Long Exposure Photography During the Day

[bigrobo89]

Hi,

I recently had a couple of questions on a post I put in the landscape SYS section regarding the shot below and how I was achieving exposure times of 5 minutes during the day.

This is the shot:



Exif:

Exposure: 305 seconds
Aperture: F11
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 19mm


This is what I used:

Canon EOS 7D
Canon 10-22mm F3.5-5.6
Circular Polarizer
10 Stop ND Filter
3 Stop Grad ND Filter
Gorillapod
Remote Timer
Long Time iPhone app


And this is how it was achieved:


I attached a gorillapod to a barrier which was in place to block entry to a disused pier. Next I composed my shot with only a circular polarizer in place and noted the exposure time. Once I had my focus sorted I switched to manual focus and then attached a 10 stop ND Filter. Mine is a screw in type but you can also get the Lee Big Stopper which is a square drop in style which would have been easier.

Next came the tricky bit. Seeing as the camera was attached to the gorillapod and the other side of the barrier wasn't accessible I had to look for reference points on my 3 Stop Grad ND filter so I could line the gradient up as desired whilst trying to reach through and screw on the filter from behind. After a bit of fiddling and a few test shots I had it right.

All that was left to do was convert my initial exposure value to one necessary for a 10 stop filter to expose correctly. I used Long Time a very handy iphone app to get a figure and then used a bit of leeway as I'd read on the internet that the high stop filters sometimes require more time than expected to expose correctly.

I settled on a smidge over 5 minutes due to the app suggesting a 13 stop ND (10 stop ND + 3 Stop Grad ND) would require a 4 min exposure to correctly expose a 1/30s shot. This gave me detail in the sky and nicely brightened the foreground.

The result gave a nice glass like effect to the water, which was lightly choppy during the shot, and blurred the sky as well.

In post processing, I bumped the contrast in Camera Raw, as well as playing with some of the tones to bring out detail, then converted to a black and white image in Silver Efex along with some dodging and burning to bring out detail in the planks.

What I learned:

The added 3 stops of light reduced thanks to the Grad ND really helped to up the exposure time. This coupled with the constantly varying light meant I could turn the exposures way down. I took quite a lot into the setting sun and whilst it was higher in the sky it was causing the sky to blow out, so in the future i'll wait for the sun to drop before shooting at it!

Anyway I hope this write up will help some people with long exposure photography. It was my first attempt with the 10 stop and I certainly learnt a few things about using it. Please feel free to share your efforts with 10 stop NDs!

Paul

[Hill Country Hack]

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort in putting this together. I'm sure this will be helpful to many.

[Glayva]

Hi Paul

What a beautiful photograph as well as an excellent write up. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Officer196]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Guess it might be time to pick up some ND filters. I wonder Bigrobo, would you mind letting us get a look at the color version as well?

[bigrobo89]

@Officer196 - yeah I can post the colour version as well. When I took the shot I'd always envisaged converting it to a black and white, and I personally feel it has more mood and feeling compared to the colour version.

The photo is obviously at the stage before it was transferred to silver efex pro to be converted and as such not all the post processing (apart from the obvious) has been completed.



Paul

[KateDas]

Beautiful capture and very informative as well. I love this type of photography and have been wanting to learn more about it. Thanks.

[weapher]

color or B&W... a beautiful shot indeed. Thanks for the information regarding technique as well.

[Corey Thompson]

Paul, Thanks for taking the time to explain your workflow on that shot. I need to get out soon and mess with my Lee big stopper and gnds some more

[Officer196]

Wow color vs BW is always a personal preference but gotta tell ya I really love both of them. A very good shot.

[MattJohnRobinson]

I absolutely love how the sun is just barely peeking over the horizon. The effect the (incredibly) long exposure has on the water is sooo good. Thanks for writing about the process!