Video: How to capture long exposure panoramas

Long exposure images can be a bit tricky to capture. Panoramas? They're even more challenging. What if you want to combine the two photographic techniques to create long exposure panorama photos? Photographer Attilio Ruffo is here to help with his latest video.

Long exposure photography is a great way to capture dramatic, distinct images, even in challenging light. If you've never tried your hand at long exposure photography, check out coverage of one of Ruffo's previous videos, "5 things you need to start long exposure photography."

When shooting panoramas, you often shoot with your camera in vertical orientation and use manual mode. You want to use manual mode to ensure consistent exposure across all your images. If you use aperture priority or shutter speed priority, the camera could meter images differently depending on what's in that specific frame. Typically, Ruffo shoots panoramas with a 50mm prime lens, but in this case, he needed to use a wide-angle prime to capture everything he wanted in the scene. The less distortion your lens has, the better your results will be when stitching the images in Lightroom or your photo editing application of choice. To ensure good results, you should overlap your pano images by about one-third.

Of course, you also want to use a tripod when shooting panoramic images. When capturing a single frame, you only need to level your camera. Your tripod can be off slightly, and it's not a big issue since your camera is still level. However, you'll rotate your camera when doing panoramas, so you want your tripod to be level.

Coincidentally, another talented photographer with a lively YouTube channel, Gary Gough, also recently shared a landscape photography video about long exposure photography. In the video below, Gough shows how different strength ND filters can change the look of your landscape photos.

To see more from Gary Gough, head to his YouTube channel and website.

(Via Attilio Ruffo and Gary Gough)