The best way to start experimenting is to shoot at night, picking scenes containing plenty of
pinpoints of different colored light. Street lights, illuminated signs, decorative lamps on buildings or at the seaside, and moving traffic during the rush hour are all good raw material. Try to pick a clear night with intensely black sky. You will need a camera allowing timed exposures up to several seconds and/or a ‘B’ setting. A tripod and a cable or remote shutter release are also essential. If your camera doesn’t have the option for a cable release, try activating the self-timer option before the long exposure. This will give the camera time to stop moving before the shutter opens. Set a low ISO value (digital cameras) or load slow film and then select a small lens aperture. If your camera offers aperture priority, then choosing this mode should result in the slowest possible shutter setting without overexposing. If you have a manual camera, try exposures around 10 seconds at f16 for ISO 100 film or setting, or be guided by what was used for pictures on these pages. Be careful, though, as some cameras do not measure exposure when set to ‘B’ – in which case, open the lens aperture fully until your camera indicates a timed exposure, then return the lens setting to f16 and double the time for each change of f-number as you go. For example, if opening the lens to f2 makes the meter respond with 1/8 second, then at f16 you should give 8 seconds held open on ‘B’.
