Let the Light Out

“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” – Simone de Beauvoir

Lately I have been experimenting with slow shutter speed photography. I see all of these awesome photos on Instagram, and I tell myself that I can do that too. The trick to slow shutter speed photography is timing. The best time to do it is either first thing in the morning or early in the evening right after sundown. That doesn’t really work for me. Most of the time I go out to take photos during the day while I am out riding my bike. I did some research, and I found out about a filter that will block the light in order for me to take those longer exposure shots during the day. I have been using it when I go out, and I have been able to capture some pretty cool photos. Typically, I take photos of fountains and waterfalls with this, but I have been trying in different citations too.

I took these photos over at Freedom Park in Charlotte, N.C. It is one of the largest parks in Charlotte, complete with playgrounds, ballfields, and a lake you can walk around. One of my favorite places to visit is the stream that runs by the greenway that leads to Uptown Charlotte. I took these photos at Little Sugar Creek. The first shot I used a 20 second shutter speed. It gave the stream the look of glass, and the light came through the trees amazingly. To pull this off I bring a mini-tripod with me because I don’t really like to carry my large tripod with me when I ride my bike. It’s too much weight on my back. The mini-tripod does a great job of keeping my camera still while the shutter closes at a slow speed. Some of the other shots I took did use the low shutter speed, but they didn’t turn out as good as the first one in my opinion.