How to Take Beautiful Long Exposure Landscape Photos

This article has everything you need to know about taking long exposure landscape photos.

Have you ever wondered how those pictures with flowing water, moving clouds, or streaking car lights were taken?

I certainly did when I first started learning landscape photography.

By using a slow shutter speed you can create unique and dreamy images that showcase the movement of clouds, water and other elements in your frame.

Even though it’s not the easiest form of landscape photography, with the right gear and some basic settings, I’m happy to tell you that it’s not that hard.

If you’re a new photographer and interested in trying to capture long exposure landscape photos, I’m sharing the steps I’ve learned along the way to help get you started.

By the end of this article, you will have an understanding of this technique, and have enough knowledge to head out and start creating your own images.

Before we get started, I wanted to share my FREE Landscape Photography Toolkit with you.

It’s packed with practical tips and checklists to help you capture beautiful scenes with more confidence, starting NOW!

Promotional graphic for a 'Landscape Photography Toolkit' featuring a sunset view of a lighthouse. The toolkit includes an Exposure Quick Start Guide, 7 Practical Checklists & Info Sheets, and an On-The-Go Camera Settings Cheat Sheet. A 'Free Download' badge is present, and a button at the bottom reads 'Send Me The Toolkit'.

Let’s dive into this article all about long exposures to take those beautiful, dreamy images.

What exactly is a Long Exposure?

Put simply, it is a way of capturing motion in a scene by keeping the camera’s shutter open for an extended period of time.

While there is no set number that defines this, it is generally agreed that it is when the shutter speed is too slow to capture a sharp image hand held. This will vary depending on the individual and the camera.

This technique is often used in scenes where there is movement such as clouds and water.

My favourite example is at a waterfall. By using a long shutter speed, the water appears soft and milky; almost dreamy even.

A beautiful waterfall cascading over dark rocks surrounded by vibrant green foliage. The long exposure effect creates a smooth, misty appearance of the flowing water.

NOTE: This guide focuses on taking long exposure landscape photos during the day, covering techniques for capturing the beauty of sunrise, sunset, and waterfalls.

By using a slow shutter speed, the flow and motion of these elements can be captured in stunning detail, creating unique and artistic images.

The guide does not cover night time long exposures, such as the Milky Way and star trails.

If you would like to look into astrophotography, I highly recommend Simon d’Entremont, and this is a great place to start:

You can capture a long exposure with any camera that has manual settings, but you will need a tripod to get a sharp image.

So, let’s talk about gear.

Grab Your Gear

There’s no getting around the fact that you will need some specific camera gear to capture beautiful long exposure landscape photos. But don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated or expensive.

Here is the essential camera gear you need to get started:

Camera

As long as you have a camera that has manual mode, you have exactly what you need.

By this I mean your camera has the ability for you to control all the settings; including ISO, shutter speed and aperture as a minimum.

Even better is if it has bulb mode; more on this later.

Lenses

When it comes to long exposure landscape photography, you have a lot of flexibility when it comes to choosing your lenses.

Whether you prefer a wide-angle, super-telephoto, or something in between, the lens you choose is up to you. However, traditionally, long exposures are often captured using wide or ultra-wide lenses. These types of lenses give a broad view, add a sense of depth, and help the viewer feel like they’re a part of the scene.

It’s all about finding what works best for you and your style!

My go to lens is a more mid-range 24-70mm lens. Although I do always have my 100-400mm lens in my kit as well.

Tripod

A sturdy tripod is an absolute essential for long-exposure photography.

When you’re taking exposures that last several seconds, it’s critical to have a stable base to avoid any camera shake. Even the slightest movement can result in a blurry image, and this can get worse with longer shutter times.

That’s why it’s important to invest in a good tripod and make sure nothing will disturb your setup while you’re shooting.

Note: With cameras getting better every day, image stabilisation is now much better than before, making it possible to handhold your camera for longer without blurriness. However, despite this a tripod provides a stable base that eliminates camera shake and ensures your shots are sharp and clear.

A close-up of a camera on a tripod, aimed at a sunrise over the ocean, with a pink coffee tumbler held by a person (the author of the website, Sam) in the foreground. The long exposure on the camera screen captures the soft, colorful hues of the setting sun — Bonus of using a tripod is you have hands free for your coffee!

Neutral Density Filters

When trying to capture long exposure landscape photos, overexposing your images can be a common issue.

This happens when too much light enters the camera and washes out the details in the image.

When you’re shooting during the day or in bright conditions, this can be especially problematic if you’re leaving the shutter open for several seconds or more.

To avoid overexposure, you need to control the amount of light entering the camera. This is where neutral density filters come in. These filters act like sunglasses for your camera, reducing the amount of light that reaches the sensor.

This allows you to use longer shutter speeds and capture motion in your scene, such as flowing water or moving clouds, without overexposure.

So, if not absolutely essential, neutral density filters are definitely a helpful tool to have in your kit.

Recommended Reading: Landscape Photography Gear: What You Need To Get Started

Remote Shutter Release (Optional)

A shutter release is a handy tool that allows you to take a picture without physically pressing the camera’s shutter button.

This helps reduce camera shake and ensures sharp, blur-free images. However, not everyone wants to invest in a shutter release, especially when you’re just starting out. That’s ok, there’s an alternative option: your camera’s self-timer.

The self-timer allows you to take a picture a few seconds after pressing the button, giving you time to step away from the camera and reduce camera shake.

This works well for many long exposure landscape shots, especially if you’re shooting in relatively calm conditions.

However, timing can be challenging with the self-timer, especially if you’re trying to capture a specific moment, like a wave, or water receding around a rock at the beach. In these cases, a shutter release may be a better option.

TIP: Make sure you remove your camera strap before you set up. Keeping the strap on can cause the camera to shake during the exposure if there’s any wind, resulting in a blurry image.

Now that you’ve got your gear sorted, it’s time to move onto the practice – yay!

Let’s get to planning, and actually taking some long exposure landscape photos. Here are the steps for you to follow:

Time To Shoot

Sorry, but before you actually set that camera and tripod up, you need to plan when, where and what you are going to shoot.

First up is planning to set yourself up for success.

Now, I’m not saying you are going to be an expert after this first adventure.

I am however confident that if you follow these steps, you will produce some great starting images you will be proud to share with your family and friends.

It might even give you the bug to keep trying and improving: I really hope so!

Planning

As with all photography, it’s important to plan your shoot before heading out. This basically means considering the time of day, weather conditions, location, and what you are going to shoot.

Time of day: The best time of day for taking long exposure landscape photos, just like all landscape photography, is the unsociable hours. Oops, I mean around sunrise and sunset. This really is when the light is the best.

Weather conditions: Overcast weather is ideal as it provides soft, even light, giving you ideal conditions for capturing motion. And, hello clouds: one of the things that look awesome with some long exposure love.

A serene coastal scene at sunrise, featuring smooth water over rocky outcrops and a sky filled with soft, gradient colors ranging from pink to blue. The long exposure effect gives the water a misty, tranquil appearance. — Using a long exposure to both smooth the water and show some cloud movement

Location: It all starts with a location that has some interest to give you some interesting subjects to photograph. These don’t have to be iconic, famous locations. See what’s interesting in your local area even. There’s an article dedicated to finding landscape photography locations that will help you with this.

Subject: This is something that can’t be stressed enough. You need a subject that includes motion in your scene.

Landscapes can be still affairs, but most great landscape images involve showing movement in a scene.

And to be blunt, if there aren’t any moving elements in your scene, there’s no point attempting long exposure landscape photography.

So you need to choose a subject that has movement. That could be the beach, a river, waterfall, or even somewhere that is interesting with some cloud action overhead.

Composition

Composition is a critical aspect of landscape photography and refers to how elements in a scene are arranged within the frame to create a visually appealing image.

Tips such as the Rule of Thirds, leading lines, and simplifying the scene can help improve your composition skills.

When taking long exposures, it’s important to also consider movement in the scene, such as the movement of water, clouds, people, or animals.

This movement can add a sense of flow and energy to the image and can be used in conjunction with the general composition techniques mentioned above to create dynamic and visually striking images.

Remember to have fun and let your creativity flow as you experiment with different techniques and find what works best for you and the scene you are capturing.

Coastal scene at sunrise with a watchtower on a rocky outcrop, accompanied by the text "Top Composition Techniques for Better Landscape Photos" at the bottom.

Once you’ve got your composition, it’s time to set your focus.

Focus

You need to decide what is the main subject of your scene that you want to be tack sharp, and focus on that.

This is the simplest way to start, but a lot more does come into focus.

There are also choices to make in the field if your camera and lens allow for both auto and manual focus.

Many cameras also have several focus points to choose from, starting with a single point focus (on a small part of your scene) to multiple points covering the whole scene.

If you’re just starting out, I would suggest using single point autofocus.

When you are ready to expand on this, Photography Life has this great in-depth article – How To Focus In Landscape Photography.

But where do you place your focus point?

A general guide is to focus about a third of the way into your scene. This would be somewhere along that first line on your rule of thirds grid.

A tranquil coastal landscape at sunrise with a lone tree standing on a rocky outcrop, framed by a pastel-colored sky with hues of pink and purple. The image includes text at the bottom that reads, "Rule of Thirds: How To Use For Better Landscape Photos."

Camera Settings

Getting the right shutter speed is the first step in creating stunning long exposure landscape photos.

Think about the look you want to achieve and choose your shutter speed accordingly.

Whether you want to capture a textured look, a dreamy flow, or silky smooth exposure, you can easily adjust your camera to get the desired effect.

Different shutter speed lengths will produce different types of movement, so it may be helpful to refer to this table of recommended starting points as you experiment and find your style:

A chart titled "Shutter Speed Guide!" with suggested shutter speeds for different effects in photography. The chart includes options like water with texture, smooth silky water, and car trails, with corresponding recommended shutter speeds listed beside each effect.

Next is choosing your aperture. For landscape photography, you are looking for your images to be relatively sharp from front to back. A good starting point for achieving this is to set your aperture to around F8 to F11.

You will want to set your ISO to the lowest number your camera offers. This is usually 100, but this can vary depending on your camera.

When you’re ready to take your long exposure landscape shot, it’s time to dial in your camera settings.

Start by setting your aperture and ISO, then choose a shutter speed that will give you the desired effect.

Next, it’s important to check your exposure.

If you try to use a longer shutter speed at this point, your shot will likely be overexposed, so you may need to adjust the settings to get the right exposure.

Before adding any filters, make sure you have the right exposure settings.

Getting the exposure settings correct before adding filters ensures that you have a clear understanding of the starting point for your shot.

A cascading waterfall flows down multiple rock tiers surrounded by lush green vegetation, with a smooth, silky effect created by long exposure photography. The water below forms a small pool with a single rock visible in the foreground.

Shoot and Review

Now it’s time to take your first shot. This will be your test shot, or starting point. Review the image carefully and make sure the exposure looks good and that it is in focus and sharp.

Once you’re happy with this, take note of your shutter speed. You will need this if you want more movement in your image and will be adding filters.

Turn Autofocus Off

Only do this if you haven’t moved your camera since taking the test shot. You will need to start again from this step every time you move.

The reason for doing this is that your camera can have trouble focussing once you put a dark filter on as it can’t ‘see’ through the glass.

Place Filters On Your Lens

How you do this will vary depending on the filter system you have, but make sure you fit it correctly and that there is no gap between your lens and the filter.

This is not usually an issue for screw on or magnetic, but can be a problem if using a square filter system.

Collage image showing various types of filters including a hand holding a filter over a camera lens, different circular filters, and square filters. Text reads 'Filters' multiple times in pink

Calculate New Shutter Speed

This is where the fun and experimentation starts. The strength of the Neutral Density filter you choose will determine how long you need to extend your shutter speed by.

The easiest way to calculate what your new shutter speed should be is to use an Exposure Calculator like this one from Nisi. It’s free by the way.

Simply put your original shutter speed from before and the strength of the filter you’ve chosen. I hope you noted the shutter speed from earlier? If not, you will be able to view it on your camera’s playback.

The calculator will then tell you how long to set your new shutter speed for. If this new setting is 30 seconds or less, you’re good to go and take your next shot.

If it is for longer than 30 seconds, you may need to use ‘bulb’ mode or a remote shutter release. This will vary depending on your camera. The Nisi app mentioned above also has a timer you can use.

A long exposure shot of a coastal landscape with large rock formations in the ocean, smooth water surface, and wispy clouds in the sky, creating a serene and surreal atmosphere — Daytime Long Exposure With Filters

TIP: Make sure you practise using your filters and calculator before you’re out in the field so you are familiar with how they work. You don’t want to miss a stunning sunrise or sunset trying to figure this out.

Reshoot and Repeat

With your newly dialled in settings, it’s time to take your first long exposure shot, so press that shutter and see what you’ve created.

These calculators aren’t always exact and filters do vary, so you may need to adjust and reshoot until you are happy.

BUT, you know what you’re doing now, so well done!

Be Patient and Take Multiple Shots

If I’ve learned anything from taking long exposures, it’s that it can take time and practice to get the shot you want, so don’t get discouraged.

It often takes a fair amount of trial and error, so be patient with both the scene and yourself. Just remember, even if you come away with one great shot that you’re proud of, that’s a successful photography outing!

A scenic view of a turquoise lake with snow-capped mountains in the background, captured with a long exposure technique. The water appears smooth and flowing over rocks in the foreground, creating a soft, misty effect against the rugged, serene mountain landscape under a clear sky transitioning from pink to blue. — Definition of patience: over 100 shots to get this one!

When capturing a scene with a wide range of brightness, like a landscape with both bright sky and dark foreground, you can try using bracketing to get better results.

This means taking multiple shots of the same scene at different exposure settings.

First, take a photo with a shutter speed that properly exposes the foreground. Then adjust the shutter speed to properly expose the sky.

Later, you can blend the photos together to create a well-balanced final image.

Here’s a quick snapshot to get you started:

A digital graphic titled "Exposure Bracketing Snapshot" featuring an exposure compensation scale and an image divided into three sections showing different exposure levels. The graphic includes instructions on how to take bracketed shots with varying exposures.

A digital graphic titled "Exposure Bracketing - Photo Merge in Lightroom" with a sunset seascape image showing the sun setting through a rocky arch. The graphic includes step-by-step instructions on how to merge bracketed exposures using Lightroom.

Edit Your Images

Once you’ve captured your long-exposure landscape photo, it’s time to bring out its full potential in the editing room.

A little editing can add the finishing touches to your image. It doesn’t need to be a lot. A bit of colour enhancement and adjusting the contrast can add that final bit of pop!

This is not an editing tutorial so I’ll leave it there. What you do in post-processing is as individual as your photos, so make the adjustments you feel are right to create the final image.

Finally, save your final creation as a JPEG and share it with the world!

A peaceful waterfront scene at sunset with soft pink and purple tones in the sky. A small wooden dock leads to a structure labeled "Whitten's Organic Oyster Farms" with contact details, reflected in the still water. The text overlay at the bottom reads "Landscape Photo Editing: Beginner Guide For Better Images."

Conclusion

This article was all about learning how to take stunning long exposure landscape photos, and I hope you’ve learned that it’s not as complicated as it may seem.

With a bit of planning and practice, you’ll be capturing breathtaking images in no time.

Here’s a quick rundown of the basic steps to help you get started:

Plan your location and subject
Find your composition
Set your focus
Dial in your settings
Shoot and Review
Turn autofocus off
Put filter(s) on
Recalculate shutter speed
Reshoot and repeat

Remember, long exposure landscape photography is all about experimentation and tapping into your creativity.

I truly hope you have found this article useful.

That’s it for now – Keep Clicking

How to Take Beautiful Long Exposure Landscape Photos

What exactly is a Long Exposure?