Long Exposure

[hershy314]

I got a ND filter today so I could try a few long exposure shots. So far the weather hasn't been nice to me today, a little to cloudy to get a decent shot. I did manage to get a couple shots I thought were good. Here is one of them. Feel free to post your long exposure shots here as well.

 

[Hoogle]

define long exposure, on first looks this looks like a normal shot taken on an overcast day,

However if it was the middle of the night then I could see the long exposure aspect

Personally I like to see movement in long exposures.

Light streaks, steel wool photography, Water and clouds are my favourites

Nice picture though has some potential

 

[hershy314]

The exposure was set at 15 sec but like I said the weather wasn't good.

 

[hershy314]

If you look close there is some motion blur in the clouds. I'm sure if it was a nicer day it would of been more noticeable.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hershy, you posted a long duration day-time exposure for which you needed to use a strongly opaque ND filter. Are you also interested in long duration night exposures (ie, for which, the last thing you need is an ND filter, LOL).

Tom M

 

[hershy314]

Hadn't thought about using a filter at night. But then again living in the middle of no where there isn't much to shoot at night. If it's a clear night a shot of the stars is always nice, but the lens I have really doesn't do well with that kind of shots. I've taken a few shots at night way before I got this filter.


I do have one complaint about the filter, before editing it has this redish tone to it. Takes a bit to get it to look more natural in color. Haven't gotten it perfect (yet).

 

[Tom Mann]

I think you may have misunderstood me. I was trying to get across that for night shots, like you, I rarely use a filter. So I was trying to determine if you were interested in this type of photography, or only shots that used a strong ND filter in the daytime.

Tom

 

[hershy314]

Interested in this type of photography is a yes. Not just during the day but at night as well.

 

[Tom Mann]

Yup, like you, I also love long exposure photography, especially in rural or deserted areas. Here are a few pix I took over the years. Each required an exposure of at least 10 seconds, quite a few more like a half hour, but that was in the days of slow Kodachrome slide film ... like this first one from back in 1971:



And another of the same vintage, also on slide film. For this one, because the moon was out, the exposure was much less, probably only about a minute. In fact, because the moon was so bright, this is actually a composite of two exposures, one for the ground, and much shorter one for the moon.



And finally, here's one that is much more recent. I took this a few years ago on a digital. It's the top of a ski hill that had just shut down to the public for the night, but a few of us instructors and the ski patrol were doing the final sweep of the mountain. I grabbed this by jamming a little digital point and shoot up against a snow blowing tower for about a 10 second exposure. Kinda eerie, eh?



One of the best times to take night time exposures is when there is a blanket of snow on the ground. It reflects a lot of light and requires much shorter exposures.

Hope you like them.

Tom

 

[hershy314]

Those are cool photos.

 

[Martin Grauer]

Nice photos, really like the one with mist over the hills (if this doesn't make sense then im sorry for my english.. )

Here are few of my photos i took..
This one is from my balcony at night. This one is 30s exposure


This one is a little bit experimental.. not sure if it is exactly long exposure photo but it was about 5s

 

[Tom Mann]

Thank you, Martin. I like the ground fog shot, as well, but I wish I could re-shoot it with modern equipment to try to get rid of all the grain.

I like your shots, as well -- especially the 2nd one. It reminds me of the beautiful shots of sunlight streaming through the slightly dusty air in some of the churches in Rome that have very high ceilings.

However, I couldn't figure out how you could get such a well-defined beam of light unless it was direct sunlight, initially, I thought you must have used a very dark ND filter, like the OP, but then, I looked at the EXIF data for your shot, and saw that it was taken at 1/1000 second at ISO=1600 and got even more confused. May I ask what was the source of light for it? I would like to make use of that lighting technique for my own shots. Did you brighten the "dusty air" area in PS? Was it a composite of several exposures?

Cheers,

Tom M

 

[Martin Grauer]

I had to mistaken it with another picture that i shot but with long exposure.. But now i remeber..

This was shot on very sunny day in my attic(between rooms and roof? ) when the sun was shinning directly to the window. Everywhere else was dark because i barricaded all the other windows. Then i collected this super soft dust that was left when i was doing some renovations, set the camera on self timer, then run to the plant, throw the dust in the air and run away from the shot.. What mostly makes the beam of light so visible is the dust. You can even use fog machine to create fog and the results will be even better and it will be probably much better for your lungs and camera .
After i got some shots i opened one that i liked most in photoshop, since they were already shot in B&W i just slightly edited contrast and removed another window + little bit of wall that was showing because the light was shining right next to it

I found more photos that i shot and these are not edited in any way.. (i put them together to save space but if you want to see them in full size i can post them..)
I looked at the EXIF data and most of them is shot between (1/1000-2000s), f4.5-5, ISO 1600

 

[MrToM]

..Then i collected this super soft dust that was left when i was doing some renovations, set the camera on self timer, then run to the plant, throw the dust in the air and run away from the shot..

Fantastic!

I love it when people experiment away from the 'norm'....and the results speak for themselves...brilliant!

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[hershy314]

That is a cool shot, definitely took some imagination to do.

Here is another one I took today. Finally had a day where I could really use the ND filter

 

[Martin Grauer]

Fantastic!

I love it when people experiment away from the 'norm'....and the results speak for themselves...brilliant!

Thanks! I like to experiment with things because you can get some really interesting results and it's fun
-

Nice shot, i'm really thinking about getting ND filter now, do you think some normal "cheap" nd filter is worth to buy or is it better to buy some expensive one, like B+W ?

 

[hershy314]

I got cheap one, my only problem is that it turns the image a redish color. Takes a bit of editing to make it look normal.

 

[Tom Mann]

Thanks for all the details, Martin. Given that I just was crawling around our attic stirring up dust looking for our Christmas ornaments, should you ever need more dust, just let me know - I have plenty to send you. LOL.

Seriously, tho, since this thread was supposed to be on the topic of long exposures, perhaps you should consider starting a new thread that shows off some of your very nice work, and I would be very happy to move the posts you already made over to that thread. I'm sure we would all be very interested in other images that you have produced, other techniques, etc.

With respect to your question about the quality of very strong ND filters (ie, 10 stops or more, to allow multi-second exposures even in daylight), I know people who have been delighted with low-cost ones, and people who had just terrible experiences with them. For example, in addition to an overall cast, sometimes there are very pronounced variations in opacity from one area of the filter to the next area. These can be exceedingly difficult to remove. This problem apparently is very common among "variable" high opacity ND filters made by crossing two linear polarizers.

Personally, if I were to do this, I might buy a cheap model to see if I am truly interested in this type of photography, and be prepared to buy a more expensive model if I find that I really enjoy this type of photo.

Best regards,

Tom M

 

[hershy314]

The weekend after Christmas I'll be in St Louis. I'm hoping to get some good images while there both day and night. Hopefully some long exposure shots as well. Just gotta remember to bring the tripod. Or else no long shots.

 

[Tom Mann]

Get some classics, especially, the Arch and some of the downtown buildings right around, or slightly after sundown when there is still some color in the sky. If you are staying in a high rise hotel, don't forget to try to get some shots out of the window.

Also, be careful. Never shoot alone at night, especially in the bad areas. Always have someone watching your back. The bigger and meaner-looking they are, the better, LOL.

We can't wait to see what images you capture!

Tom M