Question about long exposure shots

squareballoon

Is it only possible to get that velvety look to the sea in long exposure sunrise shots in the winter? I tried one this morning but even before sunrise it was bright enough that the image was overexposed with even a shortish exposure length.

Paulw

You can get filters, such as an ND110 (10 stops of darkness), which can help.

But, yeah, you require a very long exposure, and need some way to allow light in very slowly.

DaireQuinlan

Paulw wrote: »

You can get filters, such as an ND110 (10 stops of darkness), which can help.

But, yeah, you require a very long exposure, and need some way to allow light in very slowly.

you need 'slow glass' for that http://strick.net/blog/041103.html

sebphoto

squareballoon wrote: »

Is it only possible to get that velvety look to the sea in long exposure sunrise shots in the winter? I tried one this morning but even before sunrise it was bright enough that the image was overexposed with even a shortish exposure length.

first of all you need a tripod, then some ND (or half ND) filters and time to practice. Cokin system is very interesting.

magicbastarder

you should be able to get exposures which are plenty long enough; do you want a daylight type effect?
i'd say it's just a case of getting up earlier or going to bed later.

squareballoon

Thanks everyone! I will look into filters.

magicbastarder wrote: »

you should be able to get exposures which are plenty long enough; do you want a daylight type effect?
i'd say it's just a case of getting up earlier or going to bed later.

I don't really mind what kind of effect I have as long as I can get an exposure that's long enough to make the water blurred but no blow out everything else. Even at f22, ISO under 100 I still couldn't do it just before the sun rose.

magicbastarder

the longest exposure i can remember making was 16 minutes at f8 (i think), but on slide film, which would suffer from reciprocity failure.
that was on a clear night in june, with the nearly full moon in the frame, so it would have been relatively bright in a sense.

TTWNF

the Lee 'Big Stopper' 10 stop filter seems to be recommend a lot... pricey though!

denismc

A lot depends on the weather at the time, if its clear skies or fluffy white clouds
you may end up with parts of the photo blown out. You could try sticking a polariser on front to reduce the light a bit.
If you put up the photo somewhere it will give us a better idea of whats going on.

WheresMyCamera?

As everyones saying you need a pretty dark ND filter like a 10 stop one to achieve the effect during the day.

If you'd like to try it out Lynn you can borrow mine. It a 77mm B+W 10 stop ND.

Either that or go the cheap test route of dropping into the local hardware and picking up a piece of welder's glass (about €2 or something) and some elastic bands to hold it to the lens and trying that. A word of warning though, you'll probably need to go b&w for the finished image due to the heavy green cast you'll get off the glass.

squareballoon

WheresMyCamera? wrote: »

As everyones saying you need a pretty dark ND filter like a 10 stop one to achieve the effect during the day.

If you'd like to try it out Lynn you can borrow mine. It a 77mm B+W 10 stop ND.

Either that or go the cheap test route of dropping into the local hardware and picking up a piece of welder's glass (about €2 or something) and some elastic bands to hold it to the lens and trying that. A word of warning though, you'll probably need to go b&w for the finished image due to the heavy green cast you'll get off the glass.

that would be great and so kind of you. I'm going to try again with a proper tripod and if I can't manage it I'll be in touch

pixbyjohn

Forty Foot Rocks by pixbyjohn, on Flickr
94 second exposure at the 40 foot in daylight with a 10 stopper Lee filter

sebphoto

@WheresMyCamera - I don't think welder's glass would give you such results as pixbyjohn showed here.

magicbastarder

what camera do you use? your camera may have the ability to take multiple exposures and stack in-camera; i have the nikon D300, and was able to take ten 2 second exposures, which the camera was able to stack and produce the equivalent of a 20s exposure.

Logie-1

I am sure this question has been asked 100 before so I apologise in advance.

What nd filter would you recommend?

I priced the Lee filter on Amazon and its over £100, is this right ? are there any cheaper ones that will do a non professional ?


Paul.

adox

I bought a B&W 10 stop filter a couple of weeks ago for around €70, or I`m sure there are cheaper alternatives again.

Im not long at photography(a couple of months) but heres a couple of 30 second day/evening time exposures with it on:


Lambay Island by adox66, on Flickr


Rush Harbour Sunset by adox66, on Flickr

sebphoto

Logie-1 price depends from brand, quality, lens diameter.. if you want to go cheap then imho look for no-name or hoya or marumi

PaulieC

squareballoon, I have a lee big stopper that you can borrow for a month or so, as I am away on holidays and won't be using it.