Water With A Silky Look

susiewong

Hi


I have a Nikon D80
Nikon Lens 18-200mm
Tokina 12-24 mm

I am a beginner Photography. Love Black and White and also the look of the silky, milky look in large spans of water.

I would be grateful if I could get advice e. g which ND filter and the techniques required to obtain a slow shutter speed etc. etc.

thank you


Sue

ziggy53

Sue,

It depends on the time of day and lighting conditions.

Often a 3.0 (10 stop) filter is what you are looking for in a daylight ND filter to smoothen water waves and water flow.

AStockwell has a very nice writeup here:

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=132827

susiewong

Hi Ziggy thanks for the info

Would a 72mm Hoya Neutral Density NDx400 HMC Filter do the same job? or is there a difference. If so what it is?

regards

Sue

ziggy53 wrote:

Sue,

It depends on the time of day and lighting conditions.

Often a 3.0 (10 stop) filter is what you are looking for in a daylight ND filter to smoothen water waves and water flow.

AStockwell has a very nice writeup here:

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=132827

Nikolai

susiewong wrote:

Hi Ziggy thanks for the info

Would a 72mm Hoya Neutral Density NDx400 HMC Filter do the same job? or is there a difference. If so what it is?

regards

Sue

It's a 9 stop as opposed to 10. No biggie. Will work just fine.

susiewong

Water With A Silky Look
If the 9 stop does the same job as the 10 stop I most probably get the 9 stop - only because it is easier to find for purchasing.

What are your thoughts of using a two Neutral filters together e.g 8 stop + a 4 stop or alternatively a polariser filter?


regards

Sue

Nikolai wrote:

It's a 9 stop as opposed to 10. No biggie. Will work just fine.

Chris H

A polorizing filter will only give you a couple of stops extra. Two filters is fine but you'll start to lose image quality. Stick with the 9 stop it will work just fine. These were taken with my ten stop B&W filter in broad daylight, about 60 - 90 second exposure. 9 stops would still have given exposures of 30-45 seconds, plenty for blurring water.

susiewong

Chris H wrote:

A polorizing filter will only give you a couple of stops extra. Two filters is fine but you'll start to lose image quality. Stick with the 9 stop it will work just fine. These were taken with my ten stop B&W filter in broad daylight, about 60 - 90 second exposure. 9 stops would still have given exposures of 30-45 seconds, plenty for blurring water.

There is little doubt that the 10 stops is the way to go. Now I need to find one on the net as well as one at a reasonable price.

thanks for your help
regards

Sue

Nikolai

susiewong wrote:

If the 9 stop does the same job as the 10 stop I most probably get the 9 stop - only because it is easier to find for purchasing.

What are your thoughts of using a two Neutral filters together e.g 8 stop + a 4 stop or alternatively a polariser filter?


regards

Sue

Sue, stacking up filters is a sure way to get a vignetting, and eventually degrade the quality. Too many extra imperfect surfaces (as well as dust, inner reflections, etc). You can do it in a crunch when you're totally out of options, but if you have time to plan - get the one you need. Anything above 8 stops will work fine.

ziggy53

You can also use multiple exposures, stacked, to produce an effect similar to a very long single exposure:

http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-multiple-exposures-on-k10d.html

PS While that linked article relates to using a camera with a multiple exposure capability, it's not too bad to use software to combine multiple images:

http://blog.rrdphoto.com/2007/03/digital-multiple-exposures.html
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0903/tg0903-1.html

susiewong

ziggy53 wrote:

You can also use multiple exposures, stacked, to produce an effect similar to a very long single exposure:

http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-multiple-exposures-on-k10d.html

PS While that linked article relates to using a camera with a multiple exposure capability, it's not too bad to use software to combine multiple images:

http://blog.rrdphoto.com/2007/03/digital-multiple-exposures.html
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0903/tg0903-1.html

Thanks Ziggy

Sue

Tiziano

Suzie,
I just ordered a 10-stop B+W for my Tokina 11-16mm lens as I found it cheaper than the 9-stop Hoya at B&H. What lead to it was a lot of research. In the process I came across this here which gives a pretty good tute on using these things (in this case, a the 9-stop Hoya).

The writer also has this to say about other brands, cokin, etc here.

Also, nice shots here using the B+W 110 ND3 (the 10-stop).

LiquidAir

I use Formatt 4"x4" glass filters in a Lee holder and stacking works reasonably well, but they are made of top quality glass. I wouldn't stack round threaded filters because vingetting becomes a problem rather quickly.

Tiziano

Interesting reference chart from a link on Alex Wise's site here.

It seems like it will be handy since you apparently have to compose and set the exposure based upon trial and error or take a reading before you put the filter on and then transpose to get a shutter speed.

Nikolai

LiquidAir wrote:

I use Formatt 4"x4" glass filters in a Lee holder and stacking works reasonably well, but they are made of top quality glass. I wouldn't stack round threaded filters because vingetting becomes a problem rather quickly.

Ken is here, yay:-)