Nikon D7000 manual Second expo- sure rendered the passersby almost invisible

Chapter 7 ■ Advanced Techniques 189

Figure 7.6

This European alleyway is thronged with people, but with the camera on a tripod, a

30-second expo- sure rendered the passersby almost invisible.

■Produce light trails. At night, car headlights and taillights and other moving sources of illumination can generate interesting light trails, as shown in Figure 7.7. Your camera doesn’t even need to be mounted on a tripod; hand-holding the D7000 for longer exposures adds movement and patterns to your streaky trails. If you’re shooting fireworks, a longer exposure may allow you to combine several bursts into one picture.

■Blur waterfalls, etc. You’ll find that waterfalls and other sources of moving liquid produce a special type of long-exposure blur, because the water merges into a fan- tasy-like veil that looks different at different exposure times, and with different waterfalls. Cascades with turbulent flow produce a rougher look at a given longer exposure than falls that flow smoothly. Although blurred waterfalls have become almost a cliché, there are still plenty of variations for a creative photographer to explore. (See Figure 7.8.)

■Show total darkness in new ways. Even on the darkest, moonless nights, there is enough starlight or glow from distant illumination sources to see by, and, if you use a long exposure, there is enough light to take a picture, too.