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Arsenal 2 Getting Started with a Long Exposure Stack
Arsenal 2 Getting Started with a Long Exposure Stack

Produce a longer exposure by taking multiple shots averaging the pixels into a new photo. Great for producing photos that give a soft movement of water look, or light trails.

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Written by Arsenal
Updated over 4 months ago

Arsenal 2's Long Exposure Stacking will enable you to create longer exposures than your camera can capture in the daytime without the use of a neutral density (ND) filter. It simulates the look of a very long exposure by stacking multiple shorter exposures. This technique is often used by landscape photographers to smooth out waves in the water and/or to blur the clouds. The advantages are avoiding sensor noise during long exposures and helping to avoid camera shake.

To begin, navigate to either the Smart or Manual screen within the Arsenal 2 app. If you want Arsenal 2 to choose all of the settings, use Smart Mode, or if you prefer to control the ISO, aperture, shutter speed, or EV use the Manual screen.

  1. Tap the Stacking Modes icon to the left of the shutter button.

2. Select the Long Exposure Stacking button.

3. Use the slider to select the total duration. Arsenal 2 will then take a series of shots until the specified duration. The number of shots will vary depending on your shutter speed.

If you are shooting with Nikon you will select the total number of shots.

4. Swipe down on the Stacking Menu to return to the main menu.

Note: To achieve longer exposure times for each shot use the Manual screen and set your aperture to a larger f/number (F8 or higher). When using your camera’s Aperture Priority mode, this will increase the shutter speed time which will add a flowing look to subject movement in your shots.

5. Trigger the shot

6. View and Share your Long Exposure Stack

Once you’ve completed your stack, tap the thumbnail in the lower right corner to view the final stacked photo. To share or save the photo, tap the share icon and choose where you’d like to share or save the final photo. You can view the rest of the gallery images and the individual shots captured to create your stack by clicking on the Gallery icon in the upper right corner of this same image review screen.

To save your final stacked photos to your phone automatically, navigate to the Settings screen and click “MANAGE” under the PHOTO STORAGE section and select if you’d like to have Arsenal 2 automatically save all final stacked photos to your phone, Arsenal 2’s internal Micro SD card or both. You can also have Arsenal 2 save the individual images used to create the stack to your phone, Arsenal 2’s internal Micro SD card, or both.

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