Magic Kingdom in Time Warp

Well, I had to post something original for my 700th post! I figured I'd throw together my latest shots with the ND400 filter, which I got the chance to play with a bit this most recent trip. It's a fun effect - like slow shutter night shots with all their streaks and blurs...but during the day. And it can add a slightly 3-D, saturated look to images, as well as allow you to expose people right out of a shot with an even longer shutter. It's alot of fun:







Where'd all the people in line go??:











It also smooths out the water, and makes waterfalls into nice ribbons of silk:



Comments, questions, critique welcomed as always.


(And hey...a bonus! This thread ties the board record for the most new topics in a month!)

 

way cool, justin. i have one of those darn things and keep forgetting to use it. rats!

 

CLICK HERE!

 

those are really cool, and look like a LOT of fun to do.
I've got to add that to my list too!

 

Egads, I got one too recently, but it's only a 1.8.

 

Can you explain what the 2.7 means on the description of the product?

 

I think the 2.7 is the more formal way of counting the stops. Instead of ND400. There is a factor of 0.3 per stop, so it has a 9 stop light loss.

 

Exactly the way I take it. Mine happens to be the Hoya ND400, but some other manufacturers make 8 and 9 stop filters as well.

Also a note to those clicking Tim's link - the smaller the filter diameter, the cheaper the filter. I bought mine at 58mm to use with a lens on my last camera, and it was only $75...I bought a $5 step-up ring to use it on my 49mm threaded 50mm F1.7, and at Christmas received a step-down ring to use with my SAL 18-250 which has a 62mm thread (though I won't be able to use the widest setting). I may eventually upgrade to a larger diameter filter, but for now, it's cheap fun as I've had the filter for 6 years and 3 cameras!

Thanks for the comments - it is alot of fun to use, and I can't wait to use it with a more versatile lens in late January (being limited to 50mm was the only downside). I like both the ghost effects as well as the longer shutters where you can just eliminate people altogether (stop your lens all the way down and stack it with some other ND filters and you can pull bulb exposures in broad daylight for a minute or two!).

 

essentially, an ND400 filter reduces 9 stops of light... each stop is either one half or double the amount of light from the previous stop, depending on which direction you are going.

SO... if you have a shutter speed of 1/250 sec., when you use the ND400 filter, it will cut your shutter speed down to 2 seconds. Obviously, tripod required.

(9 Stops = 250 >> 125 >> 60 >> 30 >> 15 >> 8 >> 4 >> 2 >> 1" >> 2").

 

The idea of these kind of filters really intrigues me. I'm wondering what kind of photos you could get of places like Victoria Gardens at the Canada Pavilion with this filter and a tripod.

 

Thanks Tim...well explained! I was going to try to explain it myself, but you've done it well.

I was shooting sometimes with my aperture about as small as it would go - F22 - which even without the ND400 filter would have resulted in some fairly slow shutter speeds. Obviously, set the ISO manually to the lowest setting too, as it will force the camera to shoot slower shutters to get more light instead of raising ISO or opening aperture. Best to do this in either Manual mode or Aperture Priority mode, so you can fix the aperture nice and small, and force the camera to choose the shutter speed. Or go to manual, and set them both (I use manual, only because I've shot with the filter a while and have gotten to know the settings needed).

I was able to shoot in daylight with exposures as long as 25 seconds...which is pretty cool! Try that without an ND400, and your picture will look like solid white. It's a very fun filter.

Thanks Molander for the compliment. Your Powershot S5 I think uses 58mm, so you can buy one of these alot cheaper if you decide to play! Superzooms work very well with the filter - you don't need a DSLR. I started using this filter on my F717, and on my Sony H5 (much like your S5 IS)...and got great results. The DSLR has a little more flexibility, because it can stop down more, and you can use bulb mode to shoot longer than 30 seconds...but any camera that can accept a threaded filter and has manual or priority settings will work!

 

Well, the filter should work pretty well for those kind of places, Ray - notably if you want to reduce or eliminate people from your shots. I've used the filter at a few scenic locations around home for just that purpose. It also will smooth out that water in the river and the waterfall. Here's one of the older ones I did with my superzoom of the Canada waterfall:



Water is fun to shoot with the filter...here was one at Imagination's backward waterfall:



And I did this one witht he new batch, over at Mission Space - it shows how the colors can really pop:



And because it really does a neat effect with color...sort of like a 3D saturation...it can be fun to use for scenics even when there's nothing to try to blur out of the photo. With my older cam, I had shot Harper's Mill with the ND400 - the waterwheel blur was interesting too, but mainly I liked the warming colors and depth and the smooth water surface it produced:



The one thing you have to watch for of course is wind. Just like night shots, anything in motion will blur, so even minor rustling of trees, leaves, flowers, etc would turn them into a blur. Sometimes, you want that effect - but if you're going for a lovely still scene and just wanted to go long exposure to get rid of people, a windy day will spoil it.

 

Justin isn't kidding about the price differences based on size.

The 49mm is $73.35 while the 77mm is $158.85

 

Thanks Justin for the add'l photographs. I was thinking that long daytime exposures with the ND filter would have a positive impact on saturation. Victoria Gardens is one of my favorite places to shoot because of the rich and vibrant colors.

 

Yes, the price is steep, but I guess if you put it to good use, it's worth the money

 

I see Justin mentioned it, but apparently once you go beyond 4/5 stops, for some reason the ND filters do seem to have a color shift (even though they're not supposed to); I know back in the day you had to worry about film reciprocity.

 

they do tend to go a bit red, but with raw that is no worry.