How to use ND Filters?

I love long exposures, the streak of lights from cars, the star burst from a street side lamp.
It helps you "see" in the dark, a city comes alive after dark - but that's all in the night.

You can also shoot long exposures during the day, giving you a complete different look and feel.
Those waterfalls that have smooth curtain of water? Yes, they use a ND filter, to filter out light so that your shutter speed can stay open longer.

I got a 9 stop ND filter from Hoya (it filters out 2 to the power of 9 times of light, leaving 1/512 % of light coming through), which costs me about S$50. (there are also variable ND filters, that go from 3 stops to 8 or 9; and also 10 stop filters from B+W, but is expensive). Here's how it works.


On the left, this is a "normal" shot of some kelongs (fishing huts) which I saw at my recent holiday. Camera on tripod, shot at F16; 1/60sec; ISO360 at 170mm.

Here's the same shot, with a 9 stop ND filter attached. F16; 30seconds, ISO200. You see that with the longer exposure time, you can see all the waves movement are "smoothened" out.








The picture right on top, is after I've processed it in Lightroom, including a B&W conversion - which I think looks better than the 1st. It works better if the background isn't cluttered, like in my case. You get a better minimalist/surreal kind of picture.

Here are a few more examples of pictures made with ND filter. Note that the ND filter does have a blue color cast, which can be easily corrected in Lightroom, as long as you are shooting RAW.

And one more, of a slightly different use. This is the underground link from The Fullerton to One Marina Boulevard in Singapore. There's a travellator there. I mounted my camera on tripod, put on the ND filter, stepped onto the travellator and shot this at F5.6; 30sec; ISO400. You get this interesting zoom effect, whilst the ground is still clear (as it is moving with you). Added a yellow color cast in post processing, just to make it look more out-of-this world/interesting (to me!).

So, here's a new tool, that isn't too expensive, but fun to learn and try! Keep shooting!

Bored? Try Light Painting

After reading an article in Digital Camera Magazine (Malaysia Mar12 Edition I think), I decided to give Light Painting a try. I went to hardware store to buy a colored LED light, which ended up way too bright - so I used a normal laser pointer (the one used for presentations).

1.Here's what needed:
a.Tripod
b.Camera (d'uh)
c.Remote Trigger (or set camera on timer)
d.Laser Pointer
e.Really dark room (ideally with black out curtains)
f.Object to "paint"

2.There's a bit of trial and error, but here's what I did
a.ISO to Native ISO (in my case 200. Could be 100 as well, I guess).
b.Aperture to F16
c.Shutter speed set to bulb mode
d.Press the trigger
e.Use laser pointer to draw outline of the object - or what ever effect you want.
f.Press the trigger to end the exposure (in my case was 53 seconds).

Here's the best of a few tries. It's a pair of my son's football boots, put on my marble floor (hence the reflection). Well, it was fun trying something new, so I'm happy to share.

Have fun shooting!