Long Exposure

Heather Koch · Oct 11, 2014

So I went out today to try some long exposure shots, I love the abstract look to these, and this river was the best thing I could get for now to try it out on. I had some troubles finding the right exposure length, but I am pretty pleased (considering the location) with my first long exposure shots

What do you think?

snowbear · Oct 11, 2014

What was your final shutter speed? To get that real silky looking water you frequently need a neutral density filter, though a polarizer can help.

TCampbell · Oct 11, 2014

The ND filter will really help here. If you were to only buy one ND filter, I'd get a 3-stop (optical density ND 0.9). Each 0.3 worth of optical density cuts the exposure in half... so 0.9 is 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 (in other words 1/8th of the light can pass through the filter.)

To really create silky water a 10-stop can be used (optical density ND 3.0) which allows about 1/1000th of the light through. But these cut so much light that you can not see to frame and focus the camera. You frame, focus, and meter with the filter off the lens (camera on tripod when doing long exposures), switch the lens to manual focus mode, then put the filter on the camera (taking care not to change the focus or zoom as you do). Manually expose the camera for 10 stops lower than you metered (typically by increasing the exposure time).

Heather Koch · Oct 12, 2014

This is the photo details : 1/4 sec; f/25; ISO 100

As for the ND filter, which one would you recommend? I see some can be up to $100?

Nevermore1 · Oct 12, 2014

I think most on here would recommend the Lee filters, which I understand are great but cost a lot. I just invested in some Cokin P filters which aren't the cheapest but also aren't the most expensive (Amazon has some good pricing). So far I have been hapoy with them. If you plan on taking a lot of photos that will require filters then I would say invest in the best ones you can currently afford. If you just want to experiment/play around with rhem then get something mid-range. There's a couple threads about which filters are better, unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to link to them on tapatalk. Just do a search and some should pop up.

Heather Koch · Oct 13, 2014

Thanks I will, thanks to everyone who looked

lambertpix · Oct 13, 2014

Yeah, you really need to be upwards of 5-10 seconds to start really getting that look. A lot of the "silky water" pictures you see will be 30-second exposures, or even longer. The easiest no-filter solution, by the way? Shoot in fading light.

Once you master that, remember that even silky water pictures need a great subject and composition, so start looking for leading lines, etc.

Lumac · Oct 13, 2014

I use Cokin and I'm very happy with those filters (I have 4 : ND2 - 4 - 8 and ND400). You have to be carefull about the composition. You need a very strong subject to enhanced a long exposure. I'm not really sure you were in the best spot for this kind of picture.

The good point is: if you didn't tell me it was a long exposure, I wouldn't have found out!
The bad point is: if you didn't tell me it was a long exposure, I wouldn't have found out!

xzyragon · Oct 13, 2014

You can somewhat focus with an ND filter on your lens, but it's unreliable with anything other than a wide angle with a small aperture. I love my 9-stop ND filter, but my experience is as follows.

1 - find a cool water location
2 - find a shot that looks cool WITHOUT the silky water effect
3 - focus, frame, set the camera up on a tripod
4 - attach ND filter, adjust settings, start snapping
5 - shoot until you have a properly exposed picture

The important thing is that while the silky smooth effect is really cool, it shouldn't be the only cool thing about pictures. Composition still is key.

lambertpix · Oct 13, 2014

Lumac said:
I'm not really sure you were in the best spot for this kind of picture.

Off the top of my head, I'd guess that the best spot might include you getting wet somewhere past your ankles, give or take.

Heather Koch · Oct 13, 2014

This may be a silly question, but how do you adjust the exposure properly? I went under settings and found something called "ISO sensitivity settings" then went to "Min shutter speed" where I found several options from 1 s all the way to 1/4000 s. That is how I changed my exposure...?

As for the location, found some awesome subjects but didn't want to go in the water, as I wasn't "prepared" clothing wise for that. BUT that would have definitely made a difference.

I will look into that ND filter, thank you guys!

lambertpix · Oct 13, 2014

Heather Koch said:
This may be a silly question, but how do you adjust the exposure properly? I went under settings and found something called "ISO sensitivity settings" then went to "Min shutter speed" where I found several options from 1 s all the way to 1/4000 s. That is how I changed my exposure...?

In this case, you probably want to set your ISO as low as it'll go (at some point, you can look into the "native" ISO for your camera, but I wouldn't worry about that just yet). Then, set the camera for Av and choose an aperture to something on the order of f/11, which will give you a good depth-of-field without running into diffraction distortion. Your shutter speed will be calculated by the camera, and hopefully, you'll see it start to get into multiple seconds as the light fades. You can reduce the aperture (higher numbers), to slow the shutter more, but as you increase past f/16 or so, you're going to start introducing diffraction distortion, and if you've got any dust on your sensor or lens, that'll start showing up big-time at those apertures, too.

xzyragon · Oct 13, 2014

Heather Koch said:
This may be a silly question, but how do you adjust the exposure properly? I went under settings and found something called "ISO sensitivity settings" then went to "Min shutter speed" where I found several options from 1 s all the way to 1/4000 s. That is how I changed my exposure...?

As for the location, found some awesome subjects but didn't want to go in the water, as I wasn't "prepared" clothing wise for that. BUT that would have definitely made a difference.

I will look into that ND filter, thank you guys!

put it in AV (aperture priority) and then push your aperture to f11. If you need a longer shutter push the aperture further.

Once you get an ND filter, depending on the strength you can still use AV to meter, or you can guesstimate and adjust based on the output.

fotomonkey · Oct 13, 2014

Heather Koch said:
This may be a silly question, but how do you adjust the exposure properly? I went under settings and found something called "ISO sensitivity settings" then went to "Min shutter speed" where I found several options from 1 s all the way to 1/4000 s. That is how I changed my exposure...?

Look at your manual and read about the bulb setting. Then pick up a wired shutter release for about $20. Then you can keep the shutter open as long as you need.