The wooly water

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Donki

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Ian
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Hi guys,

I have been out twice now with my B&W 10stop and have beenreally happy with the results but I have yet to get an outstanding "wooly" water shot, I know its not everyones cup of tea but thats not really the question here. Most of my exsposures are between 20-30seconds, is this to long or two short. How choppy/rough does the sea have to be?

Cheers Ian
 
Donki said:
Hi guys,

I have been out twice now with my B&W 10stop and have beenreally happy with the results but I have yet to get an outstanding "wooly" water shot, I know its not everyones cup of tea but thats not really the question here. Most of my exsposures are between 20-30seconds, is this to long or two short. How choppy/rough does the sea have to be?

Cheers Ian
Click to expand...

What's wrong with them? Can you post a pic?

The length of shutter speed you need depends entirely on the speed of the movement. Fountains and waterfalls are fast moving and you can get a good effect with 1/4sec or so. Waves move more slowly, several seconds at least, and clouds are relatively snail like, maybe a full minute.

Then of course you have to balance these long shutter speeds with a high f/number and low ISO, plus a dark ND filter. In addition, the exposure level can be a bit hit and miss and often requires tweaking, and both the filter and the viewfinder have to be sealed against light leaks.

There can be other issues but if you've got those things covered you should at least get a result.
 
Thanks guys for the imput, see images below, espeically the ones with the rocks/boulders.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=225928

As I said pretty happy with exposure, sharpness etc. I would just like more of a wooly misty effect. Do I just need a rougher sea with the waves coming over the top of them? I know some clouds would help too but I guess its just a matter of waiting for the right day.
 
Looking through those, I'd say you are going to have bother as it's almost like trying to get the effect from shooting a pond.

I don;t mean you need a force 10 storm to give you the effect, but some breaking of the water is really going to help you.

In this shot you have the start of the effect along the water break line showing your exposure length is good enough to blur/fog the water.

IMG_1088.jpg
 
Thanks guys thats what I thought, the days I have been out shooting the water was really, really calm. I guess it would be more benificial to shot at high tide as well? I Have ordered a cable release too so I can go beyond the 30second mark.
 
jalethbridge said:
I was mucking about with some arty shots the other day, and simply could not get a shutter speed low enough. I take it you just need a mega ND filter?
Click to expand...

It's a ten-stops ND filter being discussed here. Reduces the light by 1000x, eg 1/1000sec becomes one whole second.
 
jalethbridge said:
Wow, that is dark! I take it they're expensive?!
Click to expand...

I got mine for £80 odd I think so yeah exspensive enough. You can get cheaper 8 stop filters which allow you to extend your shutter speed but the optical quality wont be as good, flare and colour cast are often a major problem. I got a 77mm one as its my biggest lens diameter and plan to use adptors to fit it to the rest of my lens. So will get plenty of use out of it.

At ISO 100 a resonable F stop for lanscapes say 10 the exsposure is around 20 seconds in full sunlight. I just havent been able to find the waves for it yet. In my pic above you can see the slight misty effect thou :)
 
I use a 10 stop extensively (currently a Heliopan 3.0 pending a Lee Big Stopper being delivered) and I find that its use needs to bring something extra to the image - for example, I shot a waterfall at 4 seconds and at 270 seconds and the effect was very similar. It helps if you have cloud movement, assuming you're after the grand vista, and if you have something dominant in the frame - a single rock, a pier etc. Also try shooting at dawn and you're approach 6 minute exposures e.g. http://www.milouvision.com/archives/4159_1048088568/344034. Anything above 60 seconds will probably produce what you're after. A pair of wellies are always useful to get right into the sea.

Some examples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/milouvision/sets/72157600209276621/
 
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