Has it been done before?

Very nice Tony.

My "only if" would be to try and lift the shadows a little under the bridge on the LHS - a touch too dark for me. Otherwise it is a beautiful capture - even better when viewed on flickr at full size
 
I could not give a chuff if this or any other photograph has been done before. If you have not done it, and env if you have, makes no difference IMO.

I really like this one, the high contrast, long exposure and the composition work really well.

Crit, well being Uber critical, I'd like even lighting on the underside of he bridge.

Good show :clap:

Cheers.
 
It doesn't matter if it's been done before by you or somebody else. It's a very good shot of this particular scene. You've done a great B&W conversion with good composition and a nice full range of tones.(y)

George.
 
Really liking this, it gives a serene feel to one of the busiest areas of London.:clap:
 
Nice work! Who cares it's a cliché shot, I don't as I was there doing something similar a few weeks back!
 
I like that
 
ynot said:
Thanks all, I've taken a few B&W shots round London and given them all the same processing style recently (the 4 most recent in this album https://www.flickr.com/photos/ts446photo/sets/72157649421180337/) Have a few more to do too, hopefully they will come out as well as this did.
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I have had a look at these and I must say, your processing is amazing. The colours looks almost silver and black. You have a new follower on Flickr just so I can practice getting my mono as good as yours.
 
Tony. I've just seen this one and your other one and then looked at others on your stream with the 10 stop.

You have some utterly stunning photos and this one is in there with them.
 
Rob87 said:
I have had a look at these and I must say, your processing is amazing. The colours looks almost silver and black. You have a new follower on Flickr just so I can practice getting my mono as good as yours.
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Thanks Rob, I have another that I need to get up on flickr, hopefully I'll get a chance tomorrow.

DBT85 said:
Tony. I've just seen this one and your other one and then looked at others on your stream with the 10 stop.

You have some utterly stunning photos and this one is in there with them.
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Appreciate the comment Darren.
 
Absolutely wonderful.
I wouldn't change a thing about it TBH.
 
A very nice image, the only thing I don't understand is why you had to shoot it at f/3.5? For a cityscape shot such as this you really should go for a slower stop, say the classic f/8. As you can notice, a section of the bridge at the top right corner is blurry because you were shooting at f/3.5. Of course, the image would have taken longer to do with f/8 but it doesn't really matter since you are using a tripod and ND filters anyway.
 
At a guess (if my sums are right) because it would mean a 14 minute exposure rather than a 2.5 minute exposure.
 
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I did wonder why it was shot at f/3.5 as well, but figured it was to keep the exposure time to a manageable amount (as DBT85 had said). To be honest I'm not sure that the reduced DoF at 3.5 would really be that noticeable at 19mm anyway, and it all looks to be in focus to my eye (not sure the blurry bridge bit at the top right is down to the DoF, looks more like the lens isn't quite as sharp in the corners wide open).

If I took the photo I probably would have stopped down to around f/8 or so and pushed the ISO to 400, but that's just personal preference and habit more than anything. I certainly don't think this image loses anything by being shot at f/3.5
 
I do see the corner in question, not sure why its not as in focus as the rest. Could be the corner of the lens or maybe the f3.5?
The reason for f3.5 is just as Darren said, time. Long exposures with ND filters is a lot of trail and error, especially when starting out. I was always aiming for about 3 minuet exposures, now I've done a few I'm happier to go longer (look at my flickr, the latest was about 8mins i believe). Id always prefer to keep my ISO at 100 and change the aperture, but as Carl has said its just preference.
 
Are you using a stopwatch or just a timer release?
 
DBT85 said:
Are you using a stopwatch or just a timer release?
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Stopwatch when i remember to set it :-D
I did get a timer release the other week, I've never bought something of such poor quality off of eBay before. So i doubt ill be using it much, but would make life easier.
 
ynot said:
I do see the corner in question, not sure why its not as in focus as the rest. Could be the corner of the lens or maybe the f3.5?
The reason for f3.5 is just as Darren said, time. Long exposures with ND filters is a lot of trail and error, especially when starting out. I was always aiming for about 3 minuet exposures, now I've done a few I'm happier to go longer (look at my flickr, the latest was about 8mins i believe). Id always prefer to keep my ISO at 100 and change the aperture, but as Carl has said its just preference.
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If you'd used a smaller aperture you could still have had a long exposure without the ND filter, plus the depth of field would have rendered the OOF corner sharper.
In my experience the difference between a 30 second exposure and a 3 minute one is minimal, and anything longer is unnecessary.
Maybe you don't need to use a 10 stop filter for everything, sometimes a 3-stop is enough.
 
My maths tells me that removing the ten stop ND and stopping down to f/16 would give a shutter speed of around 3 seconds. If a three stop filter was added afterwards and the ISO dropped to 50 if possible, then that would take the shutter speed to 36 seconds. 36 seconds at f/16 is definitely preferable to 153 seconds at f/3.5, but as the OP said they wanted to use much longer shutter speeds over the three minute range.

Regardless of technique and settings used, I think the end image has come out really great. I hope to see more of your long exposure work on here soon :)
 
I should add after a quick play yesterday down at the Thames Barrier that 30" wasn't long enough to get the sky to blur as well as this photo, the clouds just weren't moving fast enough. A long shutter was required and I didn't have my phone/watch or a remote release timer so couldn't try anything else!
 
Sorry Brian, but i disagree, there is a big difference between 30 seconds and 3 minuets.

Maybe a wider range of filters in needed Carl.

Cheers Steve.

Darren, sometimes the conditions just done work as you want them to. Im sure you will get a chance to get back down there and have another go. Its a pretty cool location.
 
ynot said:
Sorry Brian, but i disagree, there is a big difference between 30 seconds and 3 minuets.

Maybe a wider range of filters in needed Carl.

Cheers Steve.

Darren, sometimes the conditions just done work as you want them to. Im sure you will get a chance to get back down there and have another go. Its a pretty cool location.
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I agree there's a difference between 30 seconds and 3 minutes but it depends on the effect you are looking for.
For smooth water I find 30 seconds is usually quite enough but for soft clouds you obviously need longer.

Personally, now everyone has a 10-stop filter (myself included), I'm beginning to find these long exposure shots a bit boring.
 
I am new to DSLR photography and find these shots inspirational.. Perhaps with time you may see too many, but to be honest when you first see them, the WOW factor is immense.. I will certainly be adding my name to the 10-stop filter brigade! :)
 
chelleon said:
I am new to DSLR photography and find these shots inspirational.. Perhaps with time you may see too many, but to be honest when you first see them, the WOW factor is immense.. I will certainly be adding my name to the 10-stop filter brigade! :)
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Any style of photography can get boring to an individual. Boring for one may be inspirational to another. Its whatever you enjoy doing.
 
ynot said:
Any style of photography can get boring to an individual. Boring for one may be inspirational to another. Its whatever you enjoy doing.
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This is the key. I don't care if everyone's done it, or everyone's seen something like it. I take photos for myself, and happen to share some that I particularly like.
 
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