While many photographic subjects, such as sports or wildlife, require fast shutter speeds, long shutter speeds are preferable with architectural photography for several reasons:
- While shallow depth of field is used in portrait photography to blur out a background, long exposures allow you to blur moving objects such as people or cars. This is especially important with people who may not want their pictures used.
- Long exposures provide interesting tracer effects from car headlights and taillights. This gives the impression of a lively and active shopping center.
- Long exposures allow you to use a lower ISO, even in dim lighting situations, to provide optimal image quality.