Atlantis

[dubaiphil]

I was very trigger happy once I bought my 10 stop ND filter. Any sign of cloud, however high and slow moving (we don't get moody weather here) meant I was looking for a location to try it out! Unfortunately, even with the 10 stop ND screwed in, it often wasn't enough for really high slow moving clouds.

Here's a shot of the Atlantis Hotel on the crescent of the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai in the early morning light. I used a 10 stop and a 3 stop to get an exposure of 2 minutes 26 seconds. Sounds extreme, but the clouds wouldn't have moved much with a faster shutter. Had to push the aperture farther than I would have liked at f22 and ISO down to below the base of 200 on my D90 to ISO100.

[RockNGoalStar]

Yes! I like a lot of things with this image! I love the contrast between the clean, sharp lines of the architecture against the soft, blurred water and movement in the clouds. I think it would be pretty cool if the clouds were faster moving, creating more of a consistent sweep of blur across the whole of the sky, but if conditions are not possible then it's going to be difficult.

Have you thought about isolating the sky and adding motion blur in post?

[Polar01]

Phil very nice image, love the long exposure stuff. Maybe try stopping down to f29, as a large part of the image is moving you do not have to worry about it being sharpe. The next stop would be 5 minutes and I find that even if I were to let it be exposed another 34 seconds in no way would I blow out any high lights as that would only amount to about 1/3 of a stop. love the image and the other images you post.

Cheers:

Allan

[Donald]

I think one of the great skills in going for long exposures is in knowing when such an approach will work and when it will not. My temptation, as the new owner of a Singh Ray Vari ND, is to try it on everything and anything (well, not quite, but you know what I mean). And there have been some awful results, which are now consigned to the waste basket.

This, I think, is a wonderful example of when it has been oh-so-correct to go for the long exposure.

The light on the hotel and on the bridge is magnificent.

Superb work.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks guys - I haven't considered motion blur and haven't seen many attempts that look particularly realistic. For example, there was one poster on another forum who shared a panning shot of a Vietnamese cyclist. The cyclist was acceptably sharp, but the background looked as if the cyclist was peddling at 160kph! Lots of replies about great panning (at a fast shutter speed if you checked the EXIF data) but totally ridiculous as a final image

[Carl in Louisiana]

Wow Phil, just when I think I have seen some of your best work you come out with something even more impressive than the last. I just find myself coming back for another look see at this image, it is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Carl

[Bobobird]

Wow Phil, just when I think I have seen some of your best work you come out with something even more impressive than the last. I just find myself coming back for another look see at this image, it is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Carl

Could not have said it better. Amazing image.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Phil,

If you need longer exposures, just take multiple shots, and stack them in Photoshop.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks Colin - that was something I tried later with startrails.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks Carl and Bobo

I was the first to find this location to shoot Atlantis, and it became a bit of a hotspot for photographers in Dubai afterwards. It's now a little difficult to access because of security unfortunately. Next time there are clouds I'll revisit (2 years later!)