Trying out long exposure

[Clovishound]

I've been wanting to try my hand at long exposures, with a mind to using this technique at a local beach. Here is the beach. This photo was taken at 1/6 sec. It has the look of motion, but I want to try some much longer exposures there to get that "fog" look.

So, I bought a 10 stop ND filter. The only moving water I know about that is convenient to test it out is a rock fountain at Cypress Gardens in the butterfly house. I went over this morning and set up before the crowds came through and tried it out. It was a success in that it gave me something of the look I was after, and my technique was pretty much on target. I set up the tripod, composed and focused, and took a reading, all without the filter. I took the reading and counted down, yes I used my fingers, 10 stops, which came out to 128 sec. Put the filter on and locked the remote release while using my cell phone as a timer rounded off at 2 min.

Here it is.

Exposure was close. I could have used another stop. Everything that should be, is sharp. I got the look from the water I wanted, there just wasn't enough moving water to give the full effect. I also need to go into the menu and turn off noise reduction. It took several minutes for the file to process in camera. I couldn't do anything until it finished. I shot a 2 sec image and it only took a few seconds to process. This location had fairly dim lighting this time of day.


This image is merely a test of the procedure, before heading out on an hour trip before the sun comes up and walking a half mile down to the beach to set up. Any advise appreciated. I haven't done this type of thing since back when I still had hair.

 

[BF Hammer]

10-stop filter is much darker than I have used for anything other than photographing the sun directly.

On several waterfall photos, I find 4 seconds will blur the water to a mist. Two seconds is more dynamic. I imagine that slower-motion waves on a beach is going to take longer. This is all a variable based on focal length and the subjects anyhow.

The ultra-long exposure technique tends to be done with ocean waves spashing among many rocks, or even pier pilings.

 

[Blue439]

10-stop is fine for long exposures. I don’t do them very often but I have a set of 3-stop, 6-stop and 10-stop filters (plus some grads) and they cover all I ever needed.

Your method of counting on your fingers is very reliable, we’ve all done it. Now, there are apps that will do it for you if you prefer.

Your top photo is excellent, you are so lucky to have the ocean nearby with such an amazing tree in it! The bottom photo I am less fond of, I think the “waterfall” is not nearly spectacular nor large enough to produce anything memorable, but as far as creating a “fog” effect, it looks fine, maybe a bot too pronounced, but again it is hard to tell on such a small trickle. I understand it was just for trial, though.

The photo seems a little soft overall, maybe from the filter? Or a very slight tremor in the tripod? I have found that sometimes, simply walking softly around the tripod can cause that tremor, if the ground is for some reason “resonating” a little bit ==> causes the tripod to “shake” completely imperceptibly but still enough for the result to be visible in terms of softening the photo. I had that 24-70 lens before I bought the 24-120 and I seem to remember it producing sharper shots.

Good luck for your upcoming attempts! Long exposures are fun and often produce such unexpected and dreamy images.

 

[Clovishound]

10-stop filter is much darker than I have used for anything other than photographing the sun directly.

On several waterfall photos, I find 4 seconds will blur the water to a mist. Two seconds is more dynamic. I imagine that slower-motion waves on a beach is going to take longer. This is all a variable based on focal length and the subjects anyhow.

The ultra-long exposure technique tends to be done with ocean waves spashing among many rocks, or even pier pilings.

The subjects I want to use it for are ocean waves splashing among trees in the surf.

The photo seems a little soft overall, maybe from the filter? Or a very slight tremor in the tripod?

I looked at the full sized image on my computer. I think I somehow missed focus. I probably was concentrating on the long exposure so much I didn't really pay attention to where the AF was focusing. I just now compared the sharpest part of the image to the 2 sec exposure without the filter I took of the same subject. It is definitely sharper than the longer exposure with the filter. I will have to test some with and without the filter using shorter exposures, and ensuring the tripod is rock stable to see if the filter is the culprit.

 

[Clovishound]

I went out back this morning and carefully set up my tripod and shot one image without the filter. I then shot another with the filter and at the same aperture, changing only the shutter speed. This was in bright light, so the long exposure was only 3 sec.

I could not tell any substantial difference in sharpness between the two. I now have two beautiful images of a section of brick wall.

 

[Clovishound]

Tried a couple more long exposures at the fountains downtown.

This one is interesting. Not sure about the composition. I think this was a 45 sec exposure. EXIF data maxes out at 30 sec, so I'm going by memory here.

This turned out fairly well. Of course, every photographer around here has their picture of this fountain. I ended up doing a sky replacement, as it was a dull, drab sky and it blended in with the spray. I believe this was around 1 minute. Might have been 30 sec.

Tried it out in B&W as well.

 

[Marilynne]

Tried a couple more long exposures at the fountains downtown.

This one is interesting. Not sure about the composition. I think this was a 45 sec exposure. EXIF data maxes out at 30 sec, so I'm going by memory here.


View attachment 410944


This turned out fairly well. Of course, every photographer around here has their picture of this fountain. I ended up doing a sky replacement, as it was a dull, drab sky and it blended in with the spray. I believe this was around 1 minute. Might have been 30 sec.


View attachment 410942


Tried it out in B&W as well.


View attachment 410943

I really like this one!

 

[Clovishound]

A lot of the pineapple fountain pictures are taken at sunrise, or at night (it's lit at night). I don't think I've seen a daytime picture done long exposure. I was hoping for more of a "fog" effect. I took another one after this one at twice the exposure length. The water looked about the same. I didn't use it because someone was in the frame and it looked weird. They had 4 legs.

 

[Blue439]

I like the second fountain best, the first one if a bit too busy. Both treatments look fine, the B&W maybe a bit better IMO. And of course I cringe at the converging verticals, that's the architecture photog in me.

 

[Clovishound]

I like the second fountain best, the first one if a bit too busy. Both treatments look fine, the B&W maybe a bit better IMO. And of course I cringe at the converging verticals, that's the architecture photog in me.

I didn't really have enough room to be able to straighten it out without crowding it. I was as far back as I could go, and using the widest lens I had. The wildlife/nature photographer in my doesn't register converging verticals, and there is no shift lens in my gear.

 

[Blue439]

I didn't really have enough room to be able to straighten it out without crowding it. I was as far back as I could go, and using the widest lens I had. The wildlife/nature photographer in my doesn't register converging verticals, and there is no shift lens in my gear.

I know, I was like you before I began to worry about horizons being... well, horizontal, and verticals not converging nor diverging... Your corrected photo is much better, thank you!

 

[Clovishound]

Well, to be fair, I do worry about horizons being straight.

 

[Clovishound]

I Just learned that I can extend the maximum shutter speed out to 900s on my Z7ii. All I had to do was go into the menu and select extended shutter speeds. It only does that for manual mode, but that's fine. Keeps me from having to dig out my stupid phone and setup the timer. Not sure why you have a menu selection for that. I don't see any down side for being able to choose a very long speed in manual mode.

Anyway, good to know.