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Fortnightly Challenge May 12-25 : Long Exposures

Designer Dale

Designer Dale

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 25, 2009
3,950
101
Folding space
The purpose of the Challenge is to provide a venue where photographers of all skill levels can work to improve their craft by shooting along a common topic for two weeks - one fortnight. Helpful comments and critiques are key to reaching the intended goal - better photography.

About Your Photos

Shoot for the topics listed on the schedule. You may shoot for upcoming topics, but post photos only to their matching Challenges.

You may post as many photos as you wish for any one Challenge.

About Your Comments

Comments are critical to the success of the Challenge. If you post a photo, add a comment to another one. If you are only viewing, please add your comments, too.

Comments should be meaningful, something that the photographer can use to improve his/her work. Explain why you like or dislike a photo. Spend a moment looking at a photo before commenting on it. Try to answer the question "I like this photo because…" It really helps the photographer.

The Topic Schedule

Long Exposures (May 12 - 25) Break out your tripods and stop those lenses down! Have Fun
Landmarks (May 26 - June 8)
Age (June 9 - 22)

Dale
 
Fresh off the camera...

pnk.jpg

K20D - 10s - f/11.0 - ISO100 - 63mm
 
TheReef said:
Fresh off the camera...

pnk.jpg
Click to expand...

TheReef: I usually enjoy, and respect, your images, and hope that you won't be offended if I say that I don't care for this one. It's just waaaaay too pink for me. (But I'm not a morning person, so maybe this is what a sunrise actually looks like?) In my opinion, it looks like it would be a great image if you could adjust the (artificial?) coloring. Hmmmm, as writing this, I just did a scroll, and find that I don't mind the color any near as much, if you cut off the top (1/4 -1/5th) eliminating the sky and ships.

As a newbie, I had been guessing that you obtained this dreamy look in your seascapes via HDR ... interesting to learn that it's by a slow shutter speed. (So much to learn!!! :eek: ) Are you using any HDR technique combined with the slow shutter speed? For those of us who are new to this, could you please give us a little more info on how you get this foggy look? Thanks!
 
^^^ The basis is just getting an exposure long enough for the ripples on the top of the waves to git that mist effect. Reef has it down pat. Some photographers use a neutral density (ND) filter to cut the light down during the daylight hours. It's a filter available in various densities that can turn day into night if you really want to go to that extreme.

Here are other examples of what you can do with long exposures.

45 Astonishing Long Exposure Photos.

Dale
 
Waybo said:
TheReef: I usually enjoy, and respect, your images, and hope that you won't be offended if I say that I don't care for this one. It's just waaaaay too pink for me. (But I'm not a morning person, so maybe this is what a sunrise actually looks like?) In my opinion, it looks like it would be a great image if you could adjust the (artificial?) coloring. Hmmmm, as writing this, I just did a scroll, and find that I don't mind the color any near as much, if you cut off the top (1/4 -1/5th) eliminating the sky and ships.

As a newbie, I had been guessing that you obtained this dreamy look in your seascapes via HDR ... interesting to learn that it's by a slow shutter speed. (So much to learn!!! :eek: ) Are you using any HDR technique combined with the slow shutter speed? For those of us who are new to this, could you please give us a little more info on how you get this foggy look? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi Waybo, thanks for your comment :)
Some evenings after a storm an interesting pink or orange ambience fills the landscape, probably not quite as pink as this though.

I've never used HDR for any seascapes, I usually use a Neutral Density 8 filter to buy more shutter time, stacked with a graduated ND filter to darken the sky and balance the tones of the scene out.
The foggy look all comes down to when you start the exposure and for how long you set it's duration.
To get the white look, wait for a lot of resident whitewash in the foreground, and blend it's rough away with a long exposure. You can capture some movement with a shorter shutter speed as the water retreats, or get a mixture of both clouds and movement, at varying heights around the rocks, all dependant on the shutter speed and timing.
For something seemingly simple there are infinite configurations - two shots taken within 2 minutes can look entirely different.

Shooting in raw gives you more latitude for pushing and pulling exposure around later.
I'll usually do some selective exposure dodging and burning on areas of the image in Aperture. Things like bringing out the white in the whitewash, darkening the sky, bringing out reflections, adding contrast to moving water (not done here).
When done I'll usually do a slight tweak in contrast and saturation as per any raw file.
The extra pinkness here comes from the fact that I also used the saturation brush on the whitewash which was pink to start off with, perhaps it was a bit too much. :) Cheers.
 
Last edited:
Heres one of mine:

5490648293_cdd2145d9a_z.jpg


Around two minutes if I am not mistaken. Shot at f4 with a BW 10 stop ND filter.
11-16mm f2.8 on a D90.
Kirk BH-1 and Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 CF for support.

Go ahead and be harsh, I can take it :rolleyes:
 
fulcrum.1995 said:
Heres one of mine:

5490648293_cdd2145d9a_z.jpg


Around two minutes if I am not mistaken. Shot at f4 with a BW 10 stop ND filter.
11-16mm f2.8 on a D90.
Kirk BH-1 and Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 CF for support.

Go ahead and be harsh, I can take it :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Nice rocky beach scene. Too bad there's that ugly bridge in it. You should use photoshop's content awareness to remove it. ;)
 
iridium53+91-small.jpg

30s, f/3.5, ISO 100, 10mm
Canon Rebel T2i + 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
February 2011

Two Iridium satellites (53 and 91) are shown flaring next to each other over Boulder, Colorado. Also shown are the Flatirons, Hayden Lake, the moon, Venus, and strobe lights of two passing aircraft.
 
jabbott said:
iridium53+91-small.jpg

30s, f/3.5, ISO 100, 10mm
Canon Rebel T2i + 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
February 2011

Two Iridium satellites (53 and 91) are shown flaring next to each other over Boulder, Colorado. Also shown are the Flatirons, Hayden Lake, the moon, Venus, and strobe lights of two passing aircraft.
Click to expand...

I like the overall effect of this photo. I wonted to see how it would look as a landscape and cropped it down. What do you think?

Dale
 

Attachments

  • v2.jpg
    v2.jpg
    222.2 KB · Views: 177
AZ fire juggling and dancing: 1 second exposure, f/3.5, ISO 80.

(yes, I know. I need a tripod!)
 
Waybo said:
Mackmgg: There is no exif info attached to this. Could you share that data with us?
Click to expand...

Yeah sure

Aperture Value: 6.375
Color Space: sRGB
Custom Rendered: Normal process
Date Time Digitized: 2011:05:12 22:43:56
Date Time Original: 2011:05:12 22:43:56
Exif Version: 2.2.1
Exposure Bias Value: 0
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Time: 1249
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
FlashPix Version: 1.0
FNumber: 9
Focal Length: 18
Focal Plane Resolution Unit: inches
Focal Plane X Resolution: 5728.177
Focal Plane Y Resolution: 5808.403
ISO Speed Ratings: 100
Metering Mode: Pattern
Pixel X Dimension: 5184
Pixel Y Dimension: 3456
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Shutter Speed Value: -2.147484e+09
Sub-second Time: 38
Sub-second Time Digitized: 38
Sub-second Time Original: 38
White Balance: Manual white balance
AFInfo: 0.2246335, 0.4751157, 0.02488426, 0.04976852, n, 0.3295718, 0.5870949, 0.02488426, 0.04976852, n, 0.3295718, 0.3631366, 0.02488426, 0.04976852, n, 0.4825424, 0.6940104, 0.03491512, 0.03385417, n, 0.478588, 0.4680266, 0.04282407, 0.06394676, s, 0.4825424, 0.2721354, 0.03491512, 0.03385417, n, 0.645544, 0.5870949, 0.02488426, 0.04976852, n, 0.645544, 0.3631366, 0.02488426, 0.04976852, n, 0.7504823, 0.4751157, 0.02488426, 0.04976852, n
Firmware: Firmware Version 1.0.9
Flash Compensation: 0
Focus Mode: 0
ImageStabilization: 3
Lens ID: 48
Lens Info: 18, 55, 0, 0
Lens Model: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
 
Designer Dale said:
I like the overall effect of this photo. I wonted to see how it would look as a landscape and cropped it down. What do you think?

Dale
Click to expand...

It works but the Iridium satellite flares in the photo become clipped at the top. :eek: By the way, the photo was taken just after sunset, which is why the sky had so many colors. Some were natural (the remaining sunlight on the right for example) but the reds on the left were from city lights.

Also... If the weather cooperates, I will try to capture a triple Iridium flare next Saturday. I'll post it if I get a decent shot.
 
anchorclose3.jpg


Anchor Close, Edinburgh. 2min exposure, Fuji Provia 100, probably a high f stop (I didn't record it!). Taken used a cheapy Lubitel medium format camera.
 
mackmgg said:
Yeah sure ...
Click to expand...

mackmgg: Wow! Thanks for the detailed info! Some of it I don't understand yet. One thing I was hoping to figure out was your Shutter Speed, but what you have here (-2.147484e+09) still has me confused.

I'll just have to experiment myself. Hopefully I'll have some good weather before this challenge ends! (Although it's not looking overly promising. :( )

Kebabselector said:
anchorclose3.jpg


Anchor Close, Edinburgh. 2min exposure, Fuji Provia 100, probably a high f stop (I didn't record it!). Taken used a cheapy Lubitel medium format camera.
Click to expand...

Kebabselector: I love the detail in this image. Well done. Thanks for sharing.
 
Palace Theatre, Manchester NH

Here's the Palace Theatre in Manchester NH, after their recent performance of "Hairspray." We parked at the top of the parking garage across the street (5th floor) so I could shoot some night photos after the show. This was my first attempt at shooting a light trail. It was hard to get the traffic to cooperate ... at 10:30 pm, after we'd walked up 5 flights of stairs, and set up my gear, there wasn't much! (I know, my exif says 9:30, but I didn't change it for daylight savings!)

What would have made this better?

5720756256_7ea01d26c7_b.jpg


ISO 100, 30mm, f/25, 20.0 seconds.
 
NeverhadaPC said:
AZ fire juggling and dancing: 1 second exposure, f/3.5, ISO 80.
[url=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2740/5717500370_d33f472b01.jpg]Image[/URL]
(yes, I know. I need a tripod!)
Click to expand...

Yep...tripod. Another thing I was wondering that someone else may be able to answer. Is there a way of using the flash (rear sync?) or something to freeze her but still get the motion blur of the fire with a long exposure. You'd have to freeze her right at the end of the exposure right? Cool shot, btw.
 
Waybo said:
mackmgg: Wow! Thanks for the detailed info! Some of it I don't understand yet. One thing I was hoping to figure out was your Shutter Speed, but what you have here (-2.147484e+09) still has me confused.

I'll just have to experiment myself. Hopefully I'll have some good weather before this challenge ends! (Although it's not looking overly promising. :( )



Kebabselector: I love the detail in this image. Well done. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Exposure time 1249 (sec. ?) I think. Don't let exposure value confuse you, it sounds like something only the camera knows, not the mortal user. I have been known to be wrong...

Dale
 
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