Exposure
7179 creative works found
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Captured digitally using a Sony Alpha 100 at Shepperton Station in Victoria. Was selected as a finalist for the Julie Millowick Acquisitive Photographic Prize 2007 and was on display at the Old Castlemaine Goal during the Castlemaine State Festival April 2007. / —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- / This image will be on display and for sale at the Strathcona Art show 7th – 9th September 2007 at Tay Creggan in Hawthorn. / The image will be presented framed, matted & signed. All my signed work comes limited in Edition. / —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- / This and another three images are to be featured in an exhibiton themed “4 World Photographers” where four photographers have been chosen to exhibit four of their best works. The exhibition is being held at the GaleriaZero in Barcelona Spain from 21st September to 18th October 2007. The four images I have chosen to exhibit are 1 2 3 4 / / Art Folders… / / Entire Portfolio / Born From This Earth – Series / Hearts At War / Vehicular works / Architecture / Travel / B&W Photography / Transitional Industrial Utopian Series / Abstract / Models and Fashion Photography
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long exposure taken at silverstone race circuit of a car
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Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark, / For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Dante, Hell.
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Long exposure shot with my Contax G2 at a station in Birmingham UK. I hope to expand this image into a series maybe a similar shot on ever station on this line. Ambitious but I would be very happy if I had a collection of similar quality images. f16 / about 30 second exposure. / Kodak Gold 200 / Tripod mounted
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Night Wave
by micmacAn untouched close up(with exposure)of a submerged brige when a few beaver’s dams just collaps a couple of nights ago.I couldn’t drink or even used the water in my house for 2 days.We were not able to go out of our area for a day.It happenned at night and we could hear the raging fload so loud,it was amazing.The firemen were at the bridge watching when I took that close-up.This image is the result of the destroyed bridge,half of it just went along with the water,a very impressive scene to see and to hear because of the dead trees and rocs rolling over the road.The little touches of colors you see are the reflection comming from the lights of the firemen’s truck.I didn’t know if I would have enough light,in fact I didn’t have any idea about the result.I thought about using exposure for the creamy texture….I just remember that my boyfriend kept asking me,how much time you still need,5 or 10 min. and I answered 15 …. :)) He wanted to go to sleep,it was 1 o’clock in the morning. / / /
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/ Where am I? / How can I differentiate between the real world / And the dream world? / Which world am I in / Or am I in the unknown, somewhere in between? / Where does reality end / And the dream start? / Is this dream real / Or is this reality a dream? / Do I need to decide which path to take / To the right world? / Or in the end, does it really matter / As long as I follow my heart? / —-—-—-—-—-—-—-——- / Long Exposure taken at Werribee South. / Canon 40D w/ EF-S 10-22mm / Aperture: f/20 / Shutter: 40 sec / ISO: 100
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Location: Beirut, Lebanon
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Soft
by Craig ForhanI had to go back and take another shot of this little waterfall while the yellow Aspen leaves were still reflecting off the water. I usually don’t like taking photos of waterfalls unless it’s an overcast day but this time a sunny day worked in my favor. This little waterfall is in a hard to get to area of Cheyenne Canyon, which is near the famous Seven Falls, and Helen Hunt Falls in Colorado Springs. Canon XTi f/22 18mm(18-55mm) 13 secs. * /
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Infrared Photography captured using a Nikon D80 Hoya IR filter. The long exposure created a nice movement style to the clouds. 10 sec – f5 / 18mm
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Location: Naher el Kaleb, Lebanon
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For this one I took a 75 sec bulb exposure @ f16 with nd8 grad. / I also painted some light on the sign with a flashlight. / Taken pre-dawn at Redcliffe, Queensland. /
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This is a dawn shot taken near Redcliffe in Qld. Australia. / 30 sec exposure @ f16 with nd8 grad filter then post work in photoshop. /
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Black is in darkness / where secrets will hide / a passionate grief / an immeasurable sigh / we forget, we forget / and it takes by surprise White is in light / where truth will be told / stumbling past younger days / until we’re too old / we remember, we remember / and it breaks at the soul A mystery deepens / where we’re fooled by the sight / of no light in pure dark / and no dark in pure light / yet they mix, yet they mix / come the falling of night —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- Location: Broughty Ferry, Tayside, Scotland © Donald Cameron 2009 / Monophotography.co.uk
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Pebble tower (self built) at Brough looking over the Pentland Firth in Caithness, Scotland Featured in Unlimited Quality / Featured in Highland & Island Photographers / Featured in Dimensions / Featured in Northern Landscapes / Top Ten in this Challenge / Featured in Digital Photography / Featured in Shifting Sands / Winner in this challenge / Top Ten in thsi Challenge
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BEST VIEWED LARGE / / Lake Louise, in Banff National Park, Canada / / I just got back from holidays and this is the first image I had a chance to upload. My dad said the drift wood reminded him of dino bones… so this one is for you dad :)) / / Another long exposure shot. / / Settings & Gear Used / / Manual Exposure / Shutter Speed: 183 seconds / Apeture: 13 / ISO: 100 / Focal Length: 10mm / / Canon 400D / Canon 10-22 lens / Manfrotto 055XProB Tripod / Manfrotto 222 Joystick / Cable Release / B+W ND110 Filter (10 stops) / / Visit my website On The Rock Photography / / MORE FROM MY ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
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Featured in The Ashes – Australia vs England – December 2009 / Featured in Artistic Motion Blur – December 2009 / Featured in Dimensions – November 2009 / Featured in Light In The Darkness – August 2009 This one was taken on the 22nd of August 2009 from Elephant Rock at Currumbin beach – a sunrise no photograph can describe. Shot using a 450D with a Sigma 10-20 at 10mm. 3 shots – 13s, 2.5s and 1s exposures using F/22 and Iso 100. Exposure blending using Photomatix and processed in CS4. Big thanks to Stef Dunn for the loan of his Sigma lens for the day, and also to Shelley Warbrooke for doing a splendid job on keeping me awake for the drive! 1500+ views! / 50+ favourites! / My Images Do Not Belong To The Public Domain. All images are copyright © Jason Asher. All Rights Reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
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Jackson Bay, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand. / I spent four days out on the coast, waiting for a sunset or a sunrise, any glimse of the sun. It just rained and rained, untill the last day and there was a small gap in the clouds. / Nikon D200 Views 821 /
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Port Noarlunga Jetty. / South Australia. A combination of all my favourite techniques: / Wide angle, long exospure, HDR and night photography. Canon 50D. / 10-20mm (at 10mm) HDR – 3 Bracketed Exposures (up to 30 seconds) blended manually in CS3. The longest exposure (2 stops overexposed) brought out the unusual streaks from the jetty lights. Click for larger preview. See also: /
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no thats not its real name. But this image totally surprised me. I thought the camera held solely throw aways. Went for a shoot with Murph and didnt feel as if I had anything. / Then I looked at this more closely and yes it does have washed out sunset highlights but they mightnt be too much of a problem. / I love the isolation of all the little “islands”. West Point Reserve / Marrawah / NW Tasmania Nikon D90 / Sigma 10-20mm lens @ 10mm cropped / 20 seconds or so 627+ views featured in Your Magic Places 20th September 2009 / featured in SEA group 21st September 2009 / featured in Morning & Evenings, Sunbeams & Storms 24th September 2009 Top Ten in Focus & Lighting Groups’ Show Your Favourite Subject Challenge 25th October 2009 featured on the RedBubble Homepage Tasmanian edition on 10th October 2009
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Featured on Redbubble’s Art page
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Ok, now I’m just being indulgent, for which I apologise. This is the colour version of yesterday’s Morning breaks – Breaking news…..just been accepted at 1x….lol! Your thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!! Canon 5D Mk II, 16mm, f/10, 90 seconds, ISO 50, NDX400, Lee 0.9ND Grad, tripod SEASCAPES / LANDSCAPES / NEW ZEALAND / PEOPLE
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Best Viewed Large FEATURED in The Photographers Vault FEATURED in The Ashes Well here is my first light painting attempt. It took me awhile to give it a go because none of the hardware shops sold any light that was paintable !!! (Bad Joke) Anyway this was done on a black background (my jumper in fact) using two exposures; one of the paint brush nicely exposed and the other of the actual lights. I didn’t have anything fancy for the lights, one was a small LED torch with a piece of paper over the end held fairly close to the surface and the other was a small blue LED that was in a keyring. It took me a few attempts at getting something I am happy with but am actually quite pleased with the results so comment, criticise and critique and let me know what you think. DETAILS Cannon 500D (RAW) / 18 – 55mm IS Kit Lens (18mm) / 30 Sec Exposure / f 22 / ISO 100 Minor adjustments in Adobe Lightroom 2 and blending of images plus increased contrast through curves in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Again, any comments, advice or criticism would be greatly appreciated Cheers, Danny FEATURED in The Photographers Vault FEATURED in The Ashes
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overlooking San Carlos bay toward Sanibel Island ,Florida as the full moon lights up the bay. Gina and I , battled 20 mph winds ,temps in the low 40’s with wind chills in the low 30’s, and for us that live in Florida that is down right freezing . canon 5D mark ll / canon 17-40mm focal 17mm / ISO 100 / f/4 30 seconds / wb tungsten /
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The Ultimate Easy Guide To Neutral Density Filters
by Peter HillIntroduction By popular demand, this Guide seeks to explain and demonstrate the use of extreme neutral density filters, with particu…
Introduction By popular demand, this Guide seeks to explain and demonstrate the use of extreme neutral density filters, with particular focus (groan) on the 9-stop Hoya ND x400 Filter and the 10-stop B&W #110 ND Filter. I also discuss neutral density filters in general, and I have included at the end of the Guide links to the BG work of other RBers who, in my opinion, excel in this mode of photography. There is currently a world-wide shortage of those particular filters, with both Hoya and B&W being caught out by a sudden upsurge in demand. I attribute a chunk of the cause to the popularisation of their usage by Redbubble and magazines, particularly the UK’s Digital SLR Photography (http://www.digitalslrphoto.com/). Notwithstanding the current shortage, I have included at the end of this Guide a Resource List, including a rough price guide. If shopping on-line, be aware that prices vary significantly, especially in Australia, so caveat emptor rules, ok? I want to be upfront and say I am not recommending one over the other of anything. I have and use neutral density filters made by four different companies, and I do not get any commissions or kickbacks. However, in my Resource list I do discuss one particular type of neutral density filter, unique to a particular manufacturer, which, to say the least, is useless. Considering it costs between 250% and 300% more than others, this is rather disappointing. I should have believed the photographer I met on Big Nobby at Crescent Head instead of placing faith in the testimonials on the company’s website. I am talking about the Singh-Ray Vari ND filter. I also have been buying gear from one particular Australian supplier whose prices and service I have not seen bettered, and because that is the plain and simple truth of my experience (yours might be different), I tell you who that is, also in my Resource list. Terms used You may have seen the term Black Glass used on Redbubble. The person who first coined it was Adriana Glackin. It was March 2009, and Adriana and Tatiana (the 2 Yarners – think about it) and myself were at the very bottom of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains. Adriana asked Tatiana if she could try using her “black glass thingy”. She was referring to Tatiana’s Hoya ND x400 filter, but the name is rather appropriate so it stuck. After all, this what the ND x400 looks like: Rather dark, isn’t it?! In this Guide, I will use the term Black Glass or BG to refer to both the 9-stop Hoya and the 10-stop B&W. (I should also point out that it was Tatiana who turned me onto the creative uses of the BG.) Other terms you need to be familiar with, if not already, are: B&H – A major photographic gear supplier, based in the USA. B&W – A division of Schneider and a brand of BG. Btw, B&W does not stand for Black & White. CP – Circular Polariser, a type of “screw-on” filter. ND – Neutral Density. Grad ND – Gradual Neutral Density, including Soft Grad ND and Hard Grad ND. What is a neutral density filter? An ND filter is to a camera lens what a pair of sunglasses is to a human. (Peter Hill, 2010.) No more, no less. It is termed neutral because the filter will reduce the light going through the lens to the camera sensor in an even manner, whatever the colour conditions. Unless the filter has a manufacturing fault (and some do!), the colour is not impacted. I recently read on a blog that ND filters should not be used when shooting objects which are not lit consistently in the frame. I reckon that is rubbish advice. As I explain later in this Guide, the purpose of a Graduated ND filter is to even out different light exposures within the one frame (for example, a bright sky and a dark foreground), and there is absolutely nothing to prevent you from using a Grad ND with an ND, Black Glass or not. I do it often, and my point is demonstrated by most of the sample images in this Guide (below). Neutral Density filters and Gradual Neutral Density filters are made with increasing levels of density, said to be equivalent to f stops. Thus, you do not need to use an extreme ND filter such as the Black Glass. For example, apart from several BGs of varying diameters, I also use a (slim) B&W 3-stop ND Filter (77mm) and, if I so desired, I could in fact stack 3 such filters to achieve the equivalent of a 9-stop BG. Some history The genesis of the shortage of availability is the original purpose of the BG – to allow safe photography of bright light sources. Hoya and B&W are slowly catching up with the more popular uses of the BG. I still get a smile from these words which, to this day, are still those chosen by Hoya on their website to describe the “special effects filter” we know as the Black Glass: Photographing solar eclipses and ultra-bright light sources can be extremely dangerous. This filter reduces light values by 9 stops to less than 1/500th of its original intensity and allows safe photography. It can also be used to achieve super slow shutter speeds in daylight to render moving subjects invisible. (It’s worth noting that the 10-stop B&W Black Glass reduces light values to less than 1/1000th of its original intensity. Or in other words, the 10-stop BG only allows 0.1% of light to pass through it. Now that’s extreme.) I don’t shoot many solar eclipses, none in fact, but I do use the BG across the entire range of light conditions, including ultra low-light conditions. Extensively. For example, for up to an hour after sunset on a coastline, and in the deepest darkest rainforest. I’ll show you why later in this Guide. Essentially though, living and shooting in Australia, where the light is exceptionally bright, is the ideal reason to use a BG. So much so that I was recently told by the local distributor of UK-based Lee filters (Geoff at Mediavision) that Lee have been finally convinced to produce a BG. I am salivating because Lee filters are handmade, whereas Hoya et al are not and can be prone to colour casting or, more commonly, purple flaring. What’s the big deal with the BG? A picture tells a thousand words, so I’ll let these samples do most of the talking: Sample 1 Turimetta Beach / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 27mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 30 seconds at f22, single RAW file. On such a bright sunny day, a long exposure to achieve a misty sea look is simply impossible without a BG. Reason enough to use one. Moreover, as this image shows, the depth of the colours that we see with our own eyes, sans sunnies, are allowed to seep into the photograph. By that I mean, normally an image shot in these conditions is fast, too fast for the camera’s sensor to capture the depth of the colour, to allow the colour to be soaked up by the sensor. The above image was shot on a day sooo bright I had to stop down to f22 to achieve it, even with the ISO right down to 50. Extreme settings they may be, but the result is what I like to term hyper-real. Now, with the 21 megapixel Canon 5D Mark II, I normally do not stop down further than f8 or f9 because of the diffraction effect, BUT in most other DLSRs using the Black Glass enables you to stop right down to f22 (and beyond, depending on the lens you are using) when shooting seascapes and landscapes and the like to achieve a decrease in depth of field, which in turn separates foreground subjects from those in the background, thus adding to that hyper-real result. Cool. And then there’s the clarity. Here are two close-ups from the above image: Again, with a non-moving subject, the long exposure allows the detail to really come out, and for the same reason a fast exposure doesn’t. When you combine the colour factor with the detail factor you have an image, to my mind, which has real body and depth. And that can change a rather ordinary composition into something quite special. Sample 2 When our eyes are looking at a real waterfall we are seeing the water in a flow. Hence, to me, a photograph of a waterfall taken at speed, eg 1/100 second, is unreal because it freezes that flow. Such an image can be pin-sharp, which is fine, if not suitable, but when the water is just as pin-sharp as the surrounding rocks it looks, again to me, as being one-dimensional and hence will not hold my interest regardless of how well composed it is. This is an example, mine, and taken at 1/60 second, of what I mean: Many photographers are on the same page, so with tripod handy and perhaps some filters like UV, Circular Polariser and Grad NDs, the aim is to slow the water down to capture more of the flow , as opposed to droplets frozen in mid-air. However, this presents another problem: the longer the exposure, the whiter the water, and hence the danger of overexposure or blown highlights. This is an example of what I mean. Again, it is one of mine, only this time taken over 1.5 seconds in an early vain attempt at capturing movement: Now compare those samples with this: Katoomba Falls / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 25mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 46 seconds at f11, single RAW file. I know which type of water flow capture I prefer. It still amazes me that a long exposure with the BG will retain the clarity of the water flow without blowing it out or turning it into a mushy snow-like blob. And, like the bright beach shot, the colours are deep, despite (or because of) the image being taken with no sunlight and from a shaded position. Let’s have a closer look at some of the detail: Here’s one more example of a low-light, shaded waterfall, only this time with minimal water flow and a really really l..o..n..g exposure: Dante’s Glen Falls / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX DG HSM Lens with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.6 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO: 50, f9, 300 seconds, single RAW file One thing I should point out now is the absence of a need to tweak curves and levels. What you see with the above samples is what I shot. If you get the focus right and the exposure right (see below), the BG will do the rest. Sample 3 Where are the cars? / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 51mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter, ISO 50, 8 seconds at f14, single RAW file. Just like Hoya says on its website, slow shutter speeds with the BG will render moving objects invisible. The above shot of Anzac Bridge was taken during the middle of a workday, with scores of vehicles passing whilst the shutter was open. To be honest, I haven’t had time to explore this aspect of shooting with the BG, but you can well imagine the creative possibilities! You can also use the BG to create a ghosting effect: / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 25mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 146 seconds at f11, single RAW file. Ten second delay. Sample 4 The visual impact of taking a photograph showing movement contrasted with stillness can be extended from what the eye sees (waterfalls) to what the eye does not see – clouds. Indeed, it was monochrome seascapes with major cloudage happening that really got me going with the BG. But those were seascapes shot in the UK, where dark brooding skies appear to be the norm! Here in Australia, this is the best I’ve been able to manage: Grey Dawn / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 24mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.6 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 98 seconds at f14, single RAW file Sample 5 Which brings me to my last sample of what the BG can do – really really cool Monochromes. As you’ll see from my choice of inspirational photographers doing BG work here on RB, there is something really cool about the use of a 9- or 10-stop ND filter when shooting in Monochrome. For me, it doesn’t matter if the exposure is for 8 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5L Tilt+Shift Lens with Hoya HMC x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, f8 at 8 seconds, single RAW file 45 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm f1.4 Lens with Hoya HMC x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, f8 at 45 seconds, single RAW file 60 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 24mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter, ISO 50, f14 at 60 seconds, single RAW file 120 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm f1.4, Hoya HMC ND x400 Filter, ISO 50, f6.3 at 120 seconds, single RAW file ...or how many seconds, the Black Glass will always produce interesting Monochromes. With such variety of applications, is it little wonder I find it hard sometimes not to shoot with the BG? Please tell me, as my therapist needs to know. OK, enough of the Show and Tell. Now we explore the How. How to use a Black Glass Gear It almost goes without saying, but if you are going to use a Black Glass you will need to mount your camera on a tripod. Also, I would recommend using mirror lock-up for enhanced stability and a remote shutter release for the same reason. And if you shoot in JPEG using a Black Glass instead of shooting in RAW you will be decreasing the depth, clarity and colour that is possible from BG usage. Nuff said on that score, sore point. Wind Got wind? Not good for using the BG. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, if you are shooting a long exposure outside in wind, trees will become blurred. While this may seem to be adding creative spice, to my it doesn’t. For example, I need trees to be as still as possible in order to provide contrast to moving water. Secondly, and rather obviously, the longer the exposure the greater the risk you’ll end up with a blurred image because of wind. It only takes a slight vibration to ruin the shot. But hey, the best time to use the BG is at dawn and sunset. It’s the best lighting conditions and normally at that time of day the wind is not an issue if its a clear day. Taking the shot When you screw in a BG onto the end of your lens, it is usually impossible to see anything through the viewfinder except black, unless you are pointing the lens directly at the sunlight on a clear bright day. Hence, before you screw in your BG you will need to compose your shot and focus your lens. A few tips are handy to note: Don’t forget to turn OFF the Auto Focus (AF) on the lens before you press the shutter with the BG on the lens, ie switch to Manual Focus (MF). If you forget to do this, when you press that shutter the AF function will kick in and vainly try to find some light through the lens, and that then ruins your focus and you will end up with a blurred image. If you remember to switch to MF before taking the shot, don’t worry if you hear the camera’s AF-asist go “beep”. It just means that there was still enough light happening but it won’t override the MF setting. This commonly happens when you are using the BG on a bright sunny day. The purists are going to cringe when they read this, but when you are composing and focusing your shot before screwing in the BG, I wouldn’t worry about the exposure. In other words, don’t stress about having to calculate how many stops of overexposure you need to get an evenly-balanced exposure after putting the BG on. I have tried to do this and never succeeded in getting anything other than an overexposed blob. I have a theory its to do with light intensity. And besides, one of the major advantages of using a BG is that you do not have to adjust ISO to compensate for bright light and instead you have greater control over aperture and speed. I discuss ISO and BGs more below, but my point is this: if you want to use ISO 100 just do it. If you want to use f22 or f2.8 or whatever, just do it. You can because what’s left is speed, and the BG gives you enormous range in that regard to find the right exposure when using the BG for any particular shot. Another reason for not worrying about the exposure is that f stop compensation calculations assume you won’t also be using a Grad ND, which will darken your image. Try doing the calculations for that! In the absence of doing those exposure calculations, it is a case of trial and error. 60 seconds and your image is still dark? Well shoot again, this time at 90 seconds. A little too overexposed? Well try again, this time at 75 seconds. Each time you are narrowing down the exposure time. The more you use the BG, the more comfortable you’ll get with gut feel. Bear in mind that if you shoot at, say, 300 seconds, adjusting the next shot to 315 seconds is not going to make a discernable difference. A 15 second differential will, however, make a difference between 60 and 75 seconds. Bear in mind that the person I consider to be the King of the BG (see below) admits that success with long exposures is “trial and error”, just like I said. If you are using a BG on a zoom lens take care when screwing in your BG that you don’t push the zoom back, thus lowering the focal length and changing your composition, if not focus as well. Screw the BG on tight, otherwise you will get flare on the side of your frame. In the case of the Hoya BG it will be purple. This is also recommended if you are also going to screw in a Cokin or Lee adaptor ring for your Grad NDs. I speak from personal experience of failing to screw in the BG tighter than the adaptor ring onto the BG – my 72mm BG is now permanently attached to my Lee 72mm wide angle adaptor ring. Not a good look. If you get sun flare when taking a shot, using a BG will not avoid it, but increase the flare. I generally try to avoid pointing the lens directly at sunlight with the BG on, unless the shot is less than, say, 10 seconds. Hot pixels, dead pixels, and stuck pixels With really l…o…n…g exposures, you are bound to experience one or more of the above. This problem arises from variations in the individual responsitivity of the millions of pixels on your camera’s sensor. Type 1 are hot pixels, which will show up as white dots. Type 2 are dead pixels, which will show as black dots, and Type 3 are stuck pixels, which will either be red, blue or green. Often you will see all 3 types referred to as hot pixels. I have found Type 3 to be most prevalent when using the BG, and it is not uncommon for all 3 colours to be evident. On a Redbubble page they are very hard to discern, but if someone buys a large print of your BG masterpiece and there are stuck pixels on it, it will be noticable so you need to be on the look-out for them on your computer monitor. Here is an example of an image with at least four stuck pixels … / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 24mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee (Polyester) Green Filter, ISO 50, 63 seconds at f5, single RAW file shot in Monochrome, white balance fine adjustment applied to Landscape mode to counterbalance the green ...hard to see aren’t they? Here are 2 of them in a close crop: Unfortunately, if your DSLR has a reputation for noise at ISO 640 and above, your hot, dead, and stuck pixel problem will be multiplied if using the BG for exposures longer than about 30 seconds. For example, Tatiana’s 5D produces many more such pixels than the same image shot on my 5D Mark II with the same settings. Some tips: Stuck pixels and other types of problem pixels are easily fixed in post-processing, in exactly the same manner as dust removal. Do take the time to remove them. Enlarge your image to check for them if necessary. You’ll get more of these problem pixels the longer the exposure and the higher the ISO. The pixel variations increase because the sensor heats up over a long exposure period. This is one reason I am really hesitant to shoot at longer than 7 minutes. I have seen images shot over speeds of up to 15 minutes and I do wonder how much “repair” work was necessary and if its good for the sensor. Manage the problem by keeping your ISO as low as possible. ISO 100 is ideal. Indeed, I would recommend letting your sensor cool down between really long exposures. (Shutter life ratings are not based on long exposures.) Some cameras have Noise Reduction processing capabilities which will fix the problem before you download. But there are 2 reasons why I never engage this function on my camera. First and foremost, Noise Reduction will cause a loss of definition, ie clarity. Secondly, if your exposure is, say 120 seconds, the Noise Reduction process will take 120 seconds before you ever get to see the image in your viewfinder. I’m a patient man, but not that patient! Anything else? At this point I think I’ve exhausted my knowledge of the BG, if not you as well. I’ll leave this space here in case of something else coming to mind for later edits. Those who inspire This is the easy part. There is no doubt in my mind as to who is the Mono King of the BG on RB – Donald Cameron (aka Mr Mono). Check out these examples of his exceptional work: Falkirk Canal Wheel / Dyin’ Alone / Time and Place / Night Comes Falling / Donald’s a pretty good poet too. Check out his portfolio and be inspired! Other’s whose mono BG work inspires me: Joel Tjintjelaar / GlennC / Underdoc / Check out their portfolios – just amazing! Resources As I wrote above, prices for the BG vary significantly, depending on both the diameter required and the supplier. About the only constant is that the cheapest is the smallest diameter, getting more expensive as the diameter increases. This is one reason why the cost of going BG relates more to the actual lens you want to use it with and, unfortunately, most lenses for DSLRs are at the higher diameter level, ie 72mm and 77mm. (Your lens should display its diameter on the inside of the front tip.) As far as I am aware, only Hoya, B&W (Schneider) and Singh-Ray make BGs or similar. Several others make ND filters up to 3 stops, eg Tiffen. B&W (Schneider) The Schneider B&W Black Glass is available for lenses with diameters of 35.5mm 37mm 39mm 40.5mm 43mm 46mm 49mm 52mm 55mm 58mm 60mm 62mm 67mm 72mm 77mm That’s the largest range on the planet. The Schneider B&W website categorises its filters by size, not type. Here is the B&H page for B&W BG filters. For Australians, I bought my B&W filter from here but be aware they may be currently out of stock. It may be better to buy through B&H (see above link) given the greater range in stock and the improving Australian dollar against the greenback. There’s also Adorama, but I’ve never bought off them. Here’s their B&W BG catalogue Also, check out this guide to spotting fake B&Ws, especially those on offer on eBay. Hoya Hoya Black Glasses are available in 49mm 52mm 55mm 58mm 62mm 67mm 72mm 77mm Here is the main Hoya ND x400 web page. Here is the B&H (USA) on-line shopping list for Hoya BGs. Here is the equivalent Adorama page. For Australians, here is where I buy my Hoyas. They have a physical shop in North Sydney and their Hoya prices are the cheapest I’ve seen. (They also have the most extensive catalogue of Canon lenses I have ever salivated over.) A comparison of prices can be had here Singh-Ray I wanted an 82mm BG for my Carl Zeiss Distagon 21mm f2.8 Lens but as you can see from the above, neither Hoya nor B&W make them at that diameter. Instead, I acquired an 82mm Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. These things are significantly more expensive than either Hoya or B&W and, in my opinion, only worth a fraction of a Hoya or B&W, if anything at all. They are constructed in exactly the same way as a Circular Polariser, only much chunkier. They proclaim to give a range of 2 to 8 stops. I don’t think they do. Anything above about 6 produces vertical banding. Worse, the higher the stop the greater the colour casting throughout the frame. And to cap it off, I cannot use it, ie vary the ND factor, with the lens hood on. A complete waste of money and my biggest gear mistake to date. Lee Filter Systems Much like Nikon v Canon, it seems to be Cokin v Lee. But, unlike Cokins, Lees are handmade and, according to rumour, are less prone to colour casting. But I wouldn’t know. I use Lee polysester filters for black & white photography, Lee resin Grad NDs, and many Lee resin special effects filters. Given that level of investment, I don’t use Cokin. (I’m more than happy to add Cokin links if anyone wants to supply them to me.) Lee has an excellent guide, in pdf, to their entire filter system here. Their main website is here. If you only want to go basic with Lee, I suggest simply buying one resin 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter (about $120) and/or the set of 4 polyester filters for black & white photography ($20 each). For Australians, Lee gear can be acquired from either Mediavision or Vanbar. I have nothing positive to say about Vanbar, but I am at a regular at Mediavision. Geoff is the man. Contact details for Mediavision: / 4 Monash Road (off Victoria Rd) / Gladesville / NSW 2111 / Tel: 02 9816 4055 / Fax: 02 9816 1661 / Email: sales@mediavision.com.au Well, that’s it for me. If you got this far with this Tutorial, you may find these of interest as well: The Easy Guide To Basic Photoshop / The NEW and IMPROVED Easy Guide to Creating the Orton Effect using Photoshop / The Easy Guide to Creating Samples of Artwork on Redbubble – UPDATED / The Easy Guide to Creating Clickable Images on Redbubble / The Easy Guide to Creating Links on Redbubble / Mirror Lock-up – what it is & when to use it / The Easy Guide To Applying Motion Blur / The Easy Guide to Adding Clouds to an Image using Photoshop / Everything you want to know about RAW but are afraid to ask / The Easy Guide to Using a Tilt+Shift Lens Cheers / Peter History Tutorial published 6 January 2010 /
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