Long Exposure on Nikon D90

[KayeLM]

Hi all, my name is Kaye and I have just registered.

I bought my Nikon D90 yesterday with Nikon 18-55mm VR lens. I'm not completely new to photography, but new to my DSLR. Had a Point & Shoot previously.

I am progressing through the manual and shooting as I go, but have come across my first problem. Perhaps someone may be able to give me an answer:

I am trying to find out how to get a long exposure, eg like the "silky" look on water, but cannot work out how to set my D90.

The Manual says:
Press the shutter-release button halfway to activate the exposure meters and rotate the main command dial until "bulb" appears in the shutter-speed display.
I have done this, but "bulb" does not appear as an option??
I am lost from here..... and I do not yet have a remote.

Thanks.

Kaye

[TPF Sponsor]

[bruce282]

Is the camera in M mode? With mine I put it manual and spin the back dial until 'bulb' shows up in the top LCD. A lot of the silky water photos make use of ND filters to cut down the light hitting the sensor.

Hope this helps, and welcome aboard.

Bruce

[KayeLM]

Is the camera in M mode? With mine I put it manual and spin the back dial until 'bulb' shows up in the top LCD. A lot of the silky water photos make use of ND filters to cut down the light hitting the sensor.

Hope this helps, and welcome aboard.

Bruce

Thanks very much for the fast reply Bruce.
YES, I had my camera in M mode. I have tried this numerous times. I turn the back dial and only get numbers.... 200, etc.

Just tried again now.... I spun it faster and finally got "bulb". I quickly tried to take a shot of running water from the tap, but no pic showed on my screen. This may be to do with other settings. Not sure... I will keep working on it, and thanks so much for your help.

Kaye

[sean7488]

you will need a tripod if you are going to shoot in bulb mode with long exposures. Nothing showed up on your screen because the picture was still being taken.

[KmH]

You don't need to use 'bulb' mode to take a photo of water flowing out of a faucet. A shutter speed of 1/4 should work nicely if you want the water blurred.

In 'bulb' mode you press the shutter release button to open the shutter and start the exposure, and then release the button to close the shutter and end the exposure.

If you want the water to sharply focused in the photo, you want a shutter speed of about 1/1000.
Of course, you will also have to set the camera's ISO sensitivity and the lens aperture also.

On Nikon cameras the number 10 means one-tenth of a second (a fraction of a second), while 10" (with the " mark) means 10 whole seconds. Bulb is always at the upper end of the number of seconds the camera can do.

Be sure and read your D90 users manual. Reading it several times and keeping it handy for quick referecne is always a good idea.

You may find some useful info on my blog How Do I Use My Digital SLR?. and I also recommend all the tutorials at www.cambridgeincolor.com.

[KayeLM]

you will need a tripod if you are going to shoot in bulb mode with long exposures. Nothing showed up on your screen because the picture was still being taken.

Thanks very much for your reply sean. I do have a tripod and would like to get a remote one day, but lots of learning to do first. I am just having a little trouble with the shutter speed reading on the control panel.

[KayeLM]

You don't need to use 'bulb' mode to take a photo of water flowing out of a faucet. A shutter speed of 1/4 should work nicely if you want the water blurred.

In 'bulb' mode you press the shutter release button to open the shutter and start the exposure, and then release the button to close the shutter and end the exposure.

If you want the water to sharply focused in the photo, you want a shutter speed of about 1/1000.
Of course, you will also have to set the camera's ISO sensitivity and the lens aperture also.

On Nikon cameras the number 10 means one-tenth of a second (a fraction of a second), while 10" (with the " mark) means 10 whole seconds. Bulb is always at the upper end of the number of seconds the camera can do.

Be sure and read your D90 users manual. Reading it several times and keeping it handy for quick referecne is always a good idea.

You may find some useful info on my blog How Do I Use My Digital SLR?. and I also recommend all the tutorials at www.cambridgeincolor.com.

Thanks so much for your informative reply Keith. I know I should read more before asking questions, but sometimes I do what the manual says and get stuck

I understand most of what you are saying, and just now, I tried again, and have only just managed to come up with the figures with the " mark when turning the main command dial. Initially I had trouble getting "bulb", then I couldn't make it go away!
Your help has brought me this far which really answered my question - now I need to read and practice, and read and practice!!

Thanks for your help.

[spacefuzz]

Hi all, my name is Kaye and I have just registered.

I bought my Nikon D90 yesterday with Nikon 18-55mm VR lens. I'm not completely new to photography, but new to my DSLR. Had a Point & Shoot previously.

I am progressing through the manual and shooting as I go, but have come across my first problem. Perhaps someone may be able to give me an answer:

I am trying to find out how to get a long exposure, eg like the "silky" look on water, but cannot work out how to set my D90.

The Manual says:
Press the shutter-release button halfway to activate the exposure meters and rotate the main command dial until "bulb" appears in the shutter-speed display.
I have done this, but "bulb" does not appear as an option??
I am lost from here..... and I do not yet have a remote.

Thanks.

Kaye

Kaye,
Glad you got a D90 I love mine. When I shoot waterfalls / streams etc and want smooth water I usually throw it into aperature priority and use f/11-f/18 ish depending on conditions. To make it simpler than manual you could also put it in shutter priority and just play around with 1/4"-1" shutter speeds till you find the look you want. Very cool if you want to go into manual, but I am a lazy photographer and like to let me camera do some of the work. I do shoot manual if I am trying to get wave action on a beach though because the changing conditions can dork with a program mode. Hope that helps.
Matt

[KayeLM]

Hi all, my name is Kaye and I have just registered.

I bought my Nikon D90 yesterday with Nikon 18-55mm VR lens. I'm not completely new to photography, but new to my DSLR. Had a Point & Shoot previously.

I am progressing through the manual and shooting as I go, but have come across my first problem. Perhaps someone may be able to give me an answer:

I am trying to find out how to get a long exposure, eg like the "silky" look on water, but cannot work out how to set my D90.

The Manual says:
Press the shutter-release button halfway to activate the exposure meters and rotate the main command dial until "bulb" appears in the shutter-speed display.
I have done this, but "bulb" does not appear as an option??
I am lost from here..... and I do not yet have a remote.

Thanks.

Kaye

Kaye,
Glad you got a D90 I love mine. When I shoot waterfalls / streams etc and want smooth water I usually throw it into aperature priority and use f/11-f/18 ish depending on conditions. To make it simpler than manual you could also put it in shutter priority and just play around with 1/4"-1" shutter speeds till you find the look you want. Very cool if you want to go into manual, but I am a lazy photographer and like to let me camera do some of the work. I do shoot manual if I am trying to get wave action on a beach though because the changing conditions can dork with a program mode. Hope that helps.
Matt

Thanks very much Matt. I am saving all info I receive from you and others to put into practice. I have only had the camera for a few days and am pleased with what I have learned so far. In the next week or two, I will get out and try some different shots with various settings both in Manual and AP as you suggested. When I find a waterfall, I will certainly try what you have suggested. Thanks so much for your help.