Using a Neutral Density Filter

Since my last post I have indeed been shooting exclusively in manual mode. I've played with changing the ISO, the aperture and the shutter speed to get a well exposed shot, and although I haven't taken any pictures worth bragging about, I have learnt a lot and believe I'm taking better exposed pictures as a result.

I can highly recommend going fully manual, you will really get to understand your exposures so much better.

Ever since I began trying to take long exposure shots of waterfalls I've been coveting a neutral density filter. The problem with taking longer exposures of white water is that although you get the silky look, the white tends to be over exposed. Which is where the neutral density filter comes in.

A neutral density filter is like a pair of sunglasses. It reduces the amount of light coming through the lens, therefore allowing a longer exposure - to get the silky movement - without blowing out the highlights. The filters come in various strengths, depending on how many stops down of light they block.

I have a variable ND filter on order, but at present am working with a Hoya NDX400 which is effectively a 9 stop filter. This filter is considered the grand daddy of ND filters and came with a hefty price tag, but hey, it's Christmas right? It's also summer, so no waterfalls anywhere near me at present. Lots of ocean and sunsets though.

I had to head up to Carnarvon for a teaching session, so I threw the swag in the car and headed north on Thursday, stopping in at Gladstone for the night. This is an old loading jetty on Shark Bay, now disused and falling apart, but the shallow waters of Shark Bay make for a good subject for my first attempt at a long exposure shot with the filter.

The following photo was taken at f/18 for 30 sec, ISO 100 using my EFS 10-22mm lens at 10mm. Without the ND filter this would just be white. I've done some post processing to bring out some of the colours.

Comments always appreciated.

Going manual

It has been a while...

It isn't that I haven't been taking photos, I have, or that I haven't been thinking about taking better photos, I have, it's just I haven't posted anything. This blog is supposed to be a journey, and well, I've been a little stagnant...

Recently I returned from a 3 month trip to New Zealand, the home of drop dead gorgeous landscape scenery, so I've been pretty snap happy. Both the SLR and the iPhone got a good workout, as did the GoPro, and I've got some fantastic images. But I realised that I was struggling a lot with getting the right exposures, so on my return I've hit the books and decided to start from square one.

I'm going manual.

This means setting the camera to manual settings and working out my exposure by fiddling dials. I've ISO, aperture and shutter time to play with (I'm leaving the focus on automatic for the time being) and I'm basically learning how my camera works. It also helps to read the manual it came with. Duh!!

I've set the histogram to blink when I blow the highlights or there's too much black, and I'm using a 50mm prime lens to take some of the complexity away.

I've pulled out my old Canon EOS 30D for this exercise, but am unsure whether I'll keep with it. The shutter button has quite a delay on it, which is weird, and may well be the reason I upgraded to a 50D in the first place. Won't hurt me to persist for a few days anyway.

I've tended to stay on aperture priority unless I'm taking moving water shots, so I need to get out of that rut and experiment a bit. I'll post some pictures next weekend.

Happy shooting :)