Movement in clouds

[woody12]

Hi, getting some lovely landscapes but can't seem to grasp the bulb setting on my nikon 3100 in regard to getting some nice movement in grey moody clouds. All I seem to get is a blown picture even using grads. What is the correct process so stop this? Just want to give nice shot a bit of an edge when required. Many thanks for any help

 

[boyfalldown]

You need to use an ND filter rather then a grad for this. Depending on how strong your grad is work out the shutter time for a bulb exposure from this. For example using a 10 stop, you need a shutter speed around 1/1000 of the speed against a bare lens and using a 6 stop around 1/60 of the speed. That should stop you getting blown areas and get some movement into the clouds.

So for example, using a 10 stop assuming a bare lens would give 1/100 and f/16 for a correct exposure then you'd need to use 10sec shutter speed on bulb

 

[woody12]

Thanks for the help, sorry I meant I'm using nd grad of 0.9 not just a grad. Will give it a go

 

[boyfalldown]

Thanks for the help, sorry I meant I'm using nd grad of 0.9 not just a grad. Will give it a go

For movement in clouds you probably want a stronger filter, but nd and nd grads are different

 

[Phil789]

I wouldn't have thought you would need to use bulb mode to get movement in the clouds. (unless for a very still sky)

The in camera shutter times go up to 30s I believe?

I would try a small aperture, boost it up to say f/22 on aperture priority with a low ISO (100) and the resulting shutter speed should give you some movement (obviously it depends how fast they are moving, if there is no wind and a dead still sky then this won't really help). Start from around those settings and experiment with the exposures to see what you get.

Hope I haven't got the wrong end of the stick and this helps a bit

 

[badboy1984]

i would imagine you wouldn't need bulb mode for this. Stop down the aperture and use ND like all the above said and take it on from their.

 

[markmullen]

You need to use an ND filter rather then a grad for this.

The likelihood is you'll need both as clouds can be much brighter than foreground. Expose for a normal shot using grads till you're not blowing the clouds, then add the solid ND and work the shutter speed back.

 

[graphilly]

NSFW?

 

[MWHCVT]

I have a number of ND's and Grad ND's but if I want to get some decent movement in the sky then I'll put on my B&W ND110 that will give me nice long shutter speeds

Matt
MWHCVT