Lee Hardy Dydo

How to Make a Ghost Photo

October 20, 2026 · Instructions

Menan wants a photo of herself standing beside her pieces, sharp, while people pass by as blurs. The trick is an old one: put the camera on a tripod and leave the shutter open for a couple of seconds. Whoever holds still comes out sharp. Whoever moves turns into a soft streak.

I tried explaining her whole idea at once, and it was too much at once. So I made the smallest version as slides, one control per slide, for the Nikon D3000 I bought in 2010 and gave her. Swipe through.

Slide 1: Make a ghost photo. Five faded stick figures walk past one solid figure standing still. You stand still, a studio mate walks past, and a two-second exposure turns them into a soft blur. Slide 2: Set the scene. A floor plan: your piece at the back, you in front of it, a studio mate walking slowly across, the camera on a tripod 8 to 10 feet back. Step 1: Turn the dial to M. A close-up of the camera's mode dial, circled, with the rest dimmed. Step 2: Shutter, 2 seconds. The thumb wheel on the back, circled. Turn it until the screen says 2 seconds. Step 3: Aperture, f/16. The plus-minus button behind the shutter button, circled. Hold it and turn the thumb wheel to f/16. Step 4: ISO 100. The i button at the bottom left of the back, circled. Press it, pick ISO, choose 100. Step 5: Focus, then lock it. The A/M switch on the side of the lens, circled. Half-press to focus, then slide from A to M. Step 6: Turn on the self-timer. The i button again: Release mode, then the little clock, for 10 seconds to walk into place. Step 7: Go. Press the shutter, walk to your spot and hold still while your studio mate strolls by. Look at the shot, then nudge one thing. Too bright: try 1 second or f/22. Too dark: try 4 seconds. They look too solid: keep moving. You look blurry: hold still or check the tripod. Before you start: charge the battery, any lens works for the test shot, and weird shots are fine because each one tells you what to change.

Her bigger idea is the same shot, longer: 20 or 30 seconds, standing still at each of three pieces with a quick walk between them, so she shows up three times with a ghost trail connecting her. That one comes after the test shot works.

The camera photos are by JPRoche (CC BY-SA 3.0) and Davit Sharyan (CC BY-SA 4.0) on Wikimedia Commons; the step slides build on them and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Settings checked against Nikon's D3000 User's Manual.