My Journey: Long Exposure Photography in Toronto by Tdot Mike
Long exposure photograph is a challenge and a fun pursuit. Whether it is deep into the evening or even just low light at twilight, you can find different opportunities to snap some pics.
What’s interesting to me is that you can do this kind of photography with pro level gear or just your smartphone. You just have to be able to adjust exposure! And obviously a tripod is necessary or you need to stabilize your camera in some way for the length of the shot.
My weapon of choice is either the Pixel phone (best in class for smartphone photos) or my Lumix G9. I’ll tell you a bit about myself and share some shots.
About Me
Hello. I’m a teacher and designer from Toronto. I’ve been practicing photography since my punk – skate days in the 90s and in 2015 or so I rediscovered photography with a Nikon compact and jumped into social via IG.
Nowadays I consider photography one of the best options creating professional imagery – and for fun. It is the best tool for creative pros and for hobbyists.
My Gallery
Early efforts in local places in Toronto. It’s amazing you can just step our your door or go visit a friend and bring a camera with you. Or get your smartphone out and put it in a mini tripod! The animated photo sequence has about 15 frames.
In the next image we have an elevated view looking toward downtown from Spadina Station. This is where the streetcars enter and depart the station. This capture was a rainy foggy evening and the CN Tower looked ghostly.
Below is another shot on Spadina. Since this is one of the most important streetcar routes in the city there are plenty of spots to shoot the trams. This shot is just south of Queen St. I mounted my smartphone on a pole near the streetcar stop. I was safe from traffic on the little sidewalk island where passengers wait and depart. I used a small gorilla groip style tripod with its bendable legs wrapped around a metal pole.
Daytime Long Exposures in Winter
The following are handheld shots taken with half-second exposures using a compact camera (my trust Nikon P7800). The first image is a Beck taxi in High Park. The second is a streetcar on King St. in the downtown. Don’t discount using cheaper pocket cameras or smartphones or second hand gear of any kind. Though a tripod is usually required, especially as the light fades and night enters the scene, daytime hand-held shots are really practical.
This is a shot of my friend and super enthusiast Paul Flynn. We co-host workshops for long exposure photography. Be sure to check them out at tdot.cc.
This shot was taken at a favourite corner, where the elegant St. Lawrence Hall sits acrross from St. James cathedral on the epic King St in downtown Toronto. To be honest this was a decent long exposure shot with Paul on frame but I accentuated the impact with a sky replacement and slight accentuation of the streetcar long exposure effect (Photoshop for both with motion blur applied selectively to the streetcar to double the effect).
Tips and Tricks for long exposure photography
I would be remiss not to include some of the typical, and often beautiful long exposure photography that is possible in the city at night and share some tips. Here is a long exposure sequence I shot on downtown Toronto with about a 2-second shutter and 50 frames.
Process: In this sequence I captured dozens of long exposure frames, then imported them to Photoshop.
Though they were shot on a tripod so they line up perfectly. I used the “timeline” feature in Photoshop to animate the frames. Some of the frames have a slightly longer timing to exaggerate the effect.
Read the post:
Create a Photo Animation from an Image Sequence in Photoshop (Make a GIF or Video)
Bonus Shot
Snapped this pic with my smartphone and saw some incredible motion in the shot. So I took it to Photoshop and created a action movie style poster out of it.
Whatever you do have fun. Pursuit of gadgets and tech is a downer. Truthfully as I mentioned you can do this photography with nearly any camera or phone. Because most of them allow you to adjust exposure manually.
So get out there and shoot. Get out and create. And enjoy your time on this planet.
Mike
On Instagram I am @tdot_mike
- Oct. 17-31 – Photo Contest Toronto (View tdot.cc/colourcity)
- Nov. 1 – Long Exposure Photo Walk Workshop with Paul Flynn and Tdot Shots (Tickets available)
- Nov. 8 – University of Toronto Tour with Mike Simpson
Take photos of this iconic spot and learn about architecture and history at U of T (Tickets available)
Please RSVP and buy tickets at Tdot.cc
You can hire us for a private tour. Contact us today.
