Beginner Long exposure beginner

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foogy

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Scott
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Really would love to get into doin some long exposure pics around water but cant find much information to get me started so was wondering if anyone has any tips and advice for a beginner to this type of photography, Cheers!
 
The main things are a tripod and a ND filter and preferable a cable release so you can release the shutter without touching the camera.
There's various grades of ND (neutral density) filters, some will just freeze a small movement in the water and others, like a 10 stop filter, will make the water virtually completely still, though the best times are still in early or later light as even using a 10 stop filter in bright daylight won't allow you to keep the shutter open for long enough if you want the glass type effect on water.
What sort of things do you want to do?
 
Thanks Mark! Not sure what I'd like to do yet but have seen quite a few long exposure pics around water and all of them are lovely so probably will experiment a bit once I get started and see what kind of results I get. Already have a tripod and a shutter release cable so will look at getting some ND filters and take it from there. Thanks again!
 
Read your blog Mark and found it helpful but being a bit of a novice to this theres a couple of points I'd like to ask you about! No.13 on your blog Says "set exposure with bulb" to be honest I haven't a clue what you mean by that so would be much appreciated if you could enlighten me, also No.14 Says "lock mirror" which is a new one to me as well, so again if you could explain this I'd be very grateful, Cheers!
 
No probs, bulb mode lets you make exposures far longer than the camera will usually allow you to set, exposures which can run into minutes and even hours. On your Canon it will be the B setting. Once the button (or ideally cable release) is pressed, as long as it stays pressed the shutter will stay open.

Mirror lockup flips the mirror out of the way on the first press of the shutter button (or again cable release), you can then give it a couple of seconds for vibrations to subside before you start the exposure. Some cameras are worse than others for mirror slap, my Mamiya goes with a real clatter. Just don't forget you'll need two presses to take a photograph, many a photographer has got set up to capture something exciting happen, in their excitement press the button only once and find nothing has happened!
 
I've not read Marks blog but I can help you on that Bulb exposure (I'll not bore you with the history) is basically a limitless exposure or user defined exposure, it's as long as you want it to be...it's started when you depress the shutter button/release and ends when you release the shutter button/release...

Mirror lock up is kind of what it says on the tin, the mirror in your camera allows you to view your scene in the view finder, but to be able to take the picture this plus other bits have to move out of the way of the sensor, this action when on a tripod can cause small vibrations...so you can set your camera up that you press the shutter release button for a first time...and the mirror moves, then you allow the camera to settle, vibrations stop and then a second press of the shutter release button will actually start the exposure

Edit: Marks a quicker typer :LOL:
 
Just gonna throw in a cheeky tip, if you don't have a shutter release cable, put your camera onto a 2second timer when you take the shot to reduce any shake, as any slight movement in the camera will spoil your shot! :)
 
Brilliant! that clears that up, no doubt there'll be other queries along the way but thanks again for the good advice!
 
As a quick and cheap entry into the world of long exposure, instead of spending a fortune on a 10 stop filter, try getting a piece of welding glass from ebay to use instead. Much cheaper and if you decide you dont like the longer exposures at least you haven't wasted too much money as proper decent filters can be over £100 :)
Tip - google for welding glass long exposure
Hope that helps a little
 
JulesP said:
As a quick and cheap entry into the world of long exposure, instead of spending a fortune on a 10 stop filter, try getting a piece of welding glass from ebay to use instead. Much cheaper and if you decide you dont like the longer exposures at least you haven't wasted too much money as proper decent filters can be over £100 :)
Tip - google for welding glass long exposure
Hope that helps a little
Click to expand...

Further to this here is a thread full of what members have done with welding glass

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/welding-glass-shots-show-us-what-you-can-do.152480/
 
Been out in the Trossachs today and messed about with a bit of long exposure, heres a couple of my pics, would be interested to hear what people think of them, cheers!
 
foogy said:
Been out in the Trossachs today and messed about with a bit of long exposure, heres a couple of my pics, would be interested to hear what people think of them, cheers!
Click to expand...

Both reasonable efforts, the first have a few blown highlights from what I can see, only on my iPad, but both are decent, composition could be worked on a little more but you've certainly got te basics on the go (y)
 
Need to excuse my inexperience but can you explain what you mean by blown highlights, I'm still a bit wet round the ears with this photography lark! lol
 
foogy said:
Need to excuse my inexperience but can you explain what you mean by blown highlights, I'm still a bit wet round the ears with this photography lark! lol
Click to expand...

Of course I can, if you look at the areas of white water, basically those areas parts of them have become so over exposed that you've lost all detail in the areas, you'll heard this described in so many was but the most common would be (blown/blown out or burnt/burnt out) but basically so much light has hit that section of the sensor that it has totally lost all information there so you just get whiteness I'm sure there others that are far more technically minded than myself that could explain it in far more detail
 
Ok I see what you mean! So would I be correct in thinking that I need to use a darker filter or reduce the exposure time? Or a combination of both?
 
It depends on the look your going for, if you want a really smooth look to the water, then it's going to be a darker ND (Neutral Density) filter, this cuts the level of light reaching the sensor without changing the colours in your scene...(actually nearly all do add a colour cast to some degree) or you can reduce the exposure time so you don't blow out the bright areas or you can use a combination (y) change exposure and add a filter to get the right exposure :)
 
Sounds like a bit of trial and error to find out what works best, the pics I put were my first attempt so it it kinda gives me a basis to work on next time I give it a go.
 
foogy said:
Sounds like a bit of trial and error to find out what works best, the pics I put were my first attempt so it it kinda gives me a basis to work on next time I give it a go.
Click to expand...

It is a little bit to begin with but you soon start to get a feel for what you actually need, exposure wise :)
 
As Matt says there are a few blown highlights but in all fairness you've got one of the hardest condition to try to shoot in there so it's a good start, the problem being in a dark woodland so lots of shadow, but also lots of white water so lots of highlights...Very tricky indeed, without baffling you too much a very good tool for those conditions (in fact any conditions) would be your histogram but that's a whole different subject.
 
I've just got a book today all about digital exposure so hopefully that will enlighten me a bit as to a lot of the stuff everyone is talking about, may even explain histogram! I thought histogram was a medical condition until today! lol
 
Martyn D said:
The main things are a tripod and a ND filter and preferable a cable release so you can release the shutter without touching the camera.
There's various grades of ND (neutral density) filters, some will just freeze a small movement in the water and others, like a 10 stop filter, will make the water virtually completely still, though the best times are still in early or later light as even using a 10 stop filter in bright daylight won't allow you to keep the shutter open for long enough if you want the glass type effect on water.
What sort of things do you want to do?
Click to expand...
what does an ND filter do?
 
Don't forget your composition too. I see far too many long exposures that have had little thought about this, assuming that the image will look good just because you have milky water etc. (y)
 
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