Beginner long exposure help required

holty

holty

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i want to take a pic of york minster without any tourists in the shot
im looking for the best way to do it
do i use a strong nd filter on the lens and experiment with long exposure times ?? to remove people who are constantly
walking in and out of the shot ?? will this technique work !!!
or is there another way to do it ??

thanks
 
holty said:
i want to take a pic of york minster without any tourists in the shot
im looking for the best way to do it
do i use a strong nd filter on the lens and experiment with long exposure times ?? to remove people who are constantly
walking in and out of the shot ?? will this technique work !!!
or is there another way to do it ??

thanks
Click to expand...

It will work to some extent but there will always be some that don't move enough that will cause smudges or ghosts, also in high traffic areas it maybe that you'd not see areas for people...

Another technique is to take multiple exposures and then merge the various exposures into one taking areas that are people free from each exposure to make your people free scene...

Matt
 
Wouldn't going at stupid oclock be the answer? or is that too obvious that I am missing somehting?
 
KIPAX said:
Wouldn't going at stupid oclock be the answer? or is that too obvious that I am missing somehting?
Click to expand...

That tends to be what I do :D but I don't particularly mind being awake at 3am so long as I haven't already been to bed, if I have gone to bad however anyone disturbing my sleep must have cream cakes or a death wish :D
 
Take a few shots in the same place (tripod preferably) and Photoshop has a Median Mode/Filter..

 
Or just use the clone tool to remove any undesirable bits or people- simple

Les ;)
 
KIPAX said:
Wouldn't going at stupid oclock be the answer? or is that too obvious that I am missing somehting?
Click to expand...
fair point
@holty sounds like a nice idea, but think about what background or lighting you might like to see from the sky in your shot too.
the long exposure thing should work though, depending upon how busy it is, and from a technical point of view, I think it's a decent experiment.
 
MWHCVT said:
Another technique is to take multiple exposures and then merge the various exposures into one taking areas that are people free from each exposure to make your people free scene...
Click to expand...

Michael Freeman demonstrates this technique towards the back of one of his books, might be The Photographer's Eye. Layer up multiple shots and delete down through the stack of layers in Photoshop wherever there's a person until you find a layer where there isn't a person in that position.


And for the fans of geeky and over-complicated processing techniques..
.. with a friend we did an HDR image of a reef aquarium using a similar technique - reef aquariums have ridiculously high dynamic ranges and the fish won't sit still so ghosting is a major problem with HDR. Each of exposures going into the tone mapping was constructed from a cleaned stack of exposures. The fish were then put back into the tone-mapped image as a separate layer, taken from the best of the original exposures. I'm sure this was all written upon a reefing forum somewhere.
 
Been here and done this.
Lee Big Stopper, ISO 50, F16 and a 4 - 6 minute exposure will normally see you with just concrete and glass. :)

(**Disclaimer** Obviously the above exposure info will NOT be exact for your scene, it is just a generalisation.)
 
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Another consideration is the lens. York Minster is a very large building with very little space around unless you stand in the road to capture the South elevation. Not recommended later on in the day but you can get away with it early in the morning if you are careful. A wide angle is really the best bet but this in turn can cause issues with vignetting unless you have a wide angle filter holder.

A really good view of the Minster can be obtained from Stonegate with a 50mm. Also the City walls afford good viewpoints from certain locations.


Sent from my iPad using Talk Photography Forums
 
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