Re: 10 stop B&W ND filter shots

adamharris said:

good introduction ................. youve got my votes .......... love the shots !!!! what were the settings for the exposures or is it a closely guarded secret ha?

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Hi, thanks for the comments. I set the shots up as I normally would for this type of scene - around F11 - F16 and then added 10 stops plus a 'bit'. It wasn't an exact science to be honest, I found that around 1 minute was about right in the end. But it sometimes took a couple of attempts, because cloud cover and sun poking through occasionally kept throwing it out.

You can't see a thing through the 10 stop filter and I used a 3 stop hard grad filter in most cases, so each shot meant composing, grad filter in place, test shot, check histogram, adjust, another test shot, unscrew grad filter, attach 10 stop filter, re-attach grad filter and shoot.

Cheers

Chris

Re: 10 stop B&W ND filter shots

Paramedic Paul said:

Some good images there Chris, do you find screw in filters a pain to use. I have them and i struggle with them (having cows teats for hands doesnt help) i'm considering getting a set of David Notons Lee filter set at the moment!

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Hi Paul, they're not too bad to use, though I have found you do need to be really careful not to thread them by screwing them on without aligning properly first. With shots like these on a 10 stop filter there really isn't much alternative to threaded filters, the cokin / Lee's type systems just let too much light in the side on long exposures.

On the whole it's still a hell of a lot quicker to screw on a filter than fit a cokin or Lee's filter kit. Just less flexible.

I have a Cokin P series kit which on these shots I used in combination with the 10 stop screw in filter to stop the sky from blowing, so it was double the pain! (but worth the effort)

Cheers

Chris

Re: 10 stop B&W ND filter shots

just another quick question chris , how did you put your name through the photos ? is it a simple enough task  ? i take it this is to stop people knicking your pictures

Re: 10 stop B&W ND filter shots

just checked out your site....... some really amazing shots on there ! really love the landscape shots !!!

Re: 10 stop B&W ND filter shots

Thanks for you coments chaps. I'll get some of these on the gallery soon.

Adam, the watermark is actually done automatically through my website (Smugmug). The shots I've posted here are low-res downloads from my site, I use them for flickr and other galleries. Yes, they're to deter people from using them elsewhere, probably overkill and they are a bit distracting, but it gives me peace of mind. It's easy enough to create a watermark in photoshop though, just a bit more effort when processing.