Photos [P] Virginia Water Lake

Following on from Rich's thread; here's my shots from our outing on Sunday:

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


Had a lot of fun playing with my new 1.8 ND filter with this lot. Awesome being able to shoot 30s in daylight.

Considering the less than ideal conditions with fog for the first couple of hours, I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. And, in spite of that slight hindrance, the whole outing was an enjoyable one. Nice to get out with Rich - who I've not seen for ages anyway - and to go shooting with someone else rather than just trudging around on me tod.

When's the next one? And who else is coming?

 

I like 3,5,6 can't say the rest do it for me.

I'd love to come with you guys on the next outing (been a while since I've seen you Dom) but alas you guys are both way down south.

 

Im digging 1, 2, 3 and 5 and the swirl in the bottom of 6 Is #1 duo-tone?

I think you had to be there to understand the ****** shooting conditions.

 

#1 is 'colorize'd with a Hue/Saturation layer.

I love the swirl at the bottom of 6 as well. Ours are almost the same shot for that scene, just mine's a longer exposure so got the swirl.

 

The ND definately makes the difference, you can see swirls in all the fall pics. Gonna have to get a tripod for my Bday and hit the Brecons I think.

 

The weather was indeed doing you no favours!

I love 3 and 5 - very crisp. #1 has a nice effect where the sky melts into the water.

A Neutral Density filter means you can have longer exposures, yep? So basically, using one means you can leave the aperture wide open but have a slow shutter speed, is that right? And that means elements of the picture are less likely to be overexposed, I guess.

What happens the other way though? Say if you closed the aperture.. surely it affects the dof in some way?

Apologies for sounding like a complete newb, but I'm just starting out with my dslr and the last time I handled any kind of slr was in college over 10 years ago. I took my D40 out with me on Sunday just to make sure it works properly, but I have yet to have a look through the manual or help guide as such.

Which ND filter did you use, Hwulex?

 

The central part of the apenture still can let in bright sunlight etc, where an ND makes the contrast stronger and provides a uniform exposure. I think.

You can get graduated filters which mean you can dull the sky but get more detail from the ground which is respectively darker.

 

Ooh, sounds interesting. The only filter I ever used was a polarising one way back when.

 

ND stands for Neutral Density. In theory, the filter should in no way effect the colours, contrast, light distribution, or anything else in your image. It's sole purpose is the reduce the amount of light entering the lens, completely neutrally idea:).

This means you can use nice slow shutter speeds even in very bright sunlight, allowing you to achieve such things as smooth water. Not just in the waterfall but, for instance, the reflection of the house, too. I have another hand held shot for that and looks nowhere near as nice when you can see the ripples in the surface.

I was shooting landscape so was using narrow apertures anyway, but the ND will also allow you to use very wide apertures (f/2.8 f/4 etc) even in bright sunlight so you can achieve the shallow DOF you require without overexposing and a fast enough shutter speed isn't possible (< 1/4000s (1/8000s on pro bodies)). Useful tools indeed.

More information on teh technicalities of ND filters are availalbe on the Wikipedia Neutral Density Filter page.

I was using something of a specialist filter on Sunday which I bought for pretty much the exact prurpose for which it was used; allowing long shutter speeds in daylight. Most ND filters you can get are either 0.3, 0.6, or 0.9 (giving 1, 2, and 3 f-stop reduction respectively, I think). I was using a 1.8 on Sunday which offers 6 f-stops equivalent light reduction.

The highest I've seen available is the 3.0 which offers 10 f-stops but I didn't think i needed quite that much, even though they're the same price.

The particular filter I'm using B+W ND 1.8.

[EDiT]
A graduated filter means you can apply something like an ND effect over only part of an image. These filters are generally larger sheets and slot in to a holder that's screwed to your lens front element. The benefit of these, and how I used mine on Sunday, is that you can darken the sky without effecting the land/foreground. This means the sky won't be a completely blown out white and you can maintain some detail and definition without causing the foreground to be overexposed.

The kit I was using on Sunday was made by Lee Filters. An example of a standard pic compared with one using an ND grad can be seen on the Lee Filters website.

 

WOW, Pete said you had some nifty kit lol and this is just a hobby?

 

Thanks for the tips, Hwulex. I've just been reading that wiki I also caught a glance at another article that mentioned using two polarising filters offers similar effects to that of different strength ND filters, in that turning the outermost polarising filter effects how much light is 'let in'.

 

nice.... havent been to Virginia Waters in YEARS.... should go there one time...

 

Hehe, cheers. Yeah, just a hobby. Pete's getting quite in to it now as well, buying new lenses and ting. He's caught the bug.

They will, and I've seen the kind of thing you mean before, but polarisers are not neutral like the ND filters and filter out certain light. I'll not go in to detail here, there's more info on teh Wikipedia Photography Filter Page.

I'd wait until spring, tbh. It's all a bit dull and muddy atm.

 

Just up the road(ish) though.

 

Just to add my $0.2 worth. I was always advised when it comes to ND filters buy a high quality one as any imperfections will show up with the long exposure times.

I have an ND8 i bought from e-bay which going by Hwulex's description would be +8 stops?

 

yer its down the road a bit for me

 

South f t w!

 

Loving #6, slow shutter water shots just do it for me

 

I'm liking No.3 I like the broody, dark feel to it.

SLow shutter speed water doesnt do it for me... it's been done to death. In fact, I'd purposely go out of my way to not do it

Love No.3 tho. I like the others, and they're technically very good, but it's that third one for me.

 

Very nice.

Where did you take 5 and 6? When Rich and I walked around we only did the right hand side of the lake (as you look from the carpark nr the petrol station).

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44268332/