Adventures in Minimalism

[Japaslavian]

I'm fairly new to long exposure photography, but I'm really enjoy minimalism, so I recently took a few shots that I'm happy with.

I went for a walk down the coast in Martinez, CA along a little gravel path. It was very foggy and overcast, which I think really helped set a mood for the shots. I found these posts sticking up from the ground and the fallen log and thought they would make great subjects so I set up my tripod and mounted the camera on it.

I chose my 10-22mm lens, as I was close enough to the subject that it would be a nice size in the frame, but would still give me a lot of negative space.

I first composed my shot through the view finder as normal, and then focused the shot where I wanted. Then, I switched my focusing mode to manual so it would not move when I attached my filter. The filter I chose was a Hoya ND400 filter. This little piece of glass is really brilliant becaust it reduces my exposures by 9 stops, so it's nearly black when you look through the viewfinder. This is why I had to compose and focus my shot first. Unfortunately, the filter is fairly costly, especially for the 10-22mm lens whose lens opening is a whopping 77mm. Sometimes up to $150...

Anyway, because I do not own a remote timer, and feared that I would move the camera shooting in bulb mode, I settled for a 30 second exposure, the max auto setting my Digital Rebel has. I would have liked to shoot a little longer. Maybe when I get an ND8x filter and a remote along with the ND400 I'll be able to get 3 minute exposures, but for now this worked great.

Post production was fairly minimal as well. I forgot to set my camera to shoot in B&W, so I converted them using lab color. I also added a small tint to each one. Then crop, and done!

Here are the final results.



~EDIT
Forgot about the 1 photo maximum, so I've taken the other two off. They're up on Flickr if you'd still like to see them.

Thanks for reading. Happy shooting!

[FocalFrenzy]

I like the way you composed these shots. The first 2 could be emerging from fog, snow, or sand. It leaves that up to your imagination. I like images that not only tell a story, but allow you to participate. Very nice job. I look forward to seeing more of these shots.

[windrider86]

I REALLY like this!

[lisak]

Originally Posted by Japaslavian

I'm fairly new to long exposure photography, but I'm really enjoy minimalism, so I recently took a few shots that I'm happy with.

Awesome photo! I love the feel you captured - you should be SUPER happy with this one.

-lisa

[xxpinballxx]

Jeff, I think you got some of the best shots around.
these first two are mesmerizing and the third is a fantastic shot screaming to be framed!
You've got a great eye, keep up the great work!

[mrlee_1979]

my first reaction when i saw this was to say (out load) WOW!.. and I just cant stop saying it.. wow! nice job.

[Manda]

fantastic - lovely job

[Winning Post]

Awesome! You have some great shots on Flickr and I think this one is one of your best.

Nice one!

[rehan]

That's a very nice shot. i like the logs popping up from no where, the shadow helps making them so smooth. nice shot.

[adacosta]

Love it.... i want to learn more about that Filter...

Just checked FLIKR, and i noticed your other post - Trees. Absolutely beautiful.