I’ve been wanting to take some long exposure daytime shots for a while now, but wanted some kind of water based subject as it should produce some really great textures. I’ve experimented with long exposure shots at nighttime and have had great results.
The most integral part of kit I would need for this is a neutral density filter. Without this, there’s little to no chance of producing the kind of image I have imagined.
I recently discovered that Yorkshire has a handful of stunning waterfalls – what would be a better water source for my long exposure?! The waterfall I decided on was a tad difficult to locate unless you were aware of it. So I printed off a map of it’s location and headed out with my gear.
I wanted to photograph in the shade, as too much strong light combined with a long shutter speed would result in a blown out image, no matter how great my variable ND filter is. With the gorgeous heatwave and lack of rain we’ve been experiencing lately the water level was far below what I had researched, but with this being a long exposure the water SHOULD appear silky and flow well.
Here’s a few of my favourite images below:
I’m chuffed to bits with these results. They are just as I’d imagined. I played around slightly with the degree of darkness that my filter offered (it ranges from 0 to 9) but found that I had to use around 7 with the shutter speed length I’d chosen of 10-12 seconds. Any longer and my images were just too bright. I could have programmed a lower exposure to compensate for a longer shutter speed and used the strongest density level, but I wanted to retain some sense of movement within the water. I found it was easier to focus in on my subject and then attach the filter – I turned off auto focus as the camera struggled to focus through the darkness of the filter. I love the contrast of sharp detailed rocks and the silky smooth water. It really does add a magical feel to these images.
I can’t wait to photograph many more water based subjects with my ND filter – probably my favourite piece of accessory kit so far.
Saffron Cuccio's OCA Photography learning log 