Photography Gyan # 6 (Long Exposure)

I know this is the 100th time I am saying this, but can't stop myself without any inkling!  If you are using a slow shutter speed you definitely need to use a tripod. And the previous gyan's last picture is taken with slow shutter speed (1 sec).
Learning slow shutter speed (long exposure) is so much fun.  And learning them with not-so-great photos is even more fun.  To me, learning is at its best - only when we learn from our mistakes and not from what makes us proud.
Do you know how to make jelabi, sev etc. Why am I jumping from photography to food topic?  Confused??  See the below pictures.
Here's the Jelabi!  (Shutter speed used is 4 secs)

Here's some Sev! (1/2 sec)

And some Thenkuzhal (2 sec exposure)

 

How relishing are they!  I'm talking about these photos.  I don't know how many budding photographers have liked slow shutter speed Light trials and experimentation, but I simply loved them.  Isn't it so much fun to make all kinds of Indian snacks and sweets using your camera?

These are some of the myriad scrap photos that I had.  They are definitely not the best ones, but they are mine - still precious to me.  So I am using them here to explain slow shutter speed.
Setting low shutter speed means increasing the time.  Refer here.

If you are using point and shoot (Henceforth called as P&S), set the camera to night shot mode. It will automatically chooses a slow shutter speed depending on the light conditions.  When you press the shutter button, move around the camera in any desired direction and make your own Jelabi, jangri,thenkuzhal and murukku!

If you are using a SLR, set to S mode, increase the shutter speed to 4 or more sec and rotate, tilt or zigzag your camera, and you can see these light trials (perfect lines that are formed due to long exposure).

These can be done handheld.  But if you want these light trials to be perfectly lined, you need tripod.  Take a look at this picture here.  It's taken with 8 sec exposure.  Aren't these traffic light trials awesome.  I haven't tried my hands on them yet, because I don't get to travel a lot in the night time with a tripod.
A long exposure will increase the clarity of the picture if it is positioned in tripod.

Some examples of how a picture looks if they are handheld with long exposure.   This one's taken with just 1 sec exposure.  Keeping your camera standstill for 1 sec is very difficult - try it out and you will realize yourself!

And this one's taken with 1/2 sec exposure.  Taken during diwali in our very own Chennai. 

And this one below is even less - 1/3 sec. 

You now realize the importance of tripod?  

Now it totally puts me in shame to even publish above shown pictures in my so-called-beautiful-blog that has some nice pictures.  Even worse are to watermark them with my name! As if there are 1000s of people to steal and misuse these pictures!
Below is one of that million dollar picture I have (badly framed though), taken with a proper tripod stand and set at 8 sec exposure.  This is the image of Sri Parthasarathy temple Gopuram, as seen from my in-laws' terrace. 

So it's time for you to try out your favorite snack or sweet in your camera!

PS: I've just past 10th Feb by 26 minutes. I spent around 2 hours researching my archives to pick right pictures and realised just now that I'am already on 11th Feb. So I'm taking the liberty of post dating the post to 11.45pm on 10th Feb.