Moods through monochrome
Long exposures and slow shutter speed give you out-of-this-world images, writes Patricia Soon
COLOUR is everything, but black and white in photography show people a different world, a world that cannot be seen with the naked eye. It is the soul of photography. In normal photography, you can certainly capture the beauty of colours but you won’t feel the soul of an image.
It is often hard to convey someone’s feelings into photographs, but it is not impossible. For me, the lack of colour allows an observer to focus closely on a subject’s emotional state, frame and composition.
Over the past couple of years, I have decided to experiment with long exposures and slow shutter speed.
I love this technique and I use natural density filters (3, 6, 10 stops) and circular polariser filter when taking photos under the sun with a sturdy tripod.
All these allow me to increase the exposure time from a few seconds to even a few minutes and it can create a great mood.
Slow shutter or long exposure photography is a way to blend time with your emotions. The flow of clouds and running water, when slowed down, creates a dramatic mood.
I often make preparations to come up with an image that I have in mind before taking the photograph. I mostly scout the location in advance, checking for obstructed view, accessibility, weather conditions, light, time, tides, equipment and more.
Trial-and-error is a fundamental process in a photography genre like this.
Architecture images look stunning when seen from below, showing a new perspective in terms of height. When you capture moving clouds using long exposure, the mood is just stunning. This photo was taken using 165 seconds of exposure, f/8 aperture and ISO 100.
Sometimes destruction can be beautiful too. We just need an eye to appreciate it. This photo was taken using 327 seconds of exposure, f/9 aperture and ISO 100.
A peaceful moment... Monochrome images always have a timeless feel in the way they capture the soul of the place and time. This photo was taken using 1,024 seconds of exposure, f/8 aperture and ISO 100.
Black and white, darkness and light and so many shades of grey in between. This photo of a mosque was taken using 328 seconds of exposure, f/11 aperture and ISO 100.
A slow shutter speed effect showing the commotion of people during rush hour in Taipei. This photo was taken using 0.6 second of exposure, f/13 aperture and ISO 800.