Long Exposure Beach Scene

[bnnrcn]

Trace, in my opinion they are all lovely ...may I ask why you used hıgh ISO values for these shots?I'm quite new in photography and I try to understand things rather than criticise..

[PhotoByTrace]

Ha - when I did this shot the water was higher than that - I had the camera on a tripod - camera bad tied shorter and shorter as the tide came in - I had d*ckheads on a Jetski beining encouraged to "get the cameraman get the cameraman" - and their d*ckhead mates who dropped a rock off the platform I was under (landed about 18" away from the camera).

Still got the shot!

Awesome shot too Colin. I'm so glad I mostly shoot in solitary surrounds... usually just the occasional fisherman who mumbles a 'mornin greeting. D*ckheads like that would absolutely spoil my peace, flow and enjoyment, regardless of the added danger to my gear. Though there was one afternoon when a friendly nudist poked his head up from in the dunes and wanted to strike up a conversation.... turns out he was a little camera shy though

[dabhand]

#1 for me Trace - I always prefer to see the natural form of water, especially if it helps me spot fishing opportunities - I'm also one of those 'mornin' mumblers.

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely done, Trace. IMO your second effort was definately worth the time and overall improved images.

[PhotoByTrace]

Trace, in my opinion they are all lovely ...may I ask why you used hıgh ISO values for these shots?I'm quite new in photography and I try to understand things rather than criticise..

Hi Binnur,
Ideally I'd like to shoot at ISO 100 or 200. However, before sunup and at f/11-13ish that will usually equate to a 2-minute plus exposure when using a 10 stop filter. So the short answer to your question is, I didn't have the perfect filter for the conditions I was shooting, so I was using the ISO to shorten the length of my exposures.

Often I'll be very happy to shoot for 2-plus minutes, especially when I'm trying to really streak the clouds. However when the sun itself is going to be in the frame, as it was for these shots, the light is changing quite dramatically, especially with fast moving cloud cover. I don't want to blow my highlights if I can avoid it, so I will usually opt for shorter exposures.

If I had a 6-stop ND filter it is mornings like this that I would use it. Allow me to get my exposure between 20secs and 1minute, keep my ISO low and still keep good depth of field at f/13. Though it will depend on the weather conditions as to whether that length of exposure will be enough to record a desirable amount of cloud movement. I also like to use at least f/13 on the 16mm lens as that gives me sharp focus from about a foot in front of the lens through to infinity. It will of course depend on what I'm shooting, but most often with the wide angle lens I'll have something close in my foreground that needs to be sharp.

I also did a shoot with a rapidly incoming tide around rocks and waves recently and even though the sun wasn't in the frame, I used higher ISO as I wanted to keep the exposures around 30secs to avoid a wave crashing into me. That length of exposure still had the effect of "fogging" the wave action and stilling the waters which is what I was looking for that day. Again, if I'd had about a 6-stop ND it would have been better suited to those conditions on that day.

Mostly though, when not shooting directly towards the sun during the day the 10-stop is about an ideal nd to filter enough light to get the desired effects, whether it is stilling waters, streaking clouds or removing moving people/birds/etc. Though some of the long exposure urban photographers are stacking up around 14-stops to get the effects they are looking for in the middle of the day.

Hope this helps answer your question

[batmura]

#1 has the best sky, #3 has the best composition in my opinion. Great shots!

[PhotoByTrace]

And just again, I want to thank everyone for their comments. The range of comments on the preferred composition or crop as well as what different people find pleasing to the eye is always insightful to me.

I had conflicts with this scene between the curve in the sandbank, the position of the sun, the direction of the corrugations in the sand and the different cloud action across the two mornings. The challenge, as always, is to try to find an appealing balance between these elements. I think if the sky had been clear, my focus would have changed again, and been more directly on the corrugations in the sandbar, rather than the compositions I chose those mornings.

I find these conversations are helpful to have me think about more possibilities in a scene. So thank you
Oh, and of course, to not be such a wimp

[Ken MT]

Why didn't you photo the d*ckheads and advertise the clowns in the local paper (Nelson Mail?)

[Colin Southern]

Oh, and of course, to not be such a wimp

Trace,

Can I sign you up to one of my cameraman courses?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnrsxwyurkw

[Colin Southern]

Why didn't you photo the d*ckheads and advertise the clowns in the local paper (Nelson Mail?)

Paper wouldn't be interested. I did think about calling the police though.

[Nancy Moran G]

And to think I have only used my waders for this!
Nancy

[rambler4466]

Trace, very timely and informative post. I have recently been trying this on a beach near me. Did you manually focus about 9 feet in on the sand before you placed the filters? Do you remember when you shot for 53 sec what the shutter speed was without the filters (about 1/80) ? When you added the 2-stop reverse GND,did you add 2 to the 10 to get your total ND stops? Do you have glass or plastic filters. I ask because I am wondering if filters can effect sharp focusing. I use Cokin.
Thanks, especially for your tip on increasing the ISO.

My favorite composition is the vertical image second from the bottom (f/11 53 sec 16mm). This gives a unique look to the sand by exaggerating the upwards curve, and it breaks up the horizon line. My beach is relatively flat and not as interesting a texture, but I can include pilings. I especially like the view from your position in the water. It adds another level of uniqueness. I have been a bit reluctant to wade as I usually have to walk through snow to get to the sand. Also I like the vertical because I do not think having more of the sky to the right helps the image that much. The look of the sky is just not that much difference across the width of the horizontal images.

[PhotoByTrace]

Trace, very timely and informative post. I have recently been trying this on a beach near me. Did you manually focus about 9 feet in on the sand before you placed the filters? Do you remember when you shot for 53 sec what the shutter speed was without the filters (about 1/80) ? When you added the 2-stop reverse GND,did you add 2 to the 10 to get your total ND stops? Do you have glass or plastic filters. I ask because I am wondering if filters can effect sharp focusing. I use Cokin.
Thanks, especially for your tip on increasing the ISO.

Hi Frank,
Sorry for the untimely reply to your post. I went back to work and, of course, walked into DRAMA. Wasn't quite the nice easy transition back into work I was hoping for
I'm not sure my work flow will be a textbook answer for you, but it is how I do it With the skies in Queensland at sunrise/sunset I will always automatically reach for either a 2stop Rev-ND or a 3stop soft as I set up, before I even meter with my camera. So I guess it is already within my calculations...

I've gone back through the sequence of photos on the 2nd morning and my first test shot that morning with the GND in place was at f/16 ISO 100 and the camera metered 1/2 second. I knew that was going to be a longer exposure than I wanted for sunrise, so dropped down to f/11 ISO 100 and 1/4 sec took a 2nd test shot. From memory at that point I would have zoomed in on the resultant shot to be sure it was sharp enough in the foreground.

At about this point I would have grabbed my phone app and calculated an 11 stop ev adjustment (With experience I have found my big stopper to be closer to 11 stops than 10) and it gave me an 8minute exposure. I really wanted around a minute - that would require ISO 800, but I also knew that the sun was on the rise so took ISO only to 400. For one last quick test shot I made the ISO adjustments and the shutter speed, (for some reason I used 1/80 rather than 1/60 ). That is the SOOC test shot I've attached below. I felt it was about a stop underexposed which is what I wanted at that point so 1 minute, f/11, ISO 400 would be reasonably safe with the big stopper; though I'm sure I would have been tossing up whether to just go 30secs... or drop the ISO back to 200. Anyhow these are the resultant shots...
f/11 ISO400 1/80sec SOOC


I counted to one minute, rather than timing it; hence the 53seconds of the resultant image below. I was happy with the resultant exposure.
f/11 ISO400 53secs

These are my Lightroom settings on the NEF file for this image...


Hope this helps in answering your questions