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Explaining how to determine correct exposures for long exposure images

In Corporate/Commercial, Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Portraits, Scenes & Scenarios by Cole Thompson

An acknowledged master of long-exposure photography, Cole Thompson shares his techniques for finding his “correct” exposure, and extrapolating that to dramatically longer exposure times. Getting the correct exposure when using one or more neutral density filters can be challenging. I use up to 18 stops of ND with exposures ranging from 30 seconds to 8 minutes. At first finding the correct exposure was very frustrating and my images were often underexposed and I’d have to resort to guessing at the …

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How super-simple it is to create extremely-long exposures with the new 10-Stop Mor-Slo ND filter

In Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Polarizing Filters, Scenes & Scenarios by Tom Bol

There have been so many times when I’ve found myself at an impressive river scene or rocky coast line with the mid-day sun beaming straight down. Very bright light creates a challenge for me since I like to shoot rivers, streams, water falls, and seashore surf at very slow shutter speeds to get that soft-silky look to the moving water. In such situations, I like to expose my image for 10 seconds or longer. But even if I set my …

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Tony Sweet finds Singh-Ray’s 10-Stop Mor-Slo filter delivers long-exposures without all the clean-up

In Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Scenes & Scenarios by Tony Sweet

There is an obvious color cast — mostly strong magenta — that can sometimes be dramatic and nice, and at other times dramatic and problematic. Rather than taking time to color correct such images on the computer, which can be quite time consuming with less than acceptable results, I’ve opted more often to converting the image to black and white, which works to my satisfaction much of the time. But, what if color is the reason for making the image? …

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How to use long exposures to create mystical black and white images

In Black & White, Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Scenes & Scenarios by Cole Thompson

I have always been intrigued by monoliths, first by the statues on Easter Island, then by the monolith in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and most recently by Stonehenge in England. In each case, seeing these monoliths prompts the question; Who built them and for what purpose? I’ve always loved visiting Bandon Beach in Oregon because of the natural monoliths strewn along the coastline. Randomly placed, it is as though the earth were God’s chessboard and the monoliths the …

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Photographing moving water

In Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Polarizing Filters, Scenes & Scenarios, Water Features, Wildlife by Robert Clark

Moving water – waterfalls, rivers, streams and surf – often presents unique challenges to the landscape photographer. The most common way to capture images of moving water is to use a slower shutter speed. But how slow should the shutter speed be? The answer largely depends on the effect you are looking for in the final image. I normally divide my approach to shooting moving water into these three desired effects: Silky Milky Textural The silky effect is generally a …

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Marco Crupi enjoys a quick trip down the Jersey Shore looking for something special to photograph

In Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Polarizing Filters, Scenes & Scenarios by Marco Crupi

I like to go on short trips in and around my home in New Jersey. This past Father’s Day, I decided to head down the Jersey Shore for the weekend even though the weather forecast was calling for afternoon thunderstorms and showers. What a great call! My wife and I spent most of the day basking in the sun and enjoying the Spring Lake beach area. After several hours of relaxing on the beach, I decided to take a walk …

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Wet weather failed to dampen a well-planned visit to Olympic National Park

In Equipment & Technique, Landscapes, ND Filters, Portraits, Scenes & Scenarios by Marco Crupi

The next day, I met up with Dustin, a photographer buddy of mine from the Sacramento area. We jumped on the Bainbridge Ferry and headed to the Port Angeles and Olympic National Park area. Driving from the ferry to Second Beach in a heavy downpour, I wasn’t at all confident that I could capture any images. From the parking lot, we hiked about a mile through mud, rain and flimsy wooden bridges to reach Second Beach. What a sight! As …