Beautiful Long Exposure Photography - Patrick Smith

Point Lobos - Pinnacle Rock (0.8-second exposure)

While high-dynamic-range (HDR) photographs are generally achieved using software such as Photoshop or Photomatix, long exposure photography is more of a waiting game. It's a technique that advanced photographers use to capture light and movement. Patiently they wait, slowing down the shutter speed, trying to capture just the right conditions to turn a photo into a piece of art.

Though many try, few can actually enhance the natural beauty of this world like Patrick Smith. Splitting his time between computer database programming and wide-angle landscape and seascape photography, Smith shocks us with his talent.

"I make very few photos, perhaps just one or two per week but I try to make each one the very best view possible of a particular scene. Of course, this is never quite possible but I will keep going back to a place, often risking my camera and myself hoping to capture the perfect moment. For me, it is the journey and not just the destination!

I want each photograph to be a work of art and not just a straight photograph and I capture it all in the camera and minimize post processing."

Big Sur - Garrapata Surf (1/4 second exposure)

Yosemite (30-second exposure )

Isla Mujeres, Mexico (30-second exposure)

Kauai, Hawaii (0.6-second exposure)

California Coast (30-second exposure)

Big Sur (60-second exposure)

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge (2-minute exposure)

La Jolla, CA (1/6-second exposure)

Big Sur - Portal of the Sun (1/6-second exposure)

See more of his amazing work at Flickr.