White photos on long exposure

[manaheim]

Wait... has anyone asked why he's taking a long exposure of a daytime sky in the first place?

Seems weird.

And I assume that is 15 SECONDS, no? I don't care what your f-stop, 15 seconds is going to be overexposed.

 

[TCampbell]

If you want very long exposures (something that will show the motion blur of water, clouds, etc.) then you'll need want

a) A tripod (or some way to hold the camera in position so that it does not move during the exposure)
b) A remote shutter release (or you can use the camera's self-timer) to avoid touching the camera to take the shot (that will shake the camera).
c) A very dense neutral-density filter.

Even at the lowest possible ISO setting and a higher aperture, the "longest" possible exposure (outside during the day) will still be very fast (if you plan to avoid it being over-exposed). The only way to get around this is with the filter.

The filters typically have a "density" value. Each "0.3" worth of density will cut the amount of light in half. So an ND 0.3 means only 50% of the light can pass through (and the exposure time can be twice as long as it could otherwise be without the filter). But "twice as long" is still probably not very long. An ND 3.0 (sometimes called a "10 stop" filter because it's 10 x 0.3) allows about 1/1000th of the light to pass through the filter. That's enough to increase the exposure time to several seconds (but not several minutes).

A 10-stop filter at f/22 might allow me to exposure a 15-second long exposure in mid-day (longer if it's overcast).

You can stack filters to increase the exposure time. Assuming that 15-second exposure time, if you were to stack in a 3-stop filter then the exposure duration would increase to 2 full minutes.

Keep in mind that these filters are so dark that it is not possible to accurately see to frame and focus the shot and auto-exposure won't work. To use them (and this is another reason why you'd want a tripod) you need to frame, focus, and meter the exposure without the filter on the lens. Then attach the filter and manually calculate the new exposure (based on knowing how many "stops" of light the filter is blocking) and manually enter the exposure settings.

 

[KmH]

A Stop
A stop of exposure is a fundamental photography concept.
A 'stop' is a doubling (2x) or a halving (0.5x) of the amount of light that reaches the recording media, be it film or an electronic sensor.

Since exposure is a triad of adjustments (shutter speed, ISO, lens aperture) you can change 1, 2 or all 3 of the triad settings.

If you want 1 more stop of exposure (brighter) you can adjust just one of the 3 by 1 more stop.
Or, you can change 2 of the 3 by 1/2 more stop each for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.
Or, you can adjust all 3 by 1/3 more stop for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.

You can also change the triad of settings and have no change in the exposure.
If you change 1 of the 3 settings by 1 stop more exposure and change a 2nd setting by 1 stop less exposure the net change is zero.

Suppose you subtracted a stop of shutter speed to help stop subject motion, you could add a stop of lens aperture to keep the exposure the same. However, adding a stop of aperture will also affect the total DoF by a small amount. So, if you don't want the DoF to change you would add a stop of ISO instead, however, adding a stop of ISO will increase by some amount the image noise in the photo.

Note: DSLR cameras are set by default to adjust the exposure settings in 1/3 stop increments.
Most DSLR cameras let you change that to 1/2 stop or 1 stop increments.
However, the advantage of 1/3 stop step increments is more precise control of exposure.

 

[KC1]

A Stop
A stop of exposure is a fundamental photography concept.
A 'stop' is a doubling (2x) or a halving (0.5x) of the amount of light that reaches the recording media, be it film or an electronic sensor.

Since exposure is a triad of adjustments (shutter speed, ISO, lens aperture) you can change 1, 2 or all 3 of the triad settings.

If you want 1 more stop of exposure (brighter) you can adjust just one of the 3 by 1 more stop.
Or, you can change 2 of the 3 by 1/2 more stop each for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.
Or, you can adjust all 3 by 1/3 more stop for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.

You can also change the triad of settings and have no change in the exposure.
If you change 1 of the 3 settings by 1 stop more exposure and change a 2nd setting by 1 stop less exposure the net change is zero.

Suppose you subtracted a stop of shutter speed to help stop subject motion, you could add a stop of lens aperture to keep the exposure the same. However, adding a stop of aperture will also affect the total DoF by a small amount. So, if you don't want the DoF to change you would add a stop of ISO instead, however, adding a stop of ISO will increase by some amount the image noise in the photo.

Note: DSLR cameras are set by default to adjust the exposure settings in 1/3 stop increments.
Most DSLR cameras let you change that to 1/2 stop or 1 stop increments.
However, the advantage of 1/3 stop step increments is more precise control of exposure.

So, what are the aperture and iso settings to get a 15 second exposure on a sunny day? Yeah, that doesn't work does it? He'll need to block some light with filters.

 

[dannylightning]

all white photos means too much light is getting in for the length of your shutter. its over exposing your photo badly. and if stopping down is not working for that shutter speed you will need a ND filter...

stopped down as much as possible in the day time i cant get long shutter speed to work at all, say i am trying to shoot a waterfall and want the motion of the water in the photo, the photo is always over exposed badly or pure white unless there is a ND filter on the camera..

even at night time i have to stop way way down to get a 30 second exposure or it over exposes, in the day its its just not gonna happen with out the ND filter that stops down a good deal more.

 

[wfooshee]

As has been said repeatedly, you simply cannot take a long exposure (several seconds) shot in daylight without a darkening filter on the lens. The camera simply isn't capable of being set to a low enough sensitivity to light.

This shot was 30 seconds at night under a three-quarter moon. To the eye, the sky was black and the horizon was not visible. Heck, from where I was set up, the water was hardly visible!

If long exposure brings out a visible ocean, a horizon, and blue sky from utter blackness, then you should see how long exposures in full daylight will result in nothing but extreme overexposure, meaning a white image.

Long exposures in daylight are possible, but not with just the lens and the camera; you must use a neutral-density filter to block most of the light. The camera can't do it.

I think you're assuming there's some kind of electronic setting to do that, but there simply isn't. Just have a look at the numbers. I'll start with an exposure for daylight based on the sunny-16 rule: 1/125 second at f:16 and ISO 100 should yield a nice exposure for an outdoor setting on a sunny day. If you want to expose for 15 seconds, that's an 11-stop change in shutter speed, so to balance that out and keep the exposure correct, you have to find either aperture or ISO changes, or a combination of the two, worth a total of 11 stops. Your long shutter shutter lets in 11 stops more light (over two thousand times as much light!) so you have to reduce aperture and ISO by that much. Depending on the lens, f:16 may be all she wrote. Some zoom or telephoto lenses may go down to f:32 or even f:40, so you've found all of 1 stop, maybe 1-1/2. Most cameras have ISO 100 as the absolute minimum, so there's no room to play there. You still have to reduce the amount of light going into the camera by another ten stops! You have to block 999 of every 1000 photons!

The only way to do it is a neutral density filter. (Called "neutral density" because they're not supposed to change the color of the light that gets through.)

Just to see the ridiculous numbers, if you could set the aperture small enough, you'd need about f:32000. If that's not feasible (and it's not!) then maybe you could set your ISO to around 0.05 or so. No, that's not possible, either.....

 

[donny1963]

Hi guys! I'm a 17 year old from a city nearby Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain! So, sorry for my 'bad' English. And this is my first post!

I had a Nikon D3300 for my BDay (Actually my Bday was the 15th and I got the camera on the 7th, and I like taking long exposure photos but when I try to take them to the cloudy sky the result is a white photo.

Shutter Speed: 15
Aperture: F 7
ISO: 100

The aperture doesn't matter cause always results white and the Shutter Speed the lower less white stuff.

If I try to take photos to my things like the table and this things it is less white so How Can I get great Long Exposure photos?

Thanks!

Also, its a external equipment needed to take Time Lapse? Cause it's a pity...

Thanks a lot!

sounds like your over exposing your pictures, which is what happens with long shutter's during the day, best way to get a good exposure that way is to Stop your aperture down to the highest number you can , like F22 or what ever the max is, if that is not enough and still over exposed when you close the lens all the way then you need to put on a neutral density filter which i will darken the exposure..

Donny