Mount Rainier/Tacoma Blue Hour
The city of Tacoma, WA with Mt. Rainier pulled in close with the telephoto lens. We are fortunate to have views like this one from the sidewalk right in front of the Lobster Shop on Ruston Way.
It's a long 98 second exposure with the 10 stop ND filter and polarizer stacked. ND stands for neutral density. They are just a very dark filter for the long exposures that do not change the color. I'm used to counting off seconds while holding the shutter open in Bulb mode from the film days. I counted to 90 and didn't miss it by too much. With an exposure that long a few seconds one way or the other doesn't matter much. With the ND filter on there everything looks black through the viewfinder so you have to focus first then carefully put the ND and PL filter on without disrupting that. Exposure is a bit trickier. I set the shutter speed to it's slowest (without going to Bulb mode) of 30 seconds, then by adjusting the ISO and aperture the light meter still works and will show when you are in the ballpark for a 30 second exposure. Then lowering the ISO a couple of stops more a 90 second exposure should be about right and going to Bulb mode I held the shutter open for 90 seconds with the remote release. I didn't do something quite right because the image came out quite underexposed. Normally a quick adjustment, peek at the histogram, and we'd be ready for another exposure, but there is not much time for that when it's getting dark and long exposures. Editing with that raw file still pulled up a fairly decent image but it could have been a lot better though and easier to process. Always shoot raw. A 6 stop ND filter would have been a lot easier to work with at dusk than the 10 stop. And if you're on a Windows machine give the free FastStone Image Viewer a try for your everyday image viewer. It displays our raw files and other file types really fast, and makes culling the folders a lot quicker than Lr for me.
Wishing all of the father's out there a very happy Father's Day! Thank you for your warm and kind visits my friends. You make the world a much brighter place! :)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ernie.misner
Mount Rainier/Tacoma Blue Hour
The city of Tacoma, WA with Mt. Rainier pulled in close with the telephoto lens. We are fortunate to have views like this one from the sidewalk right in front of the Lobster Shop on Ruston Way.
It's a long 98 second exposure with the 10 stop ND filter and polarizer stacked. ND stands for neutral density. They are just a very dark filter for the long exposures that do not change the color. I'm used to counting off seconds while holding the shutter open in Bulb mode from the film days. I counted to 90 and didn't miss it by too much. With an exposure that long a few seconds one way or the other doesn't matter much. With the ND filter on there everything looks black through the viewfinder so you have to focus first then carefully put the ND and PL filter on without disrupting that. Exposure is a bit trickier. I set the shutter speed to it's slowest (without going to Bulb mode) of 30 seconds, then by adjusting the ISO and aperture the light meter still works and will show when you are in the ballpark for a 30 second exposure. Then lowering the ISO a couple of stops more a 90 second exposure should be about right and going to Bulb mode I held the shutter open for 90 seconds with the remote release. I didn't do something quite right because the image came out quite underexposed. Normally a quick adjustment, peek at the histogram, and we'd be ready for another exposure, but there is not much time for that when it's getting dark and long exposures. Editing with that raw file still pulled up a fairly decent image but it could have been a lot better though and easier to process. Always shoot raw. A 6 stop ND filter would have been a lot easier to work with at dusk than the 10 stop. And if you're on a Windows machine give the free FastStone Image Viewer a try for your everyday image viewer. It displays our raw files and other file types really fast, and makes culling the folders a lot quicker than Lr for me.
Wishing all of the father's out there a very happy Father's Day! Thank you for your warm and kind visits my friends. You make the world a much brighter place! :)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ernie.misner