Shutter Speed Question

[caras1922]

the other day I was trying to take a picture of a building in a crowded street, moving my shutter speed trying to make them disapear..with no luck. I don't have problems at dawn or night but I can't make it work on daylight...PLEASE ADVICE...

Many, many thanks!
Raf.

[HockeyFan]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're wanting a shutter speed that will allow the people to walk by and blur out of existance. You'll still have that residual streak there though. Plus, you'd have to be on a tripod, and with an exposure that long in daylight, the rest of the photo would be over exposed.
I'm not sure that you can elminate the moving people just with shutter speed.

However, I am low on sleep at the moment and maybe I've forgotten something. I hope someone else can lend an idea to help you with what you're wanting to do.

[oldwolf]

high f-stop, low ISO and aND filter?

[HockeyFan]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

high f-stop, low ISO and aND filter?

That's a good idea. I'd go with as low an ISO as I could get away with.

[inkista]

Yeah, in daylight you're going to need a neutral density (ND) filter, because even at your lowest ISO, stopped down, you're unlikely to achieve multi-second exposures without overexposing the image.

ND filters are typically rated by how much they cut the light, so just remember that the stops you go down will be the power of 2 of the rating. E.g., if it's an 8x ND filter, it gets you 3 stops (2^3=8).

So, if you want to turn a 1/30s exposure to a 2 second exposure, you'll need to get 1/30 -> 1/15 -> 1/8 -> 1/4 -> 1/2 -> 1 -> 2 => 6 stops = 64x ND filter.

Another trick, if you already have a circular polarizing filter, is to stack a linear polarizing filter on top of it, and rotate it. That will let you vary the amount of light that's blocked; although at the darker extremes you may introduce a severe purple color cast.

[HockeyFan]

Originally Posted by inkista

you may introduce a severe purple color cast.

That might turn out to be an interesting effect. I'd try it that way, as well as getting an ND filter that stops the aperture down enough for a reasonable amount of time with the shutter open.

[ditch_azeroth]

oldwolf got it right on the head - slow shutter, nd. i have a friend who tried to experiment with really long exposures, and used 2 ND's - the image quality was not that great, but he got the effect he wanted.

[Tiberius]

The earliest photos were like that. Because of ultra slow film though, it was like ISO 1 or something.

But I have seen a picture of a street in paris that had an 8 hour exposure (or was it the side of a barn?) Naturally, not a single person is visible.

[caras1922]

Many thanks for all the advices...I will try with the ND filter!!!!

Great!!!
Raf.