The rule of thirds is a classic photography technique. Using an ND110 filter (that you can't see through) really makes you think about the whole photographic process, framing, composition focus, exposure etc before you attach the filter, switch to maual and bulb mode and open the shutter for several minutes.
A little part of the web for me to talk about Photography, what I'm up to, share experiments, recent shots, hints and tips. To share my (limited) experience with others and to gain further skills myself.
Showing posts with label long exposure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long exposure. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Watching the World Go By
An ND110 (10stop) filter can turn a mundane garden scene into a spectacular array of streaky clouds on a windy day.
@f/22 this was a 1/15 second exposure but add the 10 stop ND110 and a 2 stop polariser and it added up to a 3 minute exposure in broad daylight.
@f/22 this was a 1/15 second exposure but add the 10 stop ND110 and a 2 stop polariser and it added up to a 3 minute exposure in broad daylight.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Long Exposure
A very long exposure in broad daylight using my ND110 (10 stop filter) to give a streaky effect to the clouds. This shot is of one of the ball bollards at the side of the access road at Guards Polo Club on Smiths Lawn in windsor great park. This is the first time i've had my ND110 out to play in a while and I'd forgotten how difficult it was to use. You need to take a meter reading with it off, focus, switch to manual focus, (autofocus doesn't work when you screw it back on as the viewfinder is virtually black) screw the filter on. Switch to maual mode, dial in +10 stops (e.g. 1/15 second becomes 2 minutes) hit the remote release, start the stop watch, keep the kids amused for 2 mins or so and then go and turn the bulb remote release off. As you cans ee it's quite involved.... but worth it I think for the efefcts you get.
Processed in lightroom with the Alice in Wonderland "Creative catalyst 19" preset.
see here for other ND110 shots from today
www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157623151244607/
Processed in lightroom with the Alice in Wonderland "Creative catalyst 19" preset.
see here for other ND110 shots from today
www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157623151244607/
Friday, January 29, 2010
Air Force Memorial meets new Recruit ND110 Filter
It's been crazy busy at work (and play) and has therefore been a while since I blogged. I've missed the therapy of writing stuff down.
Anyhow, this is currently my best shot with my new toy. I got me a B&W ND110 filter and i'm sure I'm going to love it.
Inspiration for getting this came from some of my flickr contacts the the great shots they're produced with it. It basically reduces the light by 10 stops so there is 1000 less times light reaching the sensor. It's so dark it's almost black to look through, so dark that autofocus and metering don't work. You need to set the shot up, focus, take a meter reading and then screw the filter on. Switch to manual focus and bulb mode and leave the shutter open for the amount of time you calculate (+10 stops + a bit for good measure) based off of the original meter reading.
This is the same shot of the Airforce memorial in Englefield Green as the others in this set www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157623151244607/ but with processing done in Photoshop after the basic RAW conversion in Lightroom. (the others were just lightroom)
So we start with a 5 minute exposure using an ND110 filter to give the streaked clouds. Basic raw conversion in LR, import to Photoshop, a bit of healing to remove a few dust spots, noise reduction, conversion to mono using a gradient map, convert to grayscale from RGB then change to duotone and apply a quadtone (richer B&W's) (tutorial from Scott Kelby) . I think I then did a curves adjustment layer to fine tune contrast then convert back to LAB colour and then a large amount of unsharpmask shapening on the lightness only channel which avoids halo's and artefacts. the Original shots for comparison can be seen below. I think I much prefer the richness and sharpness of this one.
Anyhow, this is currently my best shot with my new toy. I got me a B&W ND110 filter and i'm sure I'm going to love it.
Inspiration for getting this came from some of my flickr contacts the the great shots they're produced with it. It basically reduces the light by 10 stops so there is 1000 less times light reaching the sensor. It's so dark it's almost black to look through, so dark that autofocus and metering don't work. You need to set the shot up, focus, take a meter reading and then screw the filter on. Switch to manual focus and bulb mode and leave the shutter open for the amount of time you calculate (+10 stops + a bit for good measure) based off of the original meter reading.
This is the same shot of the Airforce memorial in Englefield Green as the others in this set www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157623151244607/ but with processing done in Photoshop after the basic RAW conversion in Lightroom. (the others were just lightroom)
So we start with a 5 minute exposure using an ND110 filter to give the streaked clouds. Basic raw conversion in LR, import to Photoshop, a bit of healing to remove a few dust spots, noise reduction, conversion to mono using a gradient map, convert to grayscale from RGB then change to duotone and apply a quadtone (richer B&W's) (tutorial from Scott Kelby) . I think I then did a curves adjustment layer to fine tune contrast then convert back to LAB colour and then a large amount of unsharpmask shapening on the lightness only channel which avoids halo's and artefacts. the Original shots for comparison can be seen below. I think I much prefer the richness and sharpness of this one.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
New Toy ....
My new toy has just arrived today, a B+W ND110 filter. This has the effect of cutting hte light by 1000 times (log factor 3) to create long exposures even in Broad daylight. This has the creative effect of rendering wavy water flat, giving clouds a streaked, smudged look.
The BWVision website (Joel Tjintjelaar) is is a great website for some info about long exposure photography using ND110 filters. See Joel's work on Flickr
I just hope the weather is kind this weekend so that I can experiment. I also hope that I can aspire to some shots like these guys... watch this space.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjintjelaar/4106459317/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27595401@N08/4271558172/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37151423@N05/4230896521/in/pool-nd110-filter-group
The BWVision website (Joel Tjintjelaar) is is a great website for some info about long exposure photography using ND110 filters. See Joel's work on Flickr
I just hope the weather is kind this weekend so that I can experiment. I also hope that I can aspire to some shots like these guys... watch this space.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjintjelaar/4106459317/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27595401@N08/4271558172/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37151423@N05/4230896521/in/pool-nd110-filter-group
Monday, November 30, 2009
Virginia Water Waterfall After Heavy Rain
I hoped that the amount of rain we had this weekend would mean that the Waterfall on the outflow of Virginia Water in Windsor Great park would be in spate.... I wasn't disappointed. It was very late on Saturday evening before I had chance to get down there. Infact it was nearly dusk. I didn't have my cable release with me so I had to resort to upping the ISO and the aperture to reduce the exposure to 30 seconds. Processed in lightroom with an X=equals "super punch" preset and then a bit of fine tuning.
The second shot of the upper level, looking down has the road in the background which is where the orange glow comes from as cars were driving along plus the street lights.
The second shot of the upper level, looking down has the road in the background which is where the orange glow comes from as cars were driving along plus the street lights.
Obviously both of these shots were taken with a tripod.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Rain Stops Play on Star Trails and Kills Camera with Err 99
I thought I'd try some long exposures on "Bonfire Night" with the plan of stacking them together to form star trails with plane tracks accross and perhaps the odd firework if I was lucky.
Great plan ... but unbeknownst to me the weather had other ideas !!
My tripod was set up in the garden. Camera, lens (IS switched off, focus set to manual) and cable release were all ready and off we went. A series of 30 second exposures with the camera set on "burst" and the cable release locked down meant continuous shots.... so off I went to watch x factor. Planning to return in an hour or so to check on progress.
X factor over, out I went and was HORRIFIED to find it was raining.... and looked like it had been for a while. The camera (Canon EOS40D) worked fine to review the images I had but then started to do strange things and the dreaded "Err 99" appeared. Bugger !! I only get 14, 30 second exposures before it started to cloud over and then another 30 before it started to rain (there was no sign of any clouds when I started !!)
I looked up Err 99 on the web and got more nervous. Following the troubleshooting guides I removed the lens, still Err 99, replaced battery, still there. Removed CF card, still there. Got the hair dryer out, still there !! Finally I left the camera with everything detached and open overnight in a warm room... and thank god it worked in the morning. Lesson learned... don't
leave expensive gear unattended outside in the UK climate.
Now, onto the image. The individual shots were tacked together in photoshop with the great photoshop action below to form the Star Trails. Obviously I was hoping that they would have been longer with more plane tracks but you can clearly see the clouds starting to scud in. The orange glow is from the distant lights of Heathrow and London.
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