Welding glass shots: show us what you can do ;)

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From a couple of weeks ago.. I had planned on using this one for a local group exhibition but the others in the series didn't quite pull it off and I went with Plan B..



.. nice to get out and dust off the welding glass again.
 
Just been looking at this thread. Been banging on about doing long exposures and getting a Lee Big Stopper, but the price is a little expensive to dabble with an unknown.

Just ordered the welding glass from the aforementioned supplier and awaiting delivery now.

Normally I use spot meterting to ensure I don't blow the highlights. What are you guys using to meter the scene?

Plus, the in camera processing times, I've just held my finger on the shutter for a minute and a half and so far it's taken about 10 minutes to process and still hasn't finished.... I guess this correct. Best buy some more batteries and a car charger for them!!!
 
mousemat said:
Just been looking at this thread. Been banging on about doing long exposures and getting a Lee Big Stopper, but the price is a little expensive to dabble with an unknown.

Just ordered the welding glass from the aforementioned supplier and awaiting delivery now.

Normally I use spot meterting to ensure I don't blow the highlights. What are you guys using to meter the scene?

Plus, the in camera processing times, I've just held my finger on the shutter for a minute and a half and so far it's taken about 10 minutes to process and still hasn't finished.... I guess this correct. Best buy some more batteries and a car charger for them!!!
Click to expand...

I have been using a light meter as I find it easier but you could use spot metering or just guess. You might find the image blurred if you have had your finger in the trigger for a while so it might be worth investing in a cable release.

ps. What camera will you be using?
 
Liam said:
I have been using a light meter as I find it easier but you could use spot metering or just guess. You might find the image blurred if you have had your finger in the trigger for a while so it might be worth investing in a cable release.

ps. What camera will you be using?
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I have a light meter too, a sekonic l308 so I could use that.

I do have a wireless remote that I'll use for long exposures when the glass arrives. I was just seeing what the maximum shutter speed length would be.

Im using a Canon 400D which has been hacked to use the spot metering.
 
mousemat said:
Im using a Canon 400D which has been hacked to use the spot metering.
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Could you tell me abit more about this please as ive got a 400d :)
 
jimmy83 said:
Could you tell me abit more about this please as ive got a 400d :)
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Hi Jimmy

This is a CF Card hack that basically tells the camera what to load in the firmware. Plenty of stuff on the net about it. It works great plus gives extended iso up to 3200

Heres the main link I found
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=742806

Has all the details on it plus the locations of the software you need to download it.

Theres a flickr discussion on it too
http://www.flickr.com/groups/400d/discuss/72157622221121200/

I've been using it a while now and it works great. The spot metering is perfect and is my main method of metering now.
:)
 
Whilst I'm waiting for my glass and adaptor rings to arrive, i like to be prepared so I have made up an exposure calculator. If like me, your maths isnt up to the calculations here is a simple chart I have made up.




Blue = Full Stops
Red & Green = Third Stops

Its just so easy to read your base shutter speed and count the corresponding number of colours to get the filtered shutter speed.

I am fortunate that where I work we print card ID Badges and the like, so I have printed mine onto a standard credit card size ID Badge so I can slip it into my wallet and always carry it. Ive changed the format of it, but its basically the same, just looks a lot better on the credit card sized badge. If anyone wants one, then I'm happy to supply them at £0.99 each including postage.
 
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mousemat said:
I have a light meter too, a sekonic l308 so I could use that.

I do have a wireless remote that I'll use for long exposures when the glass arrives. I was just seeing what the maximum shutter speed length would be.

Im using a Canon 400D which has been hacked to use the spot metering.
Click to expand...

Thats lucky because with a 400D you can plug a phone hands free cord into the remote shutter hole and it will set off bulb exposure for you.
 
Liam said:
Thats lucky because with a 400D you can plug a phone hands free cord into the remote shutter hole and it will set off bulb exposure for you.
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Didn't know about the phone cord tweak, but happy with the wireless remote from ebay.

Got the glas today so have been playing around a little, although it's been wet and dark here.
 
stpn.jpg


One from today, local church.
 
Looking good Matt. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow and do something if the weather is better than it hass been today
 
Inspired by this thread I sorted myself out with this high tech rig before heading to a car show last weekend. I superglued a shade 8 glass from a local welding supplier (£1!) to a 58-55mm step down ring and used bluetack around the join to support/block out any light. Pre set a custom white balance at home and basically played with settings to give me a 5-10 second shutter speed.

Rrgatheringrc_006.jpg


Rrgatheringrc_009.jpg
 
Tried my bit of £1 glass today. I've got a bit of light ingress so I think I'll have to seal around the de-glassed filter I've araldited to it. I'm also getting a bit of vignetting when at 18mm on the kit lens as I need a step up ring to fit the 62mm filter I used.

39mm, 90 seconds, F18, ISO100
river01r.jpg


18mm, 30 seconds, f18, ISO100
river02r.jpg


HDR ALERT!!!
18mm, 20 seconds/40 seconds/60 seconds, F18, ISO100
river03r.jpg


I'm finding putting the glass on is difficult as when I'm screwing it onto the lens I'm nearly knocking the focus out.

Any tips welcomed.
 
Managed to get out this weekend down to Winchelsea beach for my first real foray into welding glass images. Have to say I'm pretty impressed with the results so far.

Not the best composition but gives me the ideas to move forward.

First image - Control shot


Final image - 13 seconds.


Only post processing was resize image to 800px the final image a little levels as it was a little dark. Both images gone through NIK software for sharpening for Print and both images gone through Noiseware pro simply becasue I prefer teh smoothness of having no noise. Both images taken on at ISO100
 
Just need to find time to cut all those trees down in the background :naughty:

4941428494_c029264417_z.jpg
 
Neil, that is one incredible shot! (y)
What exposure time, aperture and lens did you use?

My attempts were not so good, can't seem to get it right! My best attempt so far, not very good though...
4794772922_20fde89503.jpg
 
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Down at Winchelsea late Friday afternoon. Here's my attempt... not totally happy with it, though will certainly try again... oh, and a freak wave soaked my foot! :)


Winchelsea Mist01-Sm by Marc , on Flickr
 
Sirhoot

Lovely image. Got a nice dreamy feel to it.

I just love Winchelsea Beach and spend most weekend there. My images above were also taken at Winchelsea Beach.
 
Here's a shoot from the french alps, 30sec exposure grade 10 welding glass. I gave it a bit of HDR treatment to bring out the shadows.

4951475352_ef80ddf371_z.jpg


Cheers
Adam
 
mousemat said:
I just love Winchelsea Beach and spend most weekend there.
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Hi Ian, I like your pic too. Mine was something like a minute exposure at ISO 200 on f16 (if memory serves) as the sun was almost setting. I have to agree about Winchelsea beach, though i'm yet to spend a whole day observing the complete tidal range. Have you found the old lifeboat house? There's also a great view overlooking the valley to the West (I think) of Winchelsea village. The sun has moved, now we're heading to Autumn, and will hopefully be more agreeable to us toggers. So if you find yourself over there near sunset go take a look. I'll be risking it on Monday evening... fingers crossed for suitable clouds and weather. :)

AJ1992 said:
Here's a shoot from the french alps
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Hi Adam. Good image. I particularly like the rocks and the effect on the water.
 
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Adam

Fantastic image. As marc says the rock look great and the water is superb. The way the grass has been captured looks good too.
 
Marc

Wichelsea Beach has a great tidal range, changes everything on a daily basis, the way the sand moves etc. Such a great place. The old lifeboat house is a particular favorite although I've not shot it yet through welding glass.

If I'm right, the view you are talking about from Winchelsea Village is looking towards Icklesham and Pett. Stunning views from there. As you say, now that the sun has moved, should provide better lighting for us :)

I've just shot a Panorama of the view I think you are talking about. Just got to process it now!
 
mousemat said:
I've just shot a Panorama of the view I think you are talking about. Just got to process it now!
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Hi Ian, i'll look forward to seeing your panorama if you post it in here. Apparently the weather tomorrow is terrible, so gonna head over there tonight, fingers crossed for tog friendly conditions. :)
 
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sirhoot said:
Hi Ian, i'll look forward to seeing your panorama if you post it in here. Apparently the weather tomorrow is terrible, so gonna head over there tonight, fingers crossed for tog friendly conditions. :)
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Heres the link http://flic.kr/p/8yfv1p

Not shot through a welding glass though. Not my best panoramic, needs a little more to it I think.

Hope you get some great shots tonight. The thing with Winchelsea is that its photogenic at most times :)
 
Neil B said:
Just need to find time to cut all those trees down in the background :naughty:

4941428494_c029264417_z.jpg
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iv taken many a photo at brimham and not thought to try this...good capture i like it :D
 
Sorry just had to get rid of 666th post now 667 :)

Not that I'm superstitious you understand:eek:

Steve
 
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Right guys, ive had my shade 9 glass for a while from work and finally had a chance to mess. I actually have an 11 shade aswell but its in the half height size so doesnt fully cover the lens.
Can i just say for anyone thinking of buying these with shade 9 its possible to see through it outside when looking at the sky whereas with 11 you pretty much cant see a thing!
So anyway after trying to get some thinck laccy bands i settled on one that went round the glass and camera perfectly as shown. Sorry about the shaky shot lol
P1040567.jpg

I did set out to get two bands but this seems to work better.
Off i went out side and set the camera up on the tripod and got out the remote.
P1040569.jpg

P1040568.jpg

The sky had some decent clouds with the sun poking through.
DSC_1248.jpg

DSC_1251.jpg

DSC_1253.jpg

While doing this i did click on the WB and changed it to Pre but dont know what to do from there. I have a D5000 and would appreciate some guidance as im a newbie:bonk:
Also i found that my kit lens wont go to 18mm due to the power of the bands and the lens wont Auto Focus which i only tried once when i moved inside and tried to take a pic of moving water in the sink. What seemed to happen was that when i pressed the remote the lens would try to focus and nothing would happen. I was slightly worried that i could damage the motors so turned to MF and it worked. So my question is do you have to focus then put the glass on? But then the lens focal length moves on mine and the bands arent that powerful.
Would appreciate some help on all the matters ive mentioned thanks, Phil
 
GIZTO29 said:
While doing this i did click on the WB and changed it to Pre but dont know what to do from there. I have a D5000 and would appreciate some guidance as im a newbie:bonk:
Also i found that my kit lens wont go to 18mm due to the power of the bands and the lens wont Auto Focus which i only tried once when i moved inside and tried to take a pic of moving water in the sink. What seemed to happen was that when i pressed the remote the lens would try to focus and nothing would happen. I was slightly worried that i could damage the motors so turned to MF and it worked. So my question is do you have to focus then put the glass on? But then the lens focal length moves on mine and the bands arent that powerful.
Would appreciate some help on all the matters ive mentioned thanks, Phil
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I have a D5K and this is what I did:
Blutack the welding glass to an old uv filter, Cover the whole of the welding glass with gaffa tape (except the bit in front of the filter) this was mainly to protect the sharp edges and stop any light from leaking through the glass, switch of VR (antishake), focus on the scene, apply filter & glass carefully, switch to manual focus, use self timer or a cable remote and away you go!

P.S. Can't comment on your images as photobucket is blocked at work :(
 
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Hi Philip

I've been using an old M42 manual focus lens with mine. First I compose and focus the scene before fitting the welding glass to the front by gluing it onto a Cokin filter ring. Then I take a picture of a sheet of white paper to set the custom white balance before taking the final shot.

Here's how I attach it to the camera.

4974072520_a421a02fb4_z.jpg


4974072514_9d7f1798fa_z.jpg


Sorry for the poor quality.

Hope this helps

Adam
 
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Ok Johnsy and Adam, thanks very much for the feedback. With regards to the images theyre crap but i was just trying to see if i could figure out how to set the white balance. I defo think your methods are the way to go rather than using rubber bands unless someone can explain a way around my issue. I know others have used rubber bands as i seen the cracking pic of the canon on the gorilla pod yesterday. Would that be a prime lens they use possibly? Johnsy, would you beable to talk me through the wb setting as you have the same camera.
Thanks again, Phil:)
 
CGeezer said:
My first post here. I'm getting to like this long exposure technique but I'm not getting the custom white balance to work at all. I have setup a custom preset in Lr that sort of works I then tweak it to look decent in my own mind.

Anyway please C&C away :)

Click to expand...

Best Pigeon Tower shot I seen :clap::clap:
 
I love the way that some buildings look like a face(y) Anyway guys thanks for the pointers and i now have the white balance set. Its dead easy....when you know how:LOL:
I havnt got any pics worth showing, just one of the sky being the right colour but i did try a 2 minute exposure of my sink which still came out very dark which surprised me. I am right in thinking you dont have to reset the WB every time yeh?
Phil
 
GIZTO29 said:
I am right in thinking you dont have to reset the WB every time yeh?
Phil
Click to expand...

Simply save it as a custom white balance, then anytime you want to use the welding glass, just change the white balance to your pre / custom setting.
 
johnsy said:
Simply save it as a custom white balance, then anytime you want to use the welding glass, just change the white balance to your pre / custom setting.
Click to expand...
Yeh, i am right in thinking though that if i step up to shade 10 or 11 i would have to repeat the pre set?
Phil
 
I guess so, all depends if they both produce the same amount of green cast or not.
 
johnsy said:
I guess so, all depends if they both produce the same amount of green cast or not.
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Ok, 11 is like having a duvet over the lens haha
 
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