Cable releases, remotes and tripods: getting sharp long exposures

By Jos James, A.P.E.L

Slow the shutter down — for a smoothed-out waterfall, a streak of car headlights, a sharp night sky — and a new problem shows up that has nothing to do with your settings: the camera moving while the shutter is still open. Even pressing the shutter button with your finger is enough to introduce a tiny shake that shows up as softness once the exposure runs past about a quarter of a second. Two pieces of kit solve this properly, and they're worth having in the bag before you try any low-light or long-exposure work.

A strong tripod

A tripod's job is to remove the camera from your hands entirely, and a flimsy one only does this partway. Look for a tripod that doesn't wobble when you tap the camera lightly, sits stable on uneven ground, and is rated to comfortably hold more weight than your camera and lens actually need — that spare capacity is what keeps it steady in a breeze. A tall, thin, lightweight tripod might be easy to carry, but if it moves in the wind it isn't doing its job. For anything by water, on a beach, or in exposed outdoor spots — all places A.P.E.L shoots — the extra stability is worth the extra weight.

Cable releases and remote triggers

Once the camera is locked down on a tripod, the last source of movement is you. Pressing the shutter button by hand, even carefully, nudges the camera at exactly the moment the exposure begins. A cable release (a physical cord that plugs into the camera) or a wireless remote trigger fires the shutter without you touching the camera body at all. Most modern cameras also support a phone app as a remote trigger, which works the same way. If you don't have any of these to hand, the camera's built-in self-timer (usually 2 or 10 seconds) is a free alternative — it gives any vibration from pressing the button time to settle before the shutter actually opens.

Why it matters at lower shutter speeds

The slower the shutter speed, the longer any movement has to leave a mark on the image. At 1/500th of a second a bit of hand shake barely registers; at half a second, or several seconds for night photography, it's the difference between a crisp shot and a soft, slightly blurred one that looks fine on a small screen but falls apart when you zoom in. This is exactly the same territory covered in our piece on ND filters, which push shutter speeds slower on purpose — a tripod and remote trigger are what make that usable rather than just theoretical.

Putting it together

The combination is simple: mount the camera on a solid tripod, compose and focus, then fire the shutter with a cable release, wireless remote, or the self-timer rather than your finger. It's a small habit that makes the biggest difference exactly where you'd expect it to matter least — on the shots you were most excited about getting right.