How do I take long exposures during the day?

DeVore

So, I was in New York and I wanted to get a shot which conveyed the movement of the people...

No matter what setting I used an exposure of anything longer than 1.5 seconds led to a completely blown out pic.

I get how to do it at night because the amount of light is so little anyway, but is it possible to do it during the day?

Those pics you see of waterfalls and rivers where the water looks like mist, are they achieved with exposures of only 1.5 secs?

Scamp-

You'd need a tripod to stop camera shake and to keep your aperture smaller to stop it being over-exposed.

sineadw

ND filters! They darken the entire scene. I bought cheap ones (i think it was 25 quid for the set) and they're perfect. And stackable so if your ND8 isn't enough you can stick another one on.

Should be able to pick them up for next to nothing over there.

mattfinucane

For bright daylight you would need a 10 stop ND filter - these are very strong. Conns Cameras sell a variable ND filter so you can adjust the level of stops. Also comes with a filter adaptor which is handy for lenses that have smaller filter threads.

CabanSail

As has been said above, you need some ND Filters.

The filters will be marked ND"X" - where X = the divisor of how much the light is attenuated

eg. an ND2 is 1/2 and will halve the light or reduce by 1 Stop

an ND8 is 1/8 and will reduce the light by 3 Stops.

and so it goes up (or down)

One problem you may encounter with the higher attenuations, & less expensive filters, is that they can introduce a colour cast. If you are shooting RAW then this is easy to correct.

hbr

DeVore wrote: »

No matter what setting I used an exposure of anything longer than 1.5 seconds led to a completely blown out pic.

Not surprising. A long exposure in full daylight will lead to extreme overexposure.

I get how to do it at night because the amount of light is so little anyway, but is it possible to do it during the day?

It is to some degree. Use the lowest ISO setting available. Use a small
aperture setting (high f number) of f/22 or so.

Those pics you see of waterfalls and rivers where the water looks like mist, are they achieved with exposures of only 1.5 secs?

Yes. Sometimes you can get that effect without using a ND filter. This was taken
at 1/4s http://pix.ie/corkpix/1853594

For very long exposures in daylight, you will need to use an ND filter.
A commonly available ND8 or similar used in combination with a small
aperture setting should do the trick. You can get stronger ND filters and
even variable ones as mentioned by other posters. The good ones are
quite expensive. I find the cheap ones work quite well, particularly if you shoot
RAW so that it is easy to correct for any colour cast introduced by the filter.

melekalikimaka

search welding glass... sorted

OldGoat

RayBan Wayfarers stuck to your lens with black insulating tape is not the best solution in the world but in times of despiration (and experimentation) will give you 2 or 3 stops. I've done this for a few intentional camera movement shots so I'm not particulary worried about sharpness (or focus, or exposure, or colour cast) but it just might get the shot.
However if you are in a camera shop then a set of cheap stacking ND filters are the biz.

DeVore

I the Photog forum.

It was a really bright day in NY and i set everything to the most extreme I could but it was still waay blown out. I have a nice monkey grip tripod but will pick up a few of those filters...

CabanSail

For use in Daylight you will need quite a few Stops, probably about 8 - 10. These filters tend to be very expensive.

The Welding Glass option is a lot cheaper, but not as high quality, and will definitely give a colour cast.