Nikon D7000 manual Three Ways to Take Long Exposures

Chapter 7 ■ Advanced Techniques 187

Three Ways to Take Long Exposures

There are actually three common types of lengthy exposures: timed exposures, bulb expo- sures, and time exposures. The D7000 offers only the first two, but once you understand all three, you’ll see why Nikon made the choices it did. Because of the length of the exposure, all of the following techniques should be used with a tripod to hold the cam- era steady.

■Timed exposures. These are long exposures from 1 second to 30 seconds, meas- ured by the camera itself. To take a picture in this range, simply use Manual or S modes and use the main command dial to set the shutter speed to the length of time you want, choosing from preset speeds of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0, or 30.0 seconds (if you’ve specified 1/2 stop increments for exposure adjustments), or 1.0, 1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.5, 3.2, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0, 13.0, 15.0, 20.0, 25.0, and 30.0 seconds (if you’re using 1/3 stop increments). The advantage of timed exposures is that the camera does all the calculating for you. There’s no need for a stop-watch. If you review your image on the LCD and decide to try again with the exposure doubled or halved, you can dial in the correct exposure with pre- cision. The disadvantage of timed exposures is that you can’t take a photo for longer than 30 seconds.

■Bulb exposures. This type of exposure is so-called because in the olden days the photographer squeezed and held an air bulb attached to a tube that provided the force necessary to keep the shutter open. Traditionally, a bulb exposure is one that lasts as long as the shutter release button is pressed; when you release the button, the exposure ends. To make a bulb exposure with the D7000, set the camera on Manual mode and use the main command dial to select the shutter speed imme- diately after 30 seconds—buLb. Then, press the shutter to start the exposure, and press it again to close the shutter. If you’d like to simulate a time exposure (described below), you can use the Nikon MC-DC2 remote control cable or ML-L3 wireless remote control.

■Time exposures. This is a setting found on some cameras to produce longer expo- sures. With cameras that implement this option, the shutter opens when you press the shutter release button, and remains open until you press the button again. With the Nikon D7000, you can produce this effect with a locking cable release, as I did for the shot in San Juan, Puerto Rico shown in Figure 7.5. You can press the shut- ter release button, go off for a few minutes, and come back to close the shutter (assuming your camera is still there). The disadvantages of this mode are exposures must be timed manually, and with shorter exposures it’s possible for the vibration of manually opening and closing the shutter to register in the photo. For longer exposures, the period of vibration is relatively brief and not usually a problem.