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Home » Blog » Blog and News » LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT – OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

September 27, 2020 by Julia Anna Gospodarou

LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT – OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

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Julia Anna Gospodarou - Flying Away IV - New York - long exposure photography in an urban environment

Flying Away IV – New York © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2020

As many of you probably already know, I am avidly shooting long exposure for many years. During these years, I have accumulated a large and varied amount of experiences while shooting both architecture and landscape long exposure that helped me chisel my technique and make it more and more efficient. My experience with shooting long exposure photography in an urban environment is vast and having this experience is key for creating the photography I’m making.

In this article, I’m going to share with you a few simple practical tips taken out of my experience with shooting long exposure, that will help you be more accurate and efficient when you shoot long exposure out in the field. This way you can concentrate more on your vision and create an image that portrays that vision perfectly, without needing to struggle with your equipment.

As a heads up, before getting into the article, if you want to learn or improve your black and white fine art photography and long exposure photography, you can sign up and join me in my upcoming 3-day Live Online (en)Visionography Workshop on November 20-22, 2020, where we will get into detail about how to create this kind of photography, from finding your vision to extensive post-processing lessons. It will be a small group workshop and there are only a few spots left. Don’t miss out! If you need a bit of convincing, here are what my students say about my workshops in their testimonials.

Now, back to the article.

They say you learn from your mistakes. That is true, and I would add to that, you learn even more from your experiences. The more experiences you have shooting long exposure, the more your technique advances, and the more you’re comfortable with it and able to attain the result you have in your mind in an easier and quicker way.

While inspiration and vision are fundamental for creating fine art photography and for working with long exposure, even the greatest ideas can be challenged by the practical aspects of realizing them. It is the same with photography. No matter how wonderful the idea you have in mind is, you may never be able to put it in practice if you haven’t figured out how to do it practically, and this stands even more when you are shooting long exposure. Long exposure is a complex technique that can only become simple if you figure out how to solve the technical and practical aspects in the field so you become comfortable while working with it and be able to focus on the creative part.

URBAN LONG EXPOSURE – A SPECIAL KIND OF LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY

For a long time, long exposure photography was mainly related to landscape photography and the great outdoors, but during the past years, things have started to change and more and more photographers are inspired to shoot long exposure in the city. I’m happy to be one of the early promoters of this current of architecture long exposure photography and, as such, I’m happy to share what I learned with others wanting to walk on this path.

Being an architect as well as a photographer, I am an avid lover of urban and architecture photography and for this reason, I am striving to contribute as much as I can to the popularization of architectural long exposure photography, so others can fall in love with it too.

I have first came in contact with the use of long exposure photography in the city through the work of Alexey Titarenko and his series Shadows of a City from the early 1990s that came to my attention at the beginning of the 2000s after watching a documentary about it. From then on my love for long exposure photography has never diminished and I have combined that with my love for architecture and for shooting in the city, practicing it intensely all over the world and trying to popularize it through my workshops, my writings, and through my own work.

For someone who isn’t familiar with the particularities of using this technique in urban photography, I can say that even if you can use the same tools and approach as for the practical side of shooting long exposure, as you would in landscape photography, shooting long exposure photography in an urban environment is quite different from shooting long exposure in nature for instance.

SPEED VERSUS TAKING YOUR TIME WHEN SHOOTING LONG EXPOSURE

One of the particularities of urban long exposure photography is that you will need to be much faster when shooting in the city than when shooting in nature. This is happening because most of the time you will need to shoot while moving among passers-by and generally you will be working in a more or less crowded environment, which is almost never the case in landscape photography. This means that the photographer shooting long exposure in the city doesn’t have as much freedom as a photographer shooting landscape. Of course, landscape photography has other challenges but at least when you shoot landscape you have the peace and quietness you need to focus on your photography without being pressured by time, traffic, or people going about their business.

Most of the time, when shooting long exposure in the outdoors, you are free to take your time and spend as much as you like setting up your camera, composing, shooting different angles, relaxing and just enjoying the scenery. Unless you need to shoot a certain kind of light that is changing, as you do at sunrise or sunset, or a special formation of clouds that may go away if you linger too long, most of the time you don’t have the pressure of time you have when you shoot in an urban environment. This is one of the things I like most about shooting landscape photography. It is a quite different experience than shooting architecture in the city. From my point of view, these two experiences complete one another. Shooting in the city gives you the boost of energy that comes from the fast-paced rhythm while shooting landscape brings you the peace and serenity you can only find in nature.

Both kinds of photography have their challenges. For instance, you won’t be able to make it shooting landscape photography, especially in areas with more rugged terrain, if you don’t have the right outfit and equipment, if you don’t have the resistance to hike and you don’t know how to treat nature and its dangers. On the other hand, while shooting in the city you don’t necessarily need to wear hiking boots and be careful to not be swollen up by the high tide, there are other challenges that you need to overcome.

A Tale of the Past I - Keizersgracht Canal Amsterdam - © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2017 - long exposure photography in an urban environment

A Tale of the Past I – Amsterdam – © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2017

THE CHALLENGES OF URBAN LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY

The challenges of urban long exposure photography are many and one needs to be well prepared and knowledgeable to be able to get the best technical results in these conditions, while also focusing on their vision and on the artistic value of their work.

What I find the most challenging in shooting architectural long exposure photography in the city is being able to move quickly while finding the best angles and being able to shoot freely without encountering limitations related to the layout of the urban space, the number of people passing by or the amount of available space you have to set up your tripod and camera so you can get the results you need.

One thing to point out is that an urban long exposure photographer needs to have patience and be able to relax and enjoy his work in an often stressful urban conditions. When shooting in the city you will feel the energy of the city, its fast pace and excitement, but if you are searching for calm and serenity at the same time, you will need to have a special approach to be able to relax in these conditions.

Julia Anna Gospodarou_Cloud Echo I - Cloud Gate Chicago - long exposure photography in an urban environment

Cloud Echo I – Chicago © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2019

THE BEST SETUP FOR SHOOTING LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE CITY

What I would recommend when shooting long exposure in the city is to have a simple setup. Learn your neutral density filters well and also learn well how to use all your equipment. You need to be able to move fast and not fiddle around with all the lenses, filters and holders you own, trying different approaches to find out what works. It is likely that, if you spend too long with that, the conditions you have in front of you will change and you may not be able to capture what you intended in the first place.

What I always do is to have in mind very clearly what I want to do before I even set up my tripod. I will make a mental note of what filters I’m going to use so I can mount them quickly on the lens and be able to finish the exposure in a few minutes and then move on.

A FEW TIPS FOR INCREASING SPEED WHEN YOU SHOOT IN THE CITY

CHOOSING YOUR TRIPOD

One of the things I find very useful when shooting in the city is to carry a manageable tripod. What do I mean by a manageable tripod? What I mean is that you have to have the best quality tripod you can find in a size that you can handle easily in the city and carry with you attached to your backpack.

Generally, the larger the tripod, the more stable and the better it is in harsh weather conditions as for instance windy days. Having such a tripod will ensure that you will get much more stable images when shooting in challenging weather conditions but at the same time carrying such a tripod with you in the city may be overkill. That is the kind of tripod that I would use when shooting landscape and when I have enough space to move around and carry this tripod.

This is why when shooting the city I’m using a smaller tripod that I can easily carry with me without bumping into passersby, lampposts, or other kinds of urban furniture. It may seem funny when you think about me bumping into things with my tripod but it is definitely not practical. A smaller tripod may not be able to give you 100% stability but it will give you more images because you will be able to set it up more easily, in more confined spaces and it will help you be more flexible.

What you have to do though is to find the best smaller tripod possible and I could recommend the one I’m using, the Gitzo Traveler GT1545T 4-Section Carbon Fiber Tripod. Gitzo is a great tripod brand, one of the most widespread and even if they are a bit more expensive, they are very strong and will be with you for years if you take good care of them. Aa the heavy-duty version of this tripod, one I would use in harsh windy weather conditions, I’d recommend one of the Gitzo Mountaineer series tripods. Another tripod brand I like and I’m using is the FLM tripods, both in the light and heavy-duty range.

PREPARING YOUR NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS

I usually carry a large backpack with all my equipment on my back but I also carry a small pouch in front of me that is easily accessible, where I have ready a couple of filter setups so I can use them quickly when stopping for a shot in the city. I would generally have ready a 16-stop neutral density filter and a 14-stop or a 13-stop for shorter exposures. I also use a polarizer quite often, especially on sunny days, and sometimes I combine it with the neutral density filters to either increase the exposure or to control the haziness or the reflections in the scene.

This small setup will always be in my pouch ready and accessible and this gives me the confidence that I can capture everything that moves me in a quick and accurate way.

stacked circular neutral density filters - long exposure photography in an urban environment

Shooting long exposure photography in the city – Stacked circular neutral density filters

When I know that I will need to work with exposures of different lengths in the same shooting session, I may work with stacked filters and instead of the single filters, I may have ready in my easy to access filter pouch a set up with a 10 and a 6-stop ND filters stacked together or a 10 and a 4-stop, for instance, stacked together so I can easily break up each setup into two pieces and work with either a 4, 6, 10, 14 or 16 stops. The 4-stop neutral density filter may be a 3-stop filter sometimes, especially when the weather is overcast, just like the 14-stop filter can be a 13-stop filter. Doing so, many times increases my speed quite a bit since I don’t need to take out my large backpack to take other filters out of and create more setups.

While it may seem a small detail, this practical approach saves me a lot of time and makes things much easier for me so I can relax and enjoy my shooting, almost as if I was shooting on a deserted beach with only me and the sea in front of each other, and not in a busy environment like for instance Manhattan with so many people moving around.

One simple detail is sometimes enough to change the entire experience and this is one of my secrets for managing to be in a Zen state of mind when shooting in a busy urban environment. Maybe architecture and landscape long exposure photography are not so different from each other after all.

And since we are talking about landscape long exposure photography, here is an example of the setup I would make when shooting a seascape long exposure. In this example, I have stacked a 16-stop neutral density filter with a 2-stop neutral density grad filter, both attached to the lens with a holder. This is one of the best holders you can use for long exposure photography. It is a Formatt-Hitech anti-light leak holder that you can use with both regular square filters and neutral density grant filters.

stacked square neutral density filters - long exposure photography in an urban environment

Shooting landscape long exposure photography – Stacked square neutral density filters – regular ND and grad ND

For any kind of long exposure photography equipment, from filters to holders and other accessories, you can use my discount code JULIA10 to get 10% discount from Formatt-Hitech. You can order at either Formatt-Hitech UK or Formatt-Hitech USA.

If you are interested in studying long exposure photography more in-depth, I have created this complete guide to long exposure photography that you can consult on my website.

in addition, you can find extensive material about long exposure photography in my book From Basics to Fine Art-Black and White Photography and my video tutorial Creating (en)Visionography.

If you want to learn more about black and white fine art photography and long exposure photography, from the first sparkle of vision to extensive post-processing, you are welcome to join my Live Online (en)Visionography workshop on November 20 – 22, 2020 where we will discuss in depth about how to create images like the ones you see in this article.

For limited-edition prints of these images have a look at my architecture and landscape print galleries.

If you enjoyed this article about shooting long exposure photography in an urban environment and you are interested in learning more practical tips and tricks like this that can make your life as a long exposure photographer easier and more enjoyable and help you create better images, let me know in the comments below and I’ll come back with more articles like this.

Also, if you are on Instagram, you can follow me on Instagram so we can keep in touch over there too.

FURTHER STUDY RESOURCES – FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE, LONG EXPOSURE

You can find more resources about fine art black and white photography, (en)Visionography, long exposure photography and architectural photography in my extensive collection of photography tutorials. To receive my future tutorials directly via email you can subscribe to my website.

More about how to create fine art photography, from vision to processing and the final image you can read in my book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, with co-author Joel Tjintjelaar and in my video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Art Photography - Creating (en)Visionography a hands-on tutorial accompanied by an eBook presenting my processing workflow, or attend one of my workshops.

Julia Anna Gospodarou - (en)Visionographer

Julia Anna Gospodarou Fine Art black and white photographer Julia Anna Gospodarou is an internationally acclaimed photographer, architect with a Master degree, author and highly sought-after educator, teaching workshops and lecturing around the world. Founder of (en)Visionography™ and creator of Photography Drawing™, author of the best-selling book From Basics to Fine Art - Black and White Photography , with high distinctions in the most important photography competitions worldwide (International Photography Awards IPA Photographer of the Year, World Photography Awards SWPA and Hasselblad Masters finalist, as well as 80+ more awards), widely published internationally in books and magazines, Julia is passionate about the art in photography and striving to spread it into the world.
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Internationally acclaimed Photographer|Architect|Author|Educator|Founder of (en)Visionography™|FormattHitech GlobalAmbassador|Fineart Prints|Workshops

Julia Anna Gospodarou
Fluid Time III – Two Worlds The third image in m Fluid Time III – Two Worlds
The third image in my 2013 Fluid Time series. This is one of the most interesting buildings in Chicago, the Hancock Center. One of the things I love about this building, in terms of architectural design is that the structural frame of the building is placed exteriorly and not at the interior as usually, and it is visible on the façade. For those who are wondering, this x-braced reinforcement system allows for larger open spaces in the interior of the building which is why it is ideal for an office building like this, and it also allows for rising taller structures. When it was built, in 1965, the Hancock Center was meant to be the second taller building in the world. 
Like all the images in the series, here too, I used the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens, to focus on the relation between the 2 buildings – hence the title: Two Worlds. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com 

#architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #cityview #chicago #chicagophotography #hancockcenter #skyscraper #longexposure #longexposurephotography #formatthitech #ndfilters #tiltshift #tiltshiftlens #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #fineartphotography #mono #monochromatic #monochrome #limitededitionprints #Insta_bw #instadaily #architecturelovers #archdaily #photoshop #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography #photographydrawing
Fluid Time II – Utopian Connections Second in my Fluid Time II – Utopian Connections
Second in my 2013 Fluid Time series, this image shows the Prudential Plaza Tower in Chicago, flanked by the Prudential Plaza One building and the Aon Center.
Here I used again the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens, as I did in all the images in this series, to isolate different planes of focus in order to create depth. 
There are three things that you can use to create depth: composition, selective depth of field, and selective work with light. All 3 of them are just as powerful if used right. 
I’m working right now on finalizing a video course about creating B&W photography where I will get into a lot of details about these aspects and many more. If you are interested, keep an eye on this space and I’ll be back with more about it very soon. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com 

#architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #cityview #chicago #chicagophotography #prudentialplaza #aoncenter #longexposure #longexposurephotography #formatthitech #ndfilters #tiltshift #tiltshiftlens #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #fineartphotography #mono #monochromatic #monochrome #limitededitionprints #Insta_bw #instadaily #architecturelovers #archdaily #photoshop #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography #photographydrawing
Fluid Time I – Parallel Realities One of my favo Fluid Time I – Parallel Realities
One of my favorite series, shot in 2013 in Chicago – one of my favorite cities. In this series, I worked with the tilt function of the tilt-shift lens to create selective focus, a technique that gained traction among fine art photographers after that. Which is one of the reasons why I consider this one of my most important series. I believe what we do becomes even more valuable if we can not only express ourselves through photography, but we can also inspire others. 
You can find limited edition prints of this and more images at www.juliaannagospodarou.com
Have a great weekend, everyone! 

#architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #cityview #chicago #chicagophotography #millenniumpark #pritzkerpavilion #longexposure #longexposurephotography #formatthitech #ndfilters #tiltshift #tiltshiftlens #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #fineartphotography #mono #monochromatic #monochrome #limitededitionprints #Insta_bw #instadaily #architecturelovers #archdaily #photoshop #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography #photographydrawing
Happy New Year 2021! Wishing a wonderful new year Happy New Year 2021! 
Wishing a wonderful new year to everyone, filled with much love, peace, and inspiration. 
Yours truly.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! 
A special Christmas this year, coming after a strange year that was like nothing we knew. Now that this year is almost over, we can start looking with trust and hope to the new year to bring back all the things we missed this year.  Stay safe and enjoy these special days with your loved ones.
Shortly into the new year, I’ll have a nice surprise for you. Something many of you asked for. If you’re curious, you can subscribe to my website and find out http://bit.ly/enV_Subscribe Also, I’ll be back with some holiday offers these days. Stay tuned. 
Trivia: This image is a 10-shot panorama made with the medium format. The resulted image is so large that you can practically print it in any size. It is also so large that Lightroom can’t even show a 1:1 preview, so you can only process it in Photoshop. 
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#happyholidays #bucegimountains #romania #trees #popular #instagood #landscapephotography #landscape #envisionography #snowscape #monochrome #myfeatureshoot #bw #blackandwhite #blackwhite #fineartphotography #fineart #blackwhite #bwbeauty #bwoftheday #stunningbnw #Instablackandwhite #Picoftheday #Landscapelovers #bnw_planet #juliaannagospodarou #envisionography
_Flow State II – Toronto_ I’ve always loved wo _Flow State II – Toronto_
I’ve always loved working with motion blur, especially combined with great architecture, and shooting this series was one of the best experiences doing that. Planning to go back to Toronto next year for some more.
In the meanwhile, until tomorrow, you can still find at the link below (LINK IN BIO too) the 2020 Black Friday/Cyber Week discounts: my book and tutorials, and other great offers I curated. Lots of offers for great inspiration.
http://blog.juliaannagospodarou.com/gear-photography-deals/

#fineartphotography #artphotography #toronto #torontophotography #torontoarchitecture 
#interiorarchitecture #fineart #blackandwhite #bnw #bnwphotography #limitededitionprints 
#Insta_bw #monochrome #architecturephotography #architecture #architecturefineart 
#creative_architecture #cityview #envisionography #photographydrawing #juliaannagospodarou 
#instadaily #instagood #architecturelovers #archdaily #travelphotography #longexposure #ndfilters #formatthitech @formatthitech
_Latent Equilibrium - Los Angeles_ Happy weekend, _Latent Equilibrium - Los Angeles_
Happy weekend, everyone! 
You are invited to our upcoming LIVE ONLINE (en)Visionography Workshop - The Art of B&W Fine Art Photography, on Nov 20-22.
Among others, you will see how this image was created, from start to finish.  LINK IN BIO
http://blog.juliaannagospodarou.com/live-online-photography-workshop-november-2020/
The first 2 workshops were a huge success, the next one will be even better. See you there!
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#losangelesarchitecture #losangelesphotography #losangeles #waltdisneyconcerthall #frankgehry #fineartphotography #contemporaryphotography #fineart #blackandwhite #bw #bnw #bnwphotography #bnw_city #bnw_planet#Insta_bw #monochrome #monoart #architecturephotography #architecture #amazingarchitecture #architecturefineart #cityview #formatthitech #ndfilters #envisionography #photographydrawing #juliaannagospodarou #photoshop #photographyworkshops
Delighted to be published again in the most import Delighted to be published again in the most important Greek photography magazine Φωτογράφος “The Photographer”, in a special issue dedicated to architectural photography. I’m honored to be featured with an interview and a series of my architectural work.
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#photographyarticle #photographyinterview #fotografosmagazine #longexposure #ndfilters #fineartphotography #architecturephotography #urbanphotography #juliaannagospodarou #photographymagazine #envisionography
_良心の残響 Conscience Reverberation I – To _良心の残響 Conscience Reverberation I – Tokyo_
One more image in my collection from a fascinating city. I can’t wait to get back to Tokyo for another workshop when the borders open.
In the meanwhile, if you want to learn to create this kind of images, like hundreds of other students have over the years, you can join our live online (en)Visionography workshop - The Art of B&W Photography, on November 20-22. It will be a captivating journey into black and white fine art photography and if I am to quote my students, “Taking Julia’s (en)Visionography workshop was the best decision I could make for my photography”. Sign up here  https://bit.ly/enVLiveNov2020 (link also in bio) Only a few spots left.

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#tokyoarchitecture #tokyo #tokyoskyline #tokyocityscape #fineartphotography #fineart #blackandwhite #bw #bnw #bnwphotography #monochrome #architecturephotography #architecture #architecturefineart #envisionography #nightphotography #photographydrawing #juliaannagospodarou #photographyworkshops #FujifilmGFX50S #mediumformat #fujifilm #urbanphotography #photoshop #photoediting
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