

The more images you stack, the cleaner your final results are, but the improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio is not linear with the number of images. The cleaning up effect is evident when stacking many images. The result is a cleaner and more detailed image, as details that were “diluted” in the background noise in the single images stand now above it in the stacked image.

12 images with low signal to noise are stacked and averaged to produce a cleaner and more detailed image. The purpose of doing image stacking is to obtain a single image with a higher signal-to-noise ratio than that of the individual images being stacked. With image stacking we refer to the idea of averaging a photographic sequence.ĭifferently than shooting for doing HDR or focus stacking, with image stacking the camera settings and the focus stay the same for the entire image sequence. If you are stuck in a dark environment and your shutter speed is too slow, t o use a faster shutter speed you must compensate for the loss of exposure (light) by using a wider aperture and/or more sensitive film/higher ISO. The exposure triangle, linking together aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Together, these settings form the Exposure Triangle and work together to define the exposure for the scene. Shutter speed is one of the three pillars of photography, together with lens aperture and ISO. Long exposures also have the effect of better saturating the colors directly in-camera. Examples of long exposures to introduce motion blur in a waterfall, light trails under a monument, and intentional camera movement for more abstract images. Landscape photography during the blue hour always requires long exposures and possibly graduated neutral density filters or HDR.īut long exposures can also be used to introduce artistic effects for crafting more compelling images, like motion blur, intentional camera movement, and light trails. The primary reason for taking long exposures is to properly expose a dark scene. What Is The Purpose Of Taking Long Exposures? With long exposures you are using very slow shutter speeds, ranging anywhere from several seconds to several tens of minutes. A simple rule of thumb to avoid camera shaking is to use a shutter speed that is the inverse of the focal length of your lens. Typically, handheld photography is the realm of short exposures.
