they will simply become over exposed when I just normally take a picture past this time.


I'd like to take a long exposure picture of lets say 5 minutes of something. How would I go about doing this?

I am thinking of setting my timer for a 5 minute picture, but it will slowly let light into the frame so it doesn't get over exposed but still capture everything. Because right now I could pretty much take a 1 minute long exposure picture in a pretty dark area and it will still be blown out.

Any help would be great if you know what I'm talking about..

Learn to read the camera's histogram and shoot a few test shots, it will soon become easy to set the camera up correctly, also make sure you are setting a low ISO and adjusting the aperture. Even in Manual the metering scale in the viewfinder is active, so adjust the aperture until the cursor is at the middle of the scale, and the read the histogram of your test shot so you can reset the exposure differently if needed.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com …standing-histograms.shtml

You've left out a few important details, like the lighting conditions?

Try it at night. In broad daylight it's not gonna fly.

Low ISO as possible, usually 50, will get you some time, but the only way is (if you can afford it) an 9 stop ND filter. I have one and that gets me 30 seconds or so in daylight, a couple of minutes in twilight.

Rad

Bulb mode is usually only used for long exposures at night...

Using the 'Sunny 16 rule' f16, ISO100 will need a shutter speed of 1/100s. You're wanting 5 minutes, which is 30,000 times longer. That's about 18 stops. You could do it using two 9-stop filters together but I'm not sure what the results would look like.

Just why do you need 5 minute exposures?


Ooops! 30,000 times longer is 15 stops not 18 stops. So a 9-stop plus a 6-stop will do.


How to do these calculations in your head -

1000 is roughly 2^10, or 10 stops (remember this)
30 is roughly 2^5, or 5 stops (powers of 2; 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256​,512,1024)
30,000 = 30 x 1000 which is roughly 15 stops.

hollis_f wrote in post #13949643
You could do it using two 9-stop filters together but I'm not sure what the results would look like.

... and good luck composing and focusing with that setup.

Curtis N wrote in post #13950230
... and good luck composing and focusing with that setup.

I think I'd do that before screwing the filters on.

hollis_f wrote in post #13949643
Using the 'Sunny 16 rule' f16, ISO100 will need a shutter speed of 1/100s. You're wanting 5 minutes, which is 30,000 times longer. That's about 18 stops. You could do it using two 9-stop filters together but I'm not sure what the results would look like.

Just why do you need 5 minute exposures?

Learn this rule and how to apply it and you'll be able to calculate long exposures easily. Just do a search for "Sunny 16" You'll need to brush up on your basic photography terms and have a pretty good understanding of what a "stop" is.

10 stop ND filters, stack them if you need to. I've seen people use them to track the sun across the sky.

As has been said, the standard tool for long exposures is a Neutral Density filter or, for something like five minutes, a combination of ND filters. Otherwise, yes, any bit of light will be overexposed.

For something like a night time cityscape, you can get away with say a 30-second exposure. Any longer will, again, blow out highlights.

If you are trying to "capture motion", like moving water, an ND filter is the "standard", although you can squeeze out a few seconds using other techniques.

So, before we can help any more, tell us what you are trying to accomplish with your 5 minutes!