Long Exposure I took of myself climbing in The Needles of South Dakota with LEDs tied to my body.

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This is a composite shot. The Milky Way was shot at f/1.4, ISO 1600, and 15 sec. The climbing was shot at f/11, ISO 320, and 368 sec.

The climb itself is just over 100 feet tall.

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u/Jakubada Aug 13 '21

where can i read up what all of that means? i only understand that you shot the milky way before and added if afterwards so the night sky wont get blurred,right?

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u/christjan08 Aug 13 '21

Yeah so he took two different photos and merged them together later on. The aperture value f/1.4 or f/11 is the amount of light traveling through the lens into the sensor. This also affects focus as well.

A smaller number (1.4) let's through the most light and has a really small focal area, whereas the bigger number let's through less light, but can hold a longer area in focus.

ISO is sensor sensitivity, ish. The higher the ISO, the more it'll boost the image. During daytime you usually shoot between ISO 100-1600. At night time I'll typically start off at 6400 and then adjust from there. Sometimes I'll go up to 12800 or 10000 depending on how long my exposure is. The higher the ISO, the more grain you'll introduce though song you'll lose a lot of quality if you don't expose correctly. I generally try and keep the ISO as low as I can.

Hope this helps!

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u/Jakubada Aug 13 '21

this is way more than i expected! thank you! :)

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u/whitoreo Aug 14 '21

This is all good info and very detailed. Here is how I think of it.

f value = Aperture size (low number = bigger hole, high number = smaller hole (f1.4 is HUGE, f11 is tiny))

ISO = sensitivity to light (with a trade off of: more sensitive = more noise) Rule of thumb: keep your ISO as low as possible.

Exposure time = time the shutter is kept open.

Best advice: get out there and practice! Nothing beats experience. Film is cheap.