Time exposure Images are not sharp.

[petephotographer]

Is anyone else having trouble getting sharp images with exposures longer than 2-3 seconds.   I think I am ticking  all the boxes I use a very  stable Manfrotto tripod with a locked down head,  A nice tight manfrotto L-bracket  tripod mount.  IS is turned off and I am using a timer or the app for actuation.  it seems if a seagull walks past the shot develops movement.  I Really want to use longer exposure times 30 sec to several minutes but I cant get them sharp they are unusable.  I  dont particularly want to take a time exposure and then try to get a faster shutter speed to add the sharpness back onto the landscape or urban landscape.  All ideas are welcomed.  thanks

[jerryy]

Welcome to the forum.

Can you post an image to demonstrate what you are getting?

Unfortunately there are a lot of components where a problem in any one of them will ruin an image. You may have already tried this, but here are some things:

Tripod and mount (mount, in this case, probably will be the ball head). Putting rubber feet on the tripod can help for some surfaces as can installing the spikes that often come with tripod kits and make sure the legs are firmly smooshed into the ground. Not all tripods do well at suppressing vibrations for long exposure photography, they are fine for fast shutter speeds. Any looseness in the locks will let the camera shake.

Whatever the ball head’s weight limit is, try not to load it beyond one-half of that rating. For example, if the ball head (and tripod) are rated to hold 20 lbs. —- about 9 kilograms —- only put up to about half that weight, 10 lbs. —- about 4,5 kilograms.

Definitely turn off all image stabilization tech, as well as any pixel shifting tech.

How much surface area is sticking up into the air matters. If the camera is up where any breeze, no matter how slight, can catch it, the camera can sway. The sturdier the tripod with the camera mounted as low to the ground as you can get, the better the images will turn out. If you have a neck-strap or similar on the camera, watch it as session goes on. If the strap is moving, the camera can be swaying.

I am guessing you are using camera lenses. There is something called focus creep and something called zoom creep. Unless you have the lens perfectly horizontal, and even if you do have it that way, as the temperature changes, the focus will change and you will have to reset it.

Are you using the electronic shutter? Sometimes using the mechanical shutter can cause a slight vibration the tripod will not absorb so the vibration goes back into the image. This is more noticeable for highly magnified subjects and usually for not landscape work, but it is there.

Are you using the built in interval timer?

One thing to note with landscape work, bushes and trees move and  once you get past ten seconds or so, your image will really show that smearing motion blur.

I hope this helps.

 

Edited August 8, 2025 by jerryy

[pw-pix]

Excessive level of long exposure noise reduction? Might make images soft overall.

As Jerry stated above, we need to see sample images to understand if it's camera movement/shake or something else.

[Giampaolo Masserano]

Secondo me dipende dal modello di obiettivo.

Anche io uso un Manfrotto 055 per foto notturne o con filtri: con il 45-100 ho avuto risultati scadenti, perchè molto sbilanciato in avanti e quindi sensibile ad ogni minimo disturbo.

Nessun problema con 20-35 (non sbilanciato) e con il leggero 35-70kit.

Un suggerimento: per migliorare la stabilità esistono accessori da avvitare alla base della fotocamera con una staffa rivolta in avanti che sorregge meglio l'obiettivo.

In ogni caso, il micromosso è sempre in agguato...

[Giampaolo Masserano]

I think it also depends on the lens model. I also use a Manfrotto 055 for night photography or with filters: I've had poor results with the 45-100 because it's very biased toward the front and therefore sensitive to even the slightest disturbance. No problems with the 20-35 (not biased) or the lightweight 35-70 kit. A tip: to improve stability, there are accessories that screw onto the base of the camera with a forward-facing bracket that better supports the lens. In any case, camera shake is always a possibility...