ND Filters for Night Photography [ long exposures ]

[farbird]

Will ND filter help to prevent light sources from burning the image?

like this

 

[sfoto100]

Will ND filter help to prevent light sources from burning the image?

like this

hi

it won;t help... u need hdr or exposure blending

 

[denniskee]

imagine nd filter as a piece of dark glass, it just dim the whole scene down, so to achieve correctly expose photo, u need to either increase exposure time or open aperture or increase iso or use combination of the above. so, by the time the buildings is correctly exposed, the street lamp will still be blown.

 

[Numnumball]

Will ND filter help to prevent light sources from burning the image?

like this

ND will bring the whole scene down. :nono:

A black card works better in this case.. Else digital blend multiple exposures..

 

[jsprtan]

ND will bring the whole scene down. :nono:

A black card works better in this case.. Else digital blend multiple exposures..

:thumbsup:I agree, I think it will be a very black image or totally black depending on the number of stop...... best is do HDR with PP

 

[allenleonhart]

ND will bring the whole scene down. :nono:

A black card works better in this case.. Else digital blend multiple exposures..

how will a black card work?u can selectively block out the lights one by one is it?:think:

 

[night86mare]

nd filter will help you sit there for 30 minutes while you do the exposure . :thumbsup:

need exposure blending, hdr.. gnd won't really help properly here.

 

[Jango]

how will a black card work?u can selectively block out the lights one by one is it?:think:

Was about to ask the same question..

 

[farbird]

so i need to do off camera editing with multiple bracketed exposures?

no way with filters?

izzit fair to say hdr can only be done off camera?

 

[catchlights]

Will ND filter help to prevent light sources from burning the image?

like this

the street lamp and the light of the building are the main light source in this photo,
it will burn out no matter what, the only why is to exclude it in this photo.
or you can try taking it during twilight.

 

[sfoto100]

so i need to do off camera editing with multiple bracketed exposures?

no way with filters?

izzit fair to say hdr can only be done off camera?

there is a proper way to do hdr capture... the capture stage must be done properly... pls read michael freeman's hdr book... google for it.. or get someone to demo it to u...

or if u wan to try for fun, then just take 3 shots 2 stops apart.. then feed them to your hdr software ...

 

[Rashkae]

izzit fair to say hdr can only be done off camera?

Depends on the camera. The new Sonys have it built-in.

 

[farbird]

i guess my canon 40d doesnt have this built in... and i use gimp mostly..

 

[arctos]

I use gimp too, but there seems to be freeware out there for HDR (haven't tried).
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=708306

 

[DarkPa1adin]

nd filter will help you sit there for 30 minutes while you do the exposure . :thumbsup:

need exposure blending, hdr.. gnd won't really help properly here.

SO LONG!!! ? btw do you set the exposure to "middle" of the exposure meter first then calculate -x on the shutter time depending on the ND filter before putting the ND filter

or

Put the ND filter and do the exposure?