General Photography

A (hopefully) quick question on long exposure/slow shutter-speed. I saw some pics in a magazine of long exposures (above 1sec) and tried a few on our Nikon D3000. Just as a test, I tried setting the shutter-speed to the maximum of 30sec, so the camera chose an aperture of f/22 and I used the self-timer to shoot a tree-top about 10m away. This was at 05h30, just before the sun came up.

The result was an over-exposed washout though. So the question is, do I have to use an ND filter, or is there some other camera setting which will assist?
 
flarkit said:
A (hopefully) quick question on long exposure/slow shutter-speed. I saw some pics in a magazine of long exposures (above 1sec) and tried a few on our Nikon D3000. Just as a test, I tried setting the shutter-speed to the maximum of 30sec, so the camera chose an aperture of f/22 and I used the self-timer to shoot a tree-top about 10m away. This was at 05h30, just before the sun came up.

The result was an over-exposed washout though. So the question is, do I have to use an ND filter, or is there some other camera setting which will assist?
Click to expand...
Assuming the ISO was as low as it goes you're going to want to use something like a ND (or pair up two CP filters). An advantage of doing it this way is that you wont have to shoot at f/22 where any sensor dust is clearly visible.
 
bwana said:
Assuming the ISO was as low as it goes you're going to want to use something like a ND (or pair up two CP filters). An advantage of doing it this way is that you wont have to shoot at f/22 where any sensor dust is clearly visible.
Click to expand...

OK, so it's off to the camera shop for an ND filter I guess. I'd read that pairing 2 polarizing filters works well as a 'variable ND filter', and saw the explanation here http://www.digitalphoton.net/making-a-variable-nd-filter-with-circular-polarizers/:

you need two circular polarizers, with the front one put on backwards, to get rid of the polarization in the final image
Click to expand...

However, in colour shots, one will have blue or yellow casts. Decent variable ND filters will cost lots of moolah of course. I'm just fiddling around, so I'll just grab a single 0.4 ND filter and see.
:whistle:
 
flarkit said:
OK, so it's off to the camera shop for an ND filter I guess. I'd read that pairing 2 polarizing filters works well as a 'variable ND filter', and saw the explanation here http://www.digitalphoton.net/making-a-variable-nd-filter-with-circular-polarizers/:



However, in colour shots, one will have blue or yellow casts. Decent variable ND filters will cost lots of moolah of course. I'm just fiddling around, so I'll just grab a single 0.4 ND filter and see.
:whistle:
Click to expand...
You shoot raw? WB correction should take care of that in a jiffy.
 
Last edited:
flarkit said:
I may start now :D
Click to expand...

Raw is a waste of time on a modern Nikon, unless you don't know how to set WB or don't have the time. Please remember that this does not apply to Canon. Canons get better results in raw. Nikons, strangely enough, are better in jpg. Weird :wtf: The new Nikons even remove all chromatic aberrations.
 
ldmelsa said:
Raw is a waste of time on a modern Nikon, unless you don't know how to set WB or don't have the time. Please remember that this does not apply to Canon. Canons get better results in raw. Nikons, strangely enough, are better in jpg. Weird :wtf: The new Nikons even remove all chromatic aberrations.
Click to expand...
Sorry - I hadnt realised that Nikon JPGs were no longer a lossy format. I need to keep up with tech more. :o
 
Rouxenator said:
Have you uploaded pics somewhere of what you have managed so far ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments on this tiny Agama dragon which happily ran around and kept me snapping for 30min.

4187430126_52cce16978.jpg

ISO 200, shutter-speed 1/500, f/5.6

Being the first day that I took the SLR for a spin, this pic was taken using the "Macro" setting on the camera. I'd love to head back there and try again, using the manual controls, now that I understand those values for ISO, aperture and shutter-speed a little more
:)

Next I need to figure out the WB and focal-length bits
 
Some noob questions on my DSLR (I'm just going to stick them here, don't want to start a new thread on every question) -

I've done a lot of reading and have a basic understanding of exposure - shutter/aperture/ISO and how they interact. What I'm wondering is - HOW DO YOU GUY SHOOT IN GENERAL SITUATIONS?

I get it that if there is a specific need i.e. DoF or action freeze then you would go to aperture priority or shutter priority. But let's say you're going to a wine farm for lunch tomorrow and you're taking a few pics for fun - kids, landscape etc. For each shot to you think about the DOF you want, decide on aperture value and go? That would mean aperture priority of course - I understand it's many peoples favourite.

Sorry if this is coming across as confused - but I am. :o :)
I've been using P, M, TV and AV - TV only when I need a fast shutter, P initially but not so much anymore, M almost never, AV mostly. What do you guys generally use for a normal outing?

I'm mumbling a bit, but what I'm trying to get to is this - when you are shooting for fun and playing around, do you evaluate DoF implications with each shot? Do you have a general aperture value that you mostly use - and only adjust when a specific need arises?
 
SiriS said:
I've been using P, M, TV and AV - TV only when I need a fast shutter, P initially but not so much anymore, M almost never, AV mostly. What do you guys generally use for a normal outing?
Click to expand...
90% of the time you'll find my cameras in AV mode. If I'm shooting sports I'll switch to Tv and on the rare occasion that struggling with tricky lighting or I'm battling to get my flashes to behave I'll shoot in Manual.
 
bwana said:
90% of the time you'll find my cameras in AV mode. If I'm shooting sports I'll switch to Tv and on the rare occasion that struggling with tricky lighting or I'm battling to get my flashes to behave I'll shoot in Manual.
Click to expand...

Do you use a general aperture setting - say f/5.6 for average DoF, or do you evaluate each shot's required DoF and decide on an applicable aperture?

I think I'm confusing myself with the fact that you first need to set the aperture to expose correctly - and then take DoF into account that can change the whole equation again. :confused:
 
SiriS said:
Do you use a general aperture setting - say f/5.6 for average DoF, or do you evaluate each shot's required DoF and decide on an applicable aperture?

I think I'm confusing myself with the fact that you first need to set the aperture to expose correctly - and then take DoF into account that can change the whole equation again. :confused:
Click to expand...
By default my camera is wide open in AV mode. I stop down to get the DoF I want.

Correct exposure is largely automatic as the shutter speed, and these days ISO, adjusts to suit.

In Tv mode you'd adjust the shutterspeed and the aperture (and depending on the camera ISO) would be automatically adjusted to insure the correct exposure.

In manual mode you have to balance the three manually.
 
bwana said:
By default my camera is wide open in AV mode. I stop down to get the DoF I want.

Correct exposure is largely automatic as the shutter speed, and these days ISO, adjusts to suit.
Click to expand...

Do I understand correctly - your "default" setting is a wide open aperture e.g. 2.8, 4, 5.6 which means a relatively shallow DoF. Exposure is dealt with automatically in terms of the other two variables - shutter speed and ISO. In the event that you need more DoF for a specific shot then you would "stop down" to a smaller aperture (larger f-number)?

Thanks for your help Bwana!
 
SiriS said:
Do I understand correctly - your "default" setting is a wide open aperture e.g. 2.8, 4, 5.6 which means a relatively shallow DoF. Exposure is dealt with automatically in terms of the other two variables - shutter speed and ISO. In the event that you need more DoF for a specific shot then you would "stop down" to a smaller aperture (larger f-number)?

Thanks for your help Bwana!
Click to expand...
That's about right. Obviously those are only my preferences. I dont shoot landscapes but if I did those settings would be pretty useless. :)
 
I'm more or less with bwana, although I tend not not shoot wide open all that much. I'm not a fan of blurring the background out completely. I mean, cover your one eye, hold your finger 30cm away from your face and focus your other eye on it. Just how much background blur is there? I much prefer to leave the background with enough definition to still give context to the subject, especially when I'm travelling.

Anyway, the long and short of my shooting is, mostly Av, and when I work with flash it's mostly M. I've used Tv only a handful of times (don't do sport much) and the other modes hardly at all.

Learning to set things correctly is a bit like learning to drive. When you first learn, keeping track of everything you need to do can be quite a task, but do you think about which gear you're changing to and when to release the clutch now? Probably not.
 
SiriS said:
I've been using P, M, TV and AV - TV only when I need a fast shutter, P initially but not so much anymore, M almost never, AV mostly. What do you guys generally use for a normal outing?
Click to expand...

My primary mode of shooting is Av.
When I do panning or want motion blur then I will switch to Tv to force a slower shutter.
For faster shutter, I still shoot on Av and then bump up the ISO so get the shutter in the range that I want.
When shooting flash indoors I shoot camera on manual and flash on TTL. This stops the shutter going too low in Av mode.
 
Things get even more tricky if you move to small sensor cameras. I mostly shoot on S (Tv) because I want to keep my ISO below 800 to avoid noise and I do not want blurry shots so I fix the shutter time depending on how fast the subjects are moving. That said my current camera has a fairly slow lens that will not go below f/3.5 so I am not sure if this will change if I go f/2.8 again.
 
Thanks guys for the input, much appreciated.

koffiejunkie said:
Learning to set things correctly is a bit like learning to drive. When you first learn, keeping track of everything you need to do can be quite a task, but do you think about which gear you're changing to and when to release the clutch now? Probably not.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's it, I'm over complicating things at the moment :( - but heck, it's still a lot of fun playing around. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X