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)

Newborn Bradley

 

Congratulations to Mandy and Joe on their second child Bradley. I had the honor to photograph little Bradley shortly after he was born. Who doesn't love babies? I had such a great time and we got some great photos. This handsome guy is adorable and is a little brother to his sister Bailey. The cute dog hat with tail and the long stocking cap come from Sweet Life Creations. Be sure to check out some of her other great work for your own newborn. 

Hats by Sweet Life Creations

Hats by Sweet Life Creations

Hats by Sweet Life Creations

Hats by Sweet Life Creations

5D Mark III and a Trip to The Dog Park

  It is finally here, I've waited over a month after I ordered the camera to receive it, due to it being recalled and the long pre-order list. I now finally have my 5D Mark III. I've been waiting for this camera to be announced in the beginning of the year and it wasn't until the week after my birthday that it was announced by Canon. After having my Canon 30D for over 6 years, a 1.6x APS-C crop sensor camera body. I have been through a lot with that camera and have taken it across the country from Washington D.C., Texas twice, and Colorado. When I was in Washington D.C. I went with my classmates from the MSU Reporter to the Lincoln Memorial at night in the pouring rain. Luckily I had a rain covered camera bag, but that couldn't keep the body dry enough when I took it out too shoot. After that the shutter button on it has never been the same. Now that I have a back up camera body I will be able to part with it and send it in to get the shutter button repaired.

Canon 5D Mark III

   First off this camera feels so great in my hands, the ergonomics of it are fantastic. In fact the overall feel of the camera is outstanding, from the battery door to memory card door and the soft touch grip of the camera, it just has a better build to it. This is all exciting to me because I am coming from a Canon 30D. The new auto focus system with 61 AF points compared to my 9 point AF of the 30D are in no way equal. 99.9% of the time I use the center focus point which is the fastest functioning AF point. When I picked it up and set sights on our Bernese Mountain Dog Aspen, the 5D Mk III just nailed the focus on his eyes even in a dark room. Compared to my 30D it search for seconds to find something in a dark room and a dark subject.  That improvement alone amazed me. The image quality output and large rear LCD are beautiful.

   I am very excited to be shooting with a full frame (35mm) digital camera and look forward to taking more photos and sharing them with everyone. Check out a few photos below I shot the first day I received the camera. All the photos were shot with a 24-70 L f/2.8 . I will be spending a few weeks just trying to figure out all of the custom functions and play around with making videos as well.

  My future posts may consist of reviewing the camera and answering any questions people have for me. Please leave your comments and questions below. Thanks!

   Of course Aspen had to be my first model.

Aspen

2 Puppy Old English Bull Dogs at the North Rochester Dog Park

A boy throws Frisbee at the dog park in the late afternoon