Sea picture help.

I am trying to take a photo of the sea but in like a velvety slow motion photo.

I have used my tripod, 2-3-4 second shutter speed with the aperture set right up at F40 and all I get is a blank photo, i tried with an ND4 filter but get more or less the same.

What am I doing wrong?

I can get this...

It is very simple, you need shutter speed about 15 seconds, even more to achieve this.

MAMF said:

I am trying to take a photo of the sea but in like a velvety slow motion photo. I have used my tripod, 2-3-4 second shutter speed with the aperture set right up at F40 and all I get is a blank photo, i tried with an ND4 filter but get more or less the same. What am I doing wrong?

I can get this...

Click to expand...

I can't see the EXIF data on your shot but just off the top of my head I'd say that shot of yours was probably taken at 1/60 or faster (probably faster) and that's way too fast. Specifics, such as the degree of motion of the water itself and the ambient light will of course affect the particulars, but if I were you I'd be thinking about exposure times in the neighborhood of thirty-seconds to one minute for slow-ish moving water.

....

Seriously? I would have thought (I am an amateur and new to dslr) 15 seconds would open the shutter more and make it blanker?

What F stop would you reckon to go with iso100 and SS 15 seconds?


Cheers for the reply.

Horoscope Fish said:

I can't see the EXIF data on your shot but just off the top of my head I'd say that shot of yours was probably taken at 1/60 or faster (probably faster) and that's way too fast. Specifics, such as the degree of motion of the water itself and the ambient light will of course affect the particulars, but if I were you I'd be thinking about exposure times in the neighborhood of thirty-seconds to one minute for slow-ish moving water.

....

Click to expand...

Previously I was doing around 1/2/3/4 seconds.....I will try this, thanks.

If by "blank" you're talking white, then what you're seeing is that even at f/44 the ND's you are using aren't sufficient to allow for the 2, 3 or 4 second shutter speeds and you're getting white wash. If you're getting black then it's the opposite, you need to go longer.

Make sure you're at ISO 100 and not on Auto ISO.

Also, grab yourself a ND Timer app, meter without the ND, and and then check the shutter speed you'll need with the same settings for the same exposure with the ND applied. ND4 is almost worthless in sunlight and will only gain you 2 stops. So, if your camera wants to shoot at 1/60s without the ND, you'll only get to 1/15s with an ND4 - anything longer and it will overexpose, which likely explains your "blank" image. You're going to want a 9 or 10 stop ND. Don't waste your money on the variable ND's as they will invariably produce hot spots after 6 stops.

I've been through this and know your frustration. If you have multiple small stop ND's (ND2, 4 & 8), stack them and at least you'll get additive effects (stacking all 3 will give you 6 stops).

Shoot early morning sunrises..

F10....15 secs....Aperture priority...ISO200