Long Exposure Seascapes - Not Quite a success!

Sorry - several pictures - lots of text.....Mostly disaster!:bang:

Night 1 - Set off along the narrow, very muddy, forest path from our campsite to the beach. 15 mins walk in daylight minimum. Double that time based on the fact it was pitch dark, and the only torch I had (Boys had carefully left the others at home!!!) was running out of batteries and giving off a dim light about the size of a 50p piece! Almost fell in the mud about 6 times.

Reached the beach, and fortunately was not overwhelmed by the sudden brightness from emerging from the woods, due to there being no moon in the sky, and I was still in virtual pitch black!

Set up tripod, set timer for 5 minutes for first shot - batteries failed!
Removed camera - fitted new batteries - also failed
tried once more and realised that the batteries in my torch were so dim that I would be unlikely to find my way back home.

Saw 10-15 small lights coming toward me - and thought it might be smugglers / pirates / drug dealers / devil worshippers - So I kept still and quiet and just watched them approach. Safe in the knowledge that as I was totally unlit, and wearing black, I would not be at all visible, until they were almost upon me, at which time I could judge who and what they were. turns out they were just a group of night-time ramblers and we siad hello and went our seperate ways.

I trudged back to the campsite empty handed - (no pictures that is. I still had my camera kit.)

Couple of days later I tried the 2 circular polariser method. It didn't really work. Too much glass mean that there were reflections bouncing all over the shop - colour cast was virtually impossible to overcome - even with a bit of a play with the white balance, but more to the point, even though it looked evenly dark - The resultant polarisation only covered a wide diagonal strip, rather than the whole image!








........To Be Continued!

One more attempt at the night time effort. New batteries in the torch, and laden with a couple of dozen fully charged batteries (I think I may have a battery drain problem on my camera!) -Pitch dark walk...etc.etc....

This time there was some moonlight to see by, and the beach was quite pleasant. 1 shot of moon and Cennack Sands which worked, but not as a long exposure misty sea image - (200 asa)



Then 2 shots at 3200asa, which are too noisy, and still not what I was after.







Last night of holiday - early evening, attempted to use 2 polarisers again, but only with partial darkening, not attmpting full blackness.



Result was acceptable...... But my report card still says - "Must Try Harder Next Time!"

Well we got a good read and you learnt alot.

The last one is obviously not the really long exposure you wanted but it has worked out just how it should and got some great patterns in the sea.


edit.... the 2nd part wasn't there when I hit reply.

Definately keep going with the long exposures and you will get what you want. Just in these there is an obvious learning curve and you're climbing pretty fast.

Love the last one. Looks realy Nice. But Dont like the ones with the stars in it. Theres a bit too much noise in it

CrazyJay said:

Saw 10-15 small lights coming toward me - and thought it might be smugglers / pirates / drug dealers / devil worshippers - So I kept still and quiet and just watched them approach.

Click to expand...

That was an enjoyable read, I really like the last shot I think you've had a good result from that. I also like the first photo in post 2 but what's with the straight edge on the moon/sun?

The last ones on each post look very good,..

I haven't had a chance to get out recently (work and rain; or rain and work) to try out long exposures with my shiny new 10X. However, I'm sure I'll have lots of problems, too. Take heart !! I'm with Jorge. the last one in each post is getting there ! First last one (!!) has some odd colour cast and the second Last one is very good indeed, apart from the top right where it's blown. Let's see what sort of a job I can do, if/when the bloody rain stops.

Thanks all.

Yes. I have learnt a lot from this project.

First and foremost when going out on this type of assigment, ensure you have sufficient batteries and a decent torch! - VERY important!.

2 - A double set up of polarisers, even with the required adjustments, doesn't really work that well.
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Now to specifics.

Matthew. There are 2 straight lines that I think you may be refering to. On the sunset type shot (That's actually the Moon going down over the hill, not the Sun.) It was only a partial Moon, not a full Moon, hence the flat edge. If you are refering to the very noisy bluish shot, that was a boat moving slowly across the horizon.

Prodrive. 100% agree with you. I don't mind a bit of noise, although it's not as pleasing to the eye as proper silver halide grain. But, this is way too much noise, that takes over from the actual image. All texture of sand, water and rock is lost.

I think if I get the chance again I will try to go in low light, rather than NO light. Even on the beach once the Moon had gone down I was left with nothing but starlight, which is pretty minimal.


Ned - Top right of my favorite image is blown very badly, with little chance of rescuing that one. However I have a similar image with a lower exposure, and I may be able to layer the corner of that image onto this one to make it better. will post it up once I have managed to do it.

Thanks again for your comments, and I will of course be trying more of this..... But not just yet, as i am now back home and a long way from the coast of Cornwall.

Oh - almost forgot.

Weird colur casts. This is caused by screwing 2 circular polarisers together - (Doesn't work unless you take the glass out of one, and flip it over, then put it all back together. Then the filter no longer works as a polariser - (You can test that by looking through a polariser, and turning it, to see the effect, then flipping it round and looking through the other side of the filter and rotating it again - You'll notice that the effect is virtually non-existent. weird things polarisers, they see to defy all logic where light is concerned.)

Anyway. when the 2 filters are lined up properly, they give the appearence of being almost totally black, but there is a very strong purple cast. It looks even, but as you can see from the middle image, the darkest area runs diagonally through the image.

I have no idea why the lens flare should appear greenish - but then perhaps that is also an effect of polarisation.

I think that having so many bits of glass in play also means that the flare is way too obtrusive and chaotic.

Crazy Jay - regardless of you rpicture efforts. I am not one to judge landscapes, mine are aweful!

No, I am going ot pick you up on your perception that you need a torch to go out at night - NO YOU DON'T! That is the trouble, people blind themselves with torchlight and then cannot see a thing outside of it.

Go with a very small, dim torch, just enough to see your setting s by, but not powerful enough to blind your natural night vision. Even walking - TURN THE BLOODY TORCH OFF, you can see better. Just starlight will give sufficient illumination to walk through a wood without cracking a single twig.....I do it several times a week from now onwards, stalking deer (with a rifle, not a camera...yum yum!) In what others consider to be pitch black, I can actually see individual blades of gass, because I have not ruined my night vision by trying to illuminate the entire countryside.

Sea kayaking at night, the same thing. Turn the bloody light off, then you can see the shape of the waves and paddle accordingly. With a bright light to illuminate everything - you try and see outside of it. The actual beam might show you detail, but immediately outside of it, there is nothing but a black abyss.

Train yourself to use ambient night, even on a moonles night. There is plenty provided some idiot doesn't turn a stupid torch on and blind you. A very small, preferably red, torch is all you need.

g'day CJ, Have to say I enjoyed the read, you should also put your hand to short story writing mate!

I can see what you're trying to do and commend you for your motivation in going out at night to take pictures! Hexaperture ghosting occurs when the lens is pointed too near, or sometimes directly at a bright light source. Re the weird colour casts caused by 2 polarizers; might be best if you don't use them at night at all as I can't think of any useful purpose they would serve - indeed, I don't use filters of any sort even in daylight except under very rare circumstances but that's a personal choice, not necessarily a suggestion.

Your last image is very nice. The movement blur gives the viewer the feeling of the sea rushing in very nicely.

g'day CJ, Have to say I enjoyed the read, you should also put your hand to short story writing mate!

Thanks. That means a lot to me, as I have been working on a novel for the past couple of years, although for a few reasons it has ground to a halt - I may continue it - but the current hurdles may prove to be too much.


Re the weird colour casts caused by 2 polarizers; might be best if you don't use them at night at all as I can't think of any useful purpose they would serve - indeed, I don't use filters of any sort even in daylight except under very rare circumstances but that's a personal choice, not necessarily a suggestion.

The polarisers were only used during regular daylight hours, to give me the required darkness to do long exposures under normal lighting conditions. On the night shoots, it was virtually impossible to see through the camera anyway, so no filters were required or used.


Your last image is very nice. The movement blur gives the viewer the feeling of the sea rushing in very nicely.


Thanks. That image is the one that gives me the hope and the inclination to continue my attempts at improving.