What does it mean to photograph time?

Great question right there! As simple as it is, you can make dramatic and amazing photos by using time, either to shorten the amount of time it takes to snap a picture or draw out that time in order to get some amazing effects. Right now I will explain what some of those effects are once you learn to slow down time and capture moments within the sensor or a camera.

Playing with Clouds, Water, And Time

The technique to achieve these looks is pretty simple. You leave your camera on a tripod and let the camera take a picture for an extended amount of time. But in order to keep your picture from being too bright and also capturing the extended amount of time, you need an ND filter, or Neutral Density Filter.

This filter acts literally like a pair of sunglasses and with the elapsed time, light enters the lens at a more controlled rate. This give you cool effects like clouds looking like they are whisping by or moving bodies of water to look like glass. To demonstrate, the log in the photo above originally looked like the photo below before this effect took place, and yes, the waves were still as choppy as I took the photo above. Pretty cool, huh?!

Night Time Photography

Another fantastic way to light is at night, without the ND filter. By leaving the exposure open for long periods of time, you can then fill the scene up with light to tell your story and visually express yourself or an idea. This is how nighttime photography is accomplished and how you can successfully take a picture with the galaxy visible.

You can also creatively shot subjects that don’t just include landscapes, but portraits too. Could you imagine seeing a fashion magazine repping a photo similar to the one below? If you don’t think, then go look at a fashion magazine. Then come back to me and tell me again to my face your changed opinion. If unchanged, then we may continue to be civil, but I might be hurt on the inside.

Think Outside the Box (or Cage)

This trick was shown to me by a friend who does not own a light-up cage, but rather a bicycle wheel with Christmas lights. By spinning the wheel lit up on an axis, you can then let your camera see the image and it creates a very awesome ball of light. Just one more example of playing with your camera to come up with impressive ideas.

In order to understand better about taking photos at night, I invite you to visit this website about 4 Step to Mastering Creative Night Photography. You will be able to learn something there, I promise you.