Numpty question land/seascapes

Crazyhorse

Crazyhorse

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When you have a ten stop on, how do you get the wild clouds effects? I know it's all down to slow shutter speed, but do you just meter from the sky then adjust the shutter speed accordingly?

And, when you're doing seascapes, should you be metering off the sky or the sea or both?

Sorry to sound dumb, never done landscapes or sea scapesbefore.:eek:

Lisa
 
With a 10 stop ND you just meter the same way would would with without one, its not like a grad filter. Its up to nature wheather u get the wild cloud effect i.e. fast moving, they usually look best when when passing right over your head instead of left to right.

At the minute are you composing your shot, without the filter, and working out the exsposure manually then attachign the filter or are you doing it with the filter on (camera metering the shot) alot harder to get composition right but live view helps.
 
Donki said:
With a 10 stop ND you just meter the same way would would with without one, its not like a grad filter. Its up to nature wheather u get the wild cloud effect i.e. fast moving, they usually look best when when passing right over your head instead of left to right.

At the minute are you composing your shot, without the filter, and working out the exsposure manually then attachign the filter or are you doing it with the filter on (camera metering the shot) alot harder to get composition right but live view helps.
Click to expand...

Hi

I haven't got the 10 stop yet but tried with two two filters last night. This is my first attempt:

Without filter attached, in av, select desired f stop, then put it in manual, set the same aperature then set the exposure time to the figure which corresponds to my filter strength. But it was hit and miss to be honest.

I also tried bulb but that was rubbish too.:lol:

Lisa
 
Lisa,

There is no picture there :) so it could be fantastic for all i know.

You dont need to be in manual mode to use an ND as the camera will realise the amount of light getting in is reduced so will pick a suitable shutter speed (unless of course your shutter speed is goign to e over 30secs).

Of course manual mode is great and you can ultimately select what kind of exposure you want. Do you use manual mode usually when not using filters? Filters of any kind when starting out are tricky as you are playing with different shutter speeds to get different effects. Post up some of your shots so we can give you some better advice.
 
Hi

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I didn't attach a photo. LOL! They were deleted straight away.

The only time I use manual is when shooting macro.

I'll have another attempt tonight as I'm I know I'm not doing summat right.

Thanks.

Lisa
 
Try keeping it in AV mode to start with, for landscapes depending on your lens select an aperture between 8 and 12, if you want an even longer exposure pump up the aperture even more. Then just attach your ND filter(s) and fire away.

Another point to note is that light enterign the camer via the viewfinder mess up the metering so its best to keep it covered as much as posible.
 
Crazyhorse said:
When you have a ten stop on, how do you get the wild clouds effects?
Click to expand...
What exactly do you mean by wild clouds? How they'll look depends on what kind of clouds you've got, how fast they're moving and your shutter speed

I know it's all down to slow shutter speed, but do you just meter from the sky then adjust the shutter speed accordingly?

And, when you're doing seascapes, should you be metering off the sky or the sea or both?
Click to expand...

Depends what you want The vareity of light levels you can get may mean you'll need to meter from both and pick an average, use a grad filter o take an exposure for the land and one from the sea and merge exposures on the pc....
 
Firstly there is no such thing as a dumb question, as we all have to learn and the best way is to keep asking.
For the majority of landscape/seascape shots, it is best to use a neutral density filter, that balances the difference in light between the sky and ground. Most folk find that a 0.6 (or 2 stop) ND grad works best in most situations. Again this is usually required even when you put a 10 stop in front of your lens. To get strange looking movement in the clouds, it is done by getting a longish exposure, usually 20 seconds or more. With a 10 stop and a 2 stop ND grad on, when you set aperture to say f8, and a low iso, say 100 or lower, you will then require a long timed exposure.
At this stage you must think in terms of using a tripod and remote release cable.
Hope that helps.
 
Trial and error for me :D.

Stick the camera in bulb mode, set the aperture to what you want, and try a 1 min exposure. Too bright, reduce the ISO or halve the exposure, and try again and vice versa if too bright. Often I'll combine the 10-stop with an ND graduated filter to bring the sky down.

Once you've used it a few times, you'll find that you get to know the rough exposure time for the conditions you're in and you'll be able to get your start setting much faster.

There is a scientific way of doing it but I cant ever remember what it is. Something about getting the exposure without the 10-stop on then multiplying the shutter speed by a factor of 10??
 
Thanks ever so much for the replies. Greatly appreciated. I have a tripod and cable release.

The ten stopper arrived this morning. I hadn't thought that I might need to combine it with an ND graduated filter. I do have a set of three.

I'm hoping to give it a try this weekend.

Many thanks for the replies. :)

Lisa
 
umm 10 stops less light = 2^10 = 1024 times longer exposure. So 1/200s exposure without filter goes to 5.1 seconds.
 
for dicking around with grads, nail the exposure without the 10stop then add it and expose for a thousand times longer
 
Crazyhorse said:
I know it's all down to slow shutter speed, but do you just meter from the sky then adjust the shutter speed accordingly?
Click to expand...

Not exactly. It's about the amount of light reaching the sensor. So you can adjust shutter speed, or f-stop or ISO.

Crazyhorse said:
And, when you're doing seascapes, should you be metering off the sky or the sea or both?
Click to expand...

Either. Both. Depends. Best bet is to get out there, try it and see what works.
 
When using grads the recommended Lee method is use centre weighted evaluative metering and take a reading from the (lighter sky) and the (darker) foreground and choose a grad that is going to bring the sky and foreground to within 2 stops.

Once I've done this I tend to make a shot with the grad on at the settings the normal evaluative meter suggests. I then move to manual and adjust the exposure according to the histogram and image.

For using a ten stopper I usually just meter in aperture priority with the aperture I want to use. Remember the shutter speed suggested then move to manual / bulb and double the exposure 10 times to get the shutter speed with the 10 stopper. Lee provide a handy little card that does this calculation for you. Or you could make your own and print it out!

This is more hit and miss especially at long exposure times when the light may change during the exposure.

And yes you may need to use a grad in combination with the 10 stop.
 
Thank you all so much for the advice, greatly appreciated.

I've been out twice to practice. Made some errors etc, but it's all starting to come together nicely now.

Lisa
 
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