Long Exposure Portraits?

[bigtwinky]

I'm sure you can google or youtube a decent walkthrough.

Essentially...

Open both images separately in photoshop

Put them both in windowed mode so you can see both images on the screen (they can overlap, but make sure they are somewhat visible)

Go to one image and hold down (this I am not sure) SHIFT + CTRL and then click and drag and drop it on the other image.

The goal is to have the image you dragged create a new layer with the new image and to have it fill the whole layer, centered (this is what the CTRL+SHIFT do)

On the top/new layer, use the layer mask icon (should be on your lower right, new the create new layer button)

Use the Brush tool to brush/mask out the sections you dont want of the top image. Black masks, white unmasks

*this might have some problems or things that are untrue, I'm going purely by memory from something I learned a while ago and havent done in a while. I also dont have PS installed. But you should get the idea...

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[IgsEMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnnyL
Quote: Originally Posted by IgsEMT
Long exposures = how long, 1/30 or 1/15 you might get away, USING flash of course. Anything slower, you'll probably get blur.
What you could try to do is something like 1/10 with a flash as they skate by you - flash will freeze the main action while you'll still get the trail of movement. Preferably if you're using tripod.


I forgot to say , I want the portrait of them just posing there. They won't be skating around. I was thinking of long exposures like 5 to 10seconds.

Heres what I just thought of. I set the camera on the tripod , say 10second exposure. I release the shutter telling them not to move and a few seconds later ( I don't really know whens the best time ) I use my flash off shoe and fire it at them using the test button.

Would this work out?

Also , it's just a cheap flash without variable power or sync option..

Use a light meter, or of tries until you get it right

[JohnnyL]

Cool , I think I got all the information I needed.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[JohnnyL]

Hey guys , thanks for all the advice. I did get the shot today , although not what I had planned , I'm happy with the results for sure.



Info : I realized that 10second long exposure wouldn't work so I bumped the ISO to 800 , shutter to 1second and aperture to 3.5 ( smallest )

[Pugs]

Compositionally I like this a lot. The only thing I don't like about it is that lamp in the upper-right. It's the first thing that my eye is drawn to and that takes away from the subjects, in my opinion.

[jnm]

i made a very nice portrait with a 15 second exposure to get the very dark sky to be lit by the moon from behind the clouds and used a wireless strobe on the rear curtain to get my wife to come out with no blur. i think it came out awesome, let me know if you want to see.

[JohnnyL]

i made a very nice portrait with a 15 second exposure to get the very dark sky to be lit by the moon from behind the clouds and used a wireless strobe on the rear curtain to get my wife to come out with no blur. i think it came out awesome, let me know if you want to see.

Cool , show me!

Thanks for pointing out the light Pugs.

[jnm]

i made a very nice portrait with a 15 second exposure to get the very dark sky to be lit by the moon from behind the clouds and used a wireless strobe on the rear curtain to get my wife to come out with no blur. i think it came out awesome, let me know if you want to see.

Cool , show me!

Thanks for pointing out the light Pugs.

the moon was hidden behind some pretty think clouds so i needed 15 seconds to make them come out at all. camera was on iso 400, f/6.3 and flash was an SB600 set to 1/32 +0.3 about 10 feet in front of her set to the rear curtain. there was enough ambient light on her since the resort was about 100 feet away that without the flash she would have been visible but very dark and blurry but the flash took care of that.