Long Exposure Seascape Shots

[PhotographyGal]

Hi there,
I will be staying down in Burnham-On-Sea for a couple of days, I want to do some long exposure shots, but not very good with settings etc...

I own a Canon 1000D, will be taking my 18-55mm lens and my tripod for the couple of days. I don't currently own a remote shutter, it won't be here in time if I order it now.
I am planning to go down on the beach just before sunset (hopefully having a good sunset).

What settings will I need?

I was thinking of around a ISO of 100/200 depending on lighting.
Shutter speed of 30 seconds and experimenting with the shutter and aperture.

I want to get the waves and hopefully the tide coming in/going out.
There is also a lighthouse there so would love a nice long exposure of the lighthouse.


Any tips and advice you would give me, would be a great help.


Thanks
Lauren

[John Hendry]

You will i assume you will be using a tripod, a and delayed time exposure, you want the lowest iso setting for better quality of image and then just experiment with the lenght of exposure

There is always some great light after the sun has gone down.

Looking forward to see the images

all the best

[Doug Sundseth]

If the sun will still be up, you will want to have an ND filter (or ND grad, depending on the type of shot) so that you can slow your shutter speed down to the range you're looking at. You might even want filters shortly after the sun sets if you want to use a larger than minimum aperture for better sharpness.

You need not much worry about mirror slap or shutter-press blur on long exposures (over about 2 seconds), since the vibration damps in such a short time. OTOH, you will want to make sure you have a very stable platform for your camera, because sea winds will shake a camera on a cheap tripod.

I would recommend shooting in daylight WB rather than auto, so that you'll get a better preview of your image. (I'd recommend shooting in RAW, of course.)

Also, watch your histogram more than your preview for brightness. When shooting in the dark, your preview will look notably brighter than it really is.

HTH

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

If the sun will still be up, you will want to have an ND filter (or ND grad, depending on the type of shot) so that you can slow your shutter speed down to the range you're looking at.

Seconded: You'll likely not be able to get 30s without some kind of filter.

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by PhotographyGal

I want to get the waves and hopefully the tide coming in/going out.
There is also a lighthouse there so would love a nice long exposure of the lighthouse.

Thanks
Lauren

At a 30 second exposure, the water will all be flat like glass as the waves even out.

This is 20 seconds

This is about a minute:

[Krusty79]

You will want to use a small aperture to get DOF and the longer shutter speed. I would try f/11 to start. If you go much smaller than f/13, you might get diffraction, which degrades sharpness. If you don't have a ND filter, then I hope you at least have a polarizer, which will decrease the light coming in by a stop or two. Use your lowest ISO setting.

I would also try to get down low and use some rocks for foreground interest.

[RichardTaylor]

+ 1 on the filter, histogram, and self timer suggestions.
Take a torch.

In the blue hour for a starting point think "10"
10 seconds at F10 and ISO 100.
It will get you in the ball park.

Some examples:

(1) Mostly moonlight only (with a bit of help from nearbny city lights behind me). 1.5 hours after sunset.


Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 5
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 58 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(2) One hour after sunset (from the same spot as above) This is the entrance to a city harbour so there was a fair bit of light coming from the city.


Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 4
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 210 mm
ISO Speed 3200

(3) A bit over an hour before dawn. Some spill from beach lighting
By sunrise the board riders were out.

Camera Canon PowerShot G11
Exposure 15
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 6.1 mm
ISO Speed 400

[PhotographyGal]

Thanks everyone for your great helping, have written it all down and will try to get some good shots