It's been a few months since my original posting about a do-it-yourself budget long exposure filter, but - finally - here are some of the results…
To be fair, this is a photographic project that pretty much relies on access to moving water, so my excuse is that I've had to wait until I was on holiday to try this out, but I think it's been worth the wait.
I've just got back from a week in Northumberland, followed by a day's shooting on the Gower Peninsular, so I've had plenty of time on the coast to try this out and as you can see above - it definitely works! Here's a breakdown of how the glass filter unit performed:
I set up my filter holder with a 10 strength piece of glass for a first try in the field and in practice, this required a 45-55 second exposure (depending on the light conditions). I set up my camera as usual - compose your shot with the camera on your tripod, with cable release, set your zoom and manually focus, live view on so the mirror is up. I set up initially in aperture mode - set my aperture how I wanted it (f20 for this) and did a test shot to see if I was getting any blown highlights. When you're happy with this set up, you need to change the mode to full manual - this will keep the aperture you set already, but will automatically set the exposure to bulb (if it doesn't - you can dial it in manually).
Then, with the adapter ring already screwed into your lens thread - carefully attach the filter housing - you need to be careful not to de-focus the lens, move the camera, touch the glass etc. Once the glass is in place - you're good to go! On my cable release, you can lock the shutter button down so you don't have to hold it for the 50 seconds, but on some models you may need to keep the button held down. I bought a cheap digital stopwatch for timing the exposure and then found that my cable release counts up the seconds on it's display, so I didn't need it, but you could use one if your model doesn't do that, or just time it on your watch or phone. With exposures this long a second either way isn't that critical.
When your exposure time is done (I'd start with 50 seconds), release the button to shut the shutter. I have my camera set for "auto noise reduction" so it then sits and processes the image in-camera for the same time as the exposure - another 45-50 secs. After that, you can review your image and see if you need a longer or shorter exposure. I'd add or subtract 5 seconds and try a second shot.
Your image on the back of the camera will have a bizarre green cast to it - this is due to the welding glass. The best results for your final image are - I think - to convert them to monotone after processing as normal. The green cast goes away and you can then dodge and burn to your heart's content to get a dramatic effect. It is possible to colour correct for the green, but it's not going to give you the best quality colour image and it's a lot of work - mono is the way to go!
The long exposure has blurred out all the movement in the sea, and retained the static rocks in crisp focus, just as a more expensive 10 stop ND filter would, showing the waves as a smokey ghosted area. The swell wasn't huge in these images, but there was plenty of motion in the water.
There were a couple of things to report in use:
I found that screwing the whole assembly and ring onto the set up camera was too difficult and took to leaving the ring on the lens. This was a bit tricky, as there's a retainer bump on the Cokin style holder to keep it from falling off accidentally and you need to snap this on, which sometimes made me move the camera and I had to start again. I got round this by adapting the holder by carving off the bump with a scalpel - so it slides on easier.
Also, in bright light I found that I got a weird lighter stripe down the right side of the image:
You can see it above on this test image - and at first I couldn't get rid of it. I assumed that some light was getting in at the top of the housing or maybe down the top edge of the glass sheet. Between outings I modified my set up by using black duck tape to tape up all the exposed edges of the glass and also tape over the foam gap just as extra insurance. This worked and reduced the problem by about 90% and I was able to fix the rest in photoshop. I would also try holding a small piece of card above the glass (in the way a lens hood would work) next time I'm out - see if that improves things.
All things considered - it works, it's great fun to experiment with and the images are dramatic! It's really the most basic form of photography (open the shutter - count - close it - see how it looks) - but I found that made it far more creative - almost like using a pinhole camera.
These glass sheets aren't manufactured with optical quality in mind, so the final images are not pro quality, but at the same time, the kit cost under £10 instead of £150 and I can still get a great print off these images. They are a little noisy, but I think that's part due to my camera and the glass does add a lot of fringing along the highlight edges (such as where cliffs meet the sky) so I had to fix this after - but nothing insurmountable.
I'm looking forward to shooting some waterfalls and fast moving rivers with this and will update you in future posts, but for now, if you fancy giving this a go - it's cheap, fun and easy to use! Look back to the previous post for details on making your own rig and get out there and give it a shot yourself!
I'll be posting completed images on my tumblr page, so why not give it a look if you fancy:
www.re-photography-posts.tumblr.com
If you like any of my images - let me know with a like or leave me a message below this post!
Good shooting!
It was around this time last year that I bought my first DSLR and kicked off what, for me has been a really productive creative period. I hadn't really owned or used a decent camera since art school 25 years ago, but the quality and affordability of digital cameras along with their user friendly nature meant I could hit the ground running - and never look back!
Without getting preachy on you, I'd like to share a few insights that I've found have really elevated the quality and creativity levels of my images and can help us all progress towards better photography…
Learn to use your camera's features - they're there to make your images better:
To start with - I really was using only a small percentage of the camera's features. I knew from the outset that shooting on auto wasn't the way to go, and that the in-built flash isn't great, but that was about it.
Your camera is packed with features to make your images come alive and elevate them from snaps to something worth looking at twice. To beginners, the amount of technical information we need to absorb is daunting, but if you take time to practice, refine your technique and knowledge, over time the benefits are invaluable. Photography magazines are great for learning good technique, especially the technical camera related stuff - find one that suits you (there's dozens available) and absorb the good stuff - then practice it yourself. Your images will definitely improve.
Go to an exhibition:
Culture feeds the soul and we should all take time to gorge ourselves. I recently went to a great free exhibition at Southwell Minster - "Masters of Vision" - here's a link to their site:
http://mastersofvision.co.uk/
It's on throughout August and if you have any interest in landscape, nature or travel photography it really is worth a trip.
Seeing the work of accomplished established artists is a sure fire way to stoke up the enthusiasm and get you to think tangentially. I came back with a whole bunch of ideas and things I wanted to try - one of which was - "keep things minimal" - leading to the image above.
Take time over your compositions:
The accessibility and ease of use of digital cameras is the very thing that can ultimately diminish your images to "snaps". I recently read an article written by a photographer who had started out shooting film and was now shooting digitally, who was scathing about the way some photographers now shoot off hundreds of frames to get an image. If they were using film, this approach isn't an option so they would be forced to consider their exposures more to get the shot.
Spend a bit of time on your images, refining the composition or merely waiting for the right light or cloud formation - to get my image above I spent about an hour, moved about a bit until I was happy with the framing and shot off about 20-25 frames to get the best sky and crop combination. Taking things slower forces you to consider all the factors and your images will benefit. Using a tripod forces you to do this and the act of setting it up and framing your image forces you to consider composition more that you would shooting hand held.
Show your images:
Showing your images to an audience (that isn't your immediate family - who love/tolerate you and are therefore not objective) is great for bolstering your confidence and improving your body of work. You'll get feedback from other enthusiasts and get to compare your work with theirs - always a good acid test.
Start yourself a tumblr or 500px account and get your images out there - if you're interested and have 5 minutes - here's mine:
http://re-photography-posts.tumblr.com/
Have a look - leave me some feedback!
Make time to shoot just for the sake of it:
It's all too easy to take a camera with you wherever you go and shoot off a bunch of frames - and that's great - but making time for your photography and shooting in a structured way is guaranteed to make the final images better.
Before I had a camera, I was definitely in the "anti-snapping" camp - I could never see the point of going to a beautiful place and then spending the whole time just documenting it with a camera or even worse, video camera, strapped to your face. You quickly stop experiencing things and are just recording them - leave that to Google earth. If I go out, with no plan to shoot any images, I rarely take a camera - this flies in the face of advice to shoot everything as practice, but I prefer to plan a shoot and devote that time just to making the pictures. If an image is worth capturing - it'll be so much better with planning than a rushed snap. This obviously depends on your subject - street photography and war coverage can't be tackled this way, but the majority of subjects (landscape / travel/ portraiture / food / nature / even sport) benefit from some forward planning. Do one thing at a time - do it better!
Sell your images as royalty free stock:
This is not for everyone and nothing sucks the fun out of a thing faster than trying to make money from it, but this was a big reason for me buying the equipment in the first place - and I've found the process of getting approved to sell images and having each one scrutinised for imperfections has been a major factor in the elevation in my work.
I have sold vector artworks for a few years and already supplied two libraries, but wanted to add photography to broaden my portfolio. My first submission for approval was in the autumn and was immediately rejected - you get invited to go away, take better pictures and come back in two weeks!
I was pretty depressed by this but instead of re-submitting another set of images right away, I waited 6-8 months and spent that time refining and learning. On the 2nd submission I got the green light, only to then get all my images rejected for a whole bunch of reasons (some valid / some not). Rather than get downcast - I kept plugging away and I now have a growing online portfolio, that is helping fund new lenses and kit - it's a slow build, but I'm in for the long game. The most important aspect of all this is - putting your work in front of a qualified expert will show up it's short-commings in a brutal impersonal fashion, but it will point out where you're going wrong and you will have to improve in order to get an approval.
They may not be the most creative sources and are prone to accepting safe images, but stock libraries will only take an image that comes up to their technical standards and I've found the whole year long process to be fantastically beneficial on my technique. Also, selling your images gives you a great buzz and you get to learn what sells and what doesn't.
If you fancy giving it a go - istock and shutterstock are good places to start from (other royalty free image libraries are available yadda yadda).
So - if you've read all that, you must be bored by now! Go out and take some pictures, then take some more! Show people, get better and succeed! That's my long term plan anyway :-)
Good shooting - here's to the next 12 months
