STEP BY STEP GET READY FOR SLOW-SHUTTER ABSTRACTS

A travel-friendly superzoom with a long focal range can turn you into a photographic artist in the time it takes to shoot a few long-exposure images

1 Choose the right tool for the job

While many photographers will own a 70-200mm telephoto, I’m using a 70-300mm superzoom with a slightly longer focal range; designed to be travel-friendly, these lenses are inexpensive and widely available pre-owned. The long reach of my 70-300mm is handy for this kind of photography, as it will provide a pronounced ‘abstract’ effect. While image quality can fall off when superzooms are used at their longer focal lengths, it’s not a concern here, as I’m not trying to capture faithful studies of the subjects I’m photographing.

2 Explore the use of slow shutter speeds

While shooting my images, I used shutter speeds of between 1/10 and 1/13 sec; and, depending on the brightness of the subject, apertures between f/22 and f/32. There isn’t a ‘correct’ exposure, as such: instead, it’s about being as experimental as possible. Shooting in raw and metering for the whole frame by using the Evaluative or Matrix setting, I would occasionally overexpose the subject to enhance the vibrancy of the image, and make sure the white tones came through. In fact, the overexposure helped when editing my images.