Long Exposure Daytime Photos With a 10 Stop ND Filter

    Recently I purchased a 10 stop ND filter, a B+W F-Pro from B&H. I've tried some long exposures of water at dusk in the past without a ND filter that were fun, but difficult in the rapidly diminishing light. I knew I needed a ND filter to play around with this in the day time, to show blur of clouds, trees, water, or even make a busy place look void of people.

    I have some ideas of what I want to photography around here other than a typical waterfall, but most of them are involving the clouds recently. The clouds are proving to be quite dramatic in the afternoon with the recent daily thunderstorms that we have been getting.

    I plan to keep playing with the filter and share some of the work as I go and continue to make improvements. I am finding depending on the speed and the focal length of the lens I want to get a shutter speed at least above 10 seconds. Wider angle lenses i.e.. < 24mm, you will want a longer shutter speed than you would need for a telephoto.

   My only complaint so far with the filter is that it shows some purple color tinting due to the glass, this could be dependent on what angle from the sun I am photographing that causes the filter to do this. So far some adjustments in white balance have helped to correct this. 

    The first photo below I used the ND filter along with my B+W 77mm Circular Polarizer MRC stacked on first to be able to see which way the polarizer needed to be turned.

Long Exposure from the top of Whiskey Hill by Elba, MN (ISO 200, f/13, 15/1 shutter)

Plumber Building- Mayo Clinic (ISO 500, f/11, 5/1 shutter)

The Road Home

    I am continuing my goal to take many more photographs this year and I feel I am going back to my interest in photographing the surrounding agricultural activity. Everyday I drive 45 minutes to work along a winding two lane asphalt road. Some days it takes me longer to get there due to combines in the fall or tractors with discs or planters in the spring.  During that commute I am guaranteed to always see some interesting wildlife such as a Bald Eagle in a field, or some gorgeous light early in the morning or late evening. 

   One project I have been interested in doing has been to document a farmer and their work. I would love to find a farmer willing to let me follow them around and stop by every so often to doucment their way of life that supports so many people in the world. 

    The landscape of old barns and silos are dwindling away and being replaced my tilled land or new steel sided buildings. Over time these iconic symbols will vanish due to deterioration and replacement. For now I will make sure to stop and get out to shoot some interesting images of what I see. 

Winona County farmer tills his land with disc in the March afternoon.

Cattle gather on a green hill top with calves to graze.

Burr Oak tree emerges with leaves