Smoky Water ?

[rexscooby]

Hey guys , got to ask everyone or anyone this question i have been wanting to ask for a LONG LONG time already .

I know that if you want a smoky effect from the water fountain , you got to slow down the shutter speed . I have done it countless times with nice effects but only in poor light conditions do i get nice pictures out ..

Now the question is , what happens IF the fountain is in a very bright sunlight place/very well lighted area ? If i slow the shutter , even with F-Stops of 32 , i still get super over exposed pictures . How do i counter this over exposure if i still want the smoky water effect ?

thanks guys .

 

[DeadEnd]

Use ND filter to cut off the light so that you can open your shutter longer without over exposure.

 

[rexscooby]

Use ND filter to cut off the light so that you can open your shutter longer without over exposure.

Uh sorry huh , whats ND filter ?:embrass:

 

[catchlights]

Uh sorry huh , whats ND filter ?:embrass:

can be easily found here

 

[night86mare]

Neutral density filter, no colour, just something you put over your lens to cut off light reaching it.

If you understand the basics of photography basically all your settings will be kept the same while you can increase the shutter speed to a longer duration, thereby "smoothing out the water".

 

[blazer_workz]

1) camera mount on tripod
2) select lowest ISO on camera
3) close down ur aperture (e.g f/22)
4) set shutter speed for long exposure (e.g 1/4 - 1")
5) add ND filters to attain longer exposure

ND2 - stop down 2 stops [Edit: reduce by 1 stop]
ND4 - stop down 4 stops [Edit: reduce by 2 stop]
ND8 - stop down 8 stops [Edit: reduce by 3 stop]

Stack multiple ND filters to attain longer exposure
But beware of vignetting when stacking multiple filters

Edit: Wrong information given on the ND filters given. Can check http://www.camerafilters.com/pages/nd.aspx for more accurate information. Thanks to rOnGrEn for pointing out.

 

[rexscooby]

1) camera mount on tripod
2) select lowest ISO on camera
3) close down ur aperture (e.g f/22)
4) set shutter speed for long exposure (e.g 1/4 - 1")
5) add ND filters to attain longer exposure

ND2 - stop down 2 stops
ND4 - stop down 4 stops
ND8 - stop down 8 stops

Stack multiple ND filters to attain longer exposure
But beware of vignetting when stacking multiple filters

How much would a ND filter cost ?

 

[rOnGrEn]

Like what others have mentioned, to get the smoky water effect, you have to cut down on the light reaching your sensor, using a ND filter. A ND2 will let in 1/2 the amount of light (ie 1 stop), a ND4 filter will let in 1/4 of the original amount of light (ie 2 stops) and a ND8 filter will similarly reduce the amount of light to 1/8 the original amount (3 stops).

Let me give you an example. This pic was taken at iso 100, f32 in a very brightly lit condition. Without using any filters, the longest shutter speed I could achieve to correctly expose the scene was 1/4 seconds. After using a combination of ND filter and Graduated ND filter, I managed to achieve an exposure of 2 seconds, effectively meaning a 3 stop difference. Though 2seconds is not a long exposure to get more of the smoky water effect, it was the longest I could achieve in that bright condition. Hope it helps.

 

[Yatlapball]

Stack a few ND8 together. Heh.