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When shooting long exposure photography, it’s critical to reduce any vibrations that can cause blurry images. The beauty of long exposure photography is that it can smoothly blur moving elements in your scene, but static elements like buildings and trees should be in sharp focus. Camera shake is something that most photographers associate with hand-holding photos, when the movements of our body can cause blurry photos, but it’s something that can occur even when the camera is mounted on a tripod. Even the gentle touch of pressing the shutter release button can shake your camera enough to result in a long exposure photo that is blurry in areas that should be sharp and crisp.
You can avoid shaking the camera and getting blurry photos when you trigger a long exposure photo by using a few different methods. If you’re shooting long exposures of 30 seconds or less and don’t have any additional equipment with you, one simple option you can use is to set a 2 second self-timer on your camera to allow any vibrations caused by pressing the shutter button to have subsided by the time the exposure begins.
Bulb mode is a feature found on DSLR and mirrorless cameras and on some advanced compact cameras, and enables exposures of any length to be taken while the shutter release button is held down. Physically holding down the shutter button introduces vibrations that can ruin a photo, making it advisable to use a shutter release cable.
A shutter release cable plugs into the camera and enables an exposure to be triggered without needing to touch the camera itself — ideal for using the Bulb mode for long exposures of any lengths. A cable release features a shutter release button that can be locked into place so that you don’t need to constantly hold down the button during a long exposure. Simply press the button on the shutter release cable and lock it in place to begin the exposure and then unlock it to end the exposure.
When shopping for a shutter release cable, you will likely come across wireless shutter release remotes — Some of these enable shooting long exposures using the bulb mode, while others do not. If you’re considering a wireless remote, be sure to verify that you’ll be able to use it to trigger Bulb exposures of any length.