Essays taken from a weekly newspaper column published in the Washington County News, Washington, Kansas. Look for my book, "Dispatches From Kansas," available from Amazon.com, or from the author.
Tod, the filter reduced light by three stops, which means the really bright spots were dimmed considerably. Fireworks are so bright that they easily blow out the highlights if the shutter is open too long. The filter let me open it pretty much as long as I wanted (within reason) without worrying about it. My keeper rate went from about 40 percent to 95 percent.
Marcia, as I explained to Tod, neutral density filters are used to reduce the amount of light entering the camera's aperture. They're normally used to make waterfalls, rivers and oceans look all creamy and soft while keeping stationary details sharp. For fireworks they reduce the amount of light, too. They also mean longer exposures, say from two to ten seconds, depending, and possibly more. I used an aperture of f8 for Waterville, but for the ones I'll post today from Washington I opened the aperture to f6.5 to let in a little more light. Next year I'll try the same experiment using an ND6 filter, which cuts the light by two stops.
I don't understand much of the tech talk at all, but I can say these are beautiful images. Fireworks photos are tough, I know. I usually look at them and say, "That's nice". But these are different. And it was interesting what you said about the flowing water. I wonder now if some of the best photos I've seen of mountain streams and waterfalls might have been using the same sort of filter.
In any event, Happy Independence Day! I hope it was a good one for you and Lori.
Linda, ND filters were probably used for those images you referred to. I've done it in the past on a very limited scale but intend to do much more when the opportunity presents itself. Say, a trip to the Gulf to shoot tides...
9 comments:
Love the pic's. They look like flowers with the stems.
Tell me more anout the filter. Beautiful images.
Great stuff, Tom. What did the ND filter do for you?
Tod, the filter reduced light by three stops, which means the really bright spots were dimmed considerably. Fireworks are so bright that they easily blow out the highlights if the shutter is open too long. The filter let me open it pretty much as long as I wanted (within reason) without worrying about it. My keeper rate went from about 40 percent to 95 percent.
Marcia, as I explained to Tod, neutral density filters are used to reduce the amount of light entering the camera's aperture. They're normally used to make waterfalls, rivers and oceans look all creamy and soft while keeping stationary details sharp. For fireworks they reduce the amount of light, too. They also mean longer exposures, say from two to ten seconds, depending, and possibly more. I used an aperture of f8 for Waterville, but for the ones I'll post today from Washington I opened the aperture to f6.5 to let in a little more light. Next year I'll try the same experiment using an ND6 filter, which cuts the light by two stops.
Beautiful images, Tom. Thanks for sharing. The filter is a "keeper."
Thanks, Carol. The filter is indeed a keeper!
I don't understand much of the tech talk at all, but I can say these are beautiful images. Fireworks photos are tough, I know. I usually look at them and say, "That's nice". But these are different. And it was interesting what you said about the flowing water. I wonder now if some of the best photos I've seen of mountain streams and waterfalls might have been using the same sort of filter.
In any event, Happy Independence Day! I hope it was a good one for you and Lori.
Linda, ND filters were probably used for those images you referred to. I've done it in the past on a very limited scale but intend to do much more when the opportunity presents itself. Say, a trip to the Gulf to shoot tides...
And happy Independence Day to you!
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