Using Live View Composite

The image on the left is a normal exposure shot with a shutter speed of six seconds. The image on the right is almost made with 6-second exposures, but lots of them layered on top of each other over the course of a minute or so using the Live View Composite mode. As you can see, the longer period during the Live View Composite shot allowed many more cars to pass, and while their lights were recorded the street lights didn’t get any brighter

Live View Composite is a feature that uses a number of long exposures that layer onto top of each other in a manner similar to a multiple exposure. Each new exposure doesn’t add brightness to the already exposed areas however, but only records the light that appears in new areas of the frame. This allows a series of relatively short exposures to build an image over a long period of time. The idea is that the camera records a base image that doesn’t burn out with time, but when new lit areas or subjects appear in the scene they get added into the shot.

If you were shooting the night sky and there was a house in the foreground you can make the base exposure for the lights of the house and then, over the course of a few minutes, allow star trails to gradually record on the sensor without house lights burning out.

During a Live View Composite exposure the camera’s rear screen keeps us up to date with how many exposures have been made, and how long the shutter has been open in total

Once we’ve set the shutter speed, aperture and ISO for our scene the camera records an image that forms our base exposure. If the shutter speed is 4 seconds, for example, the camera makes that 4-second exposure and shows us the result.

While that first shot is displayed on the screen the camera is recording another 4-second exposure, and will layer that on top of the original image. If nothing has changed in the scene during that second period the image displayed after the end of the second exposure will look the same as it did after the first exposure. If any new light has appeared though, the newly-lit area will be added to the original frame.

The elements that appeared in the first shot won’t get brighter so long as no new brighter light is added to them, so we can keep the exposure going for as long as we like without the risk of things getting over-exposed.

This Live View Composite image is made up of a series of four-second exposures over the course of a minute. Taken at f/8 and ISO 100

So, if we are shooting traffic trails, for example, we can make an exposure for the scene and it won’t get brighter as the further exposures are made, but the lights of new cars entering the scene will be recorded. With a regular long exposure you can only keep the shutter open for 4 seconds and hope that enough cars will pass to make an impressive picture. Using Live View Composite allows new light trails to add to the existing ones – and we get updates on the rear screen at the end of each new four-second exposure so we can see how the build-up is coming along and stop it when we think it’s had enough.

The menu position of the Live View Composite mode in the Lumix S5, S5ll and S5llX

When you open the menu item in the S models we get to choose whether we want a delay to the start of the first exposure – to prevent camera shake – and can choose from 1 second to 8 seconds to let the vibrations subside from us touching the camera. Next you open the Start option. The camera will ask us to choose the shutter speed and ISO we want to work with – so essentially, how long we want each exposure to be. The combination of shutter speed, ISO and aperture obviously needs to give us the right level of exposure for our base image.

In the mode we get the option to apply a delay to the start of the exposure to allow the camera to stop vibrating

When this is all set, press the shutter release to allow the camera to produce a dark frame for noise reduction, and then you are ready to go. Pressing the shutter release again will set your exposures in motion – after the delay period, if you have set one.

If you have set a shutter speed of four seconds, for example, the rear screen will be dark for four seconds while the base exposure is made, but it will then show you what that exposure looks like. This image will be updated every four second with the new information that the subsequent exposures record.

The first frame taken in any sequence is a dark frame – a shot at the shutter speed and ISO settings of the main shot, but in which the shutter blind remains over the sensor. The camera uses this dark frame to determine where the fixed noise is in the sensor for that length of exposure. It then subtracts that noise pattern from the final image. This allows long exposures without the usual cost of extra image noise

The camera’s rear screen will display a count-down for each four second exposure and will also show you how many four second exposures have been made so far, as well as for how long the shutter has been open in total.

When you are happy with the way the image looks another press of the shutter release stops the exposure and allows the camera to process and display the finished image.

Surprisingly perhaps we can save these images in RAW as well as JPEG formats, so extensive editing is possible post-capture. It might also be surprising that, although the mode makes use of the camera’s electronic shutter mode, we can use a manually triggered flash to add light to the scene. Flash triggering from the hotshoe is disabled while this mode is active.

Over the course of a couple of minutes I light-painted this pot with a torch, and ran the beam across the background to create that cloudy, graduated effect

The best shutter speed/ISO/aperture combination to use for your base exposure will depend on the scene and what you want to achieve. If you are shooting traffic trails for example, you will want an exposure that would suit the scene where it just a normal long exposure – so an exposure that shows the background and surroundings as well as you want them to be seen. Those background details aren’t going to get brighter than this during the Live View Composite process.

This is the base exposure for the picture above – an exposure that determines the depth of the shadows in the final light-painted image. The background was lit with a Nanlite Pavotube ll 30c to add the blue tint

If you are shooting an object and will be adding light to it during the Live View Composite process, your base exposure needs to reflect how the shadows in your final image will appear. The areas you don’t add light to will not get brighter and will form your shadows, but those you shine a light on will get brighter will be show the subject at the ‘right’ level of brightness.

Using the shutter delay feature allows a period for the camera to stabilise after you have pressed the shutter release. It makes sense to use it, as you’ll be working with long exposures

• It’s important to remember that during this process you can only add light to the image and your actions can only make things brighter. There is no way to make things darker once the process has started. So, if you are painting an object or building with a torch it pays to practice, or to start with a lower powered light – or hold it further away – and get more powerful/closer to build up the exposure. Once the light on your subject is too bright there’s nothing you can do but start again, so go slowly or measure your light’s brightness carefully.

• Do use the shutter delay. You are going to be standing behind the camera for a while to make your exposures, so adding another few seconds to ensure the camera isn’t shaking will be worth it.

• Of course, use a tripod.

• Try moving the camera during the exposure to get some cool double exposure effects, or perhaps zoom in while shooting. There are quite a few things you can do with a moving camera, or a moving subject, to create some abstract or surreal looking pictures.

• Use an ND filter so you can get a long enough shutter speed to use this feature in daylight

I used an ND filter over the lens so that I could use Live View Composite mode in daylight. I selected a 1/1.6sec shutter speed and had the subject looking to the right for the base exposure. During the subsequent exposures she turned to the left and I used a flash to light her face in two additional positions. As the light from the window in the back of the scene is brighter than parts of her face it is that detail that shows up the most. The final effect is quite different to the ghosting we get in multiple exposures

Lumix S5ll with the Lumix S Pro 24-105mm f/4 lens, at f/4 and 2 seconds. The total exposure time was about two minutes as this is a quiet road. The car is a taxi that pulled up to drop someone off, and then drove away again during the exposure