Slow and Low

The good people in the FB group Long Exposure Photography have been very patient with me and offered some helpful advice on how to get started on some dreamy seascapes… I do a lot of long exposures indoors already but thought that I lacked the necessary gear to get started on seascapes.

Wrong.

The first piece of advice that I got was to go out early or late when light levels are low and to take some shots on a small aperture. This is at the moment in itself challenging due to the dust constellations on my sensor but let us gloss over that…

The wind has settled a little, enough I thought to go and give it a go. I set up by the side of the road at the end of the garden, in the middle of Sinclair’s rubbish tip, and pointed the camera into the bay. I wasted no time in framing the shot, I just wanted to see what would happen.

I used Manual exposure, but due to low light levels and my ancient eyes, I had trouble setting the focus even using Live View. Note to Self: next time, torch and/or the tablet as field monitor!

AV Priority, F22, ISO 50, allowing the camera to meter and set the time at 8 seconds.

That is as it came out of the camera, apart from removing all the dust spots. Clearly I could have given it a bit more welly if I had the camera on Manual and made it a little brighter. The sea is very calm in the bay and was just flat and ripply, but I can see some smoothing has occurred.

Now, if a little processing power is added, it becomes quite a striking shot

– sufficient at least to get me excited about this learning project.

As they say… “Watch this space.”

Another piece of advice that I received from the FB group was to try using welding glass as a cheap alternative to ND filters (see this blog post here). Mr L just happened to have a piece of the right density, which he has donated to my cause. He even provided the rubber bands.

I have also been furnished by the FB group with URLs for cheaper options on purchasing filters and holders. I am much cheered. Grateful to all who contributed to the thread.

I do hope that Rocket Blower arrives soon!

Oh, I didn’t like any of tonight’s DVD droplet images, so I am not sharing them.