The Ephemeral 1st

[marlunn]

I 'invested' in a Lee big stopper to work with in my new adventure into landscapes. I then took the view that blurring water or clouds was not its only use.

While at the Malvern Spring Show I was amused by the constant stop start movement of people around the Flower arranging displays. The displays are both static and ephemeral in nature as the show is for a limited number of days and as they are cut flowers the display is soon past its best and then gone forever.

The feeling I got was 'people' were more permanent as a group if not as individuals but with the aid of the filter this sort of turns it around and makes the display permanent and the people ephemeral. Not sure I explained my reasoning for the imge well but anyway, it amused me.

The display was the winning display of the show, hence the title

The ephemeral 1st

[Rebel]

This is awesome, very surreal!

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Mark,

Weird effect, it has me imagining a plate of glass and the people as reflections in it that are behind the camera.

Dave

[marlunn]

Cheers Matt, that was just the effect I was after

Thanks John

Thank you Dave - it was to 'challange' perceptions so thats good

[James G]

Mark, a very intriguing image which I find appealing to me more and more.... I keep wanting to look at it and feel that I should be finding a better place to peep from.

Could I ask what the capture settings were?

[marlunn]

Thanks James, of course,

Nikon D7100
17-50 sigma @17mm
F8, 51sec, iso 100,

On tripod with Lee big stopper

[IzzieK]

Mark this is beautiful!!! How many stops did you have on the Big Lee? Just curious...do you think my variable filter will work here? Or am I on the wrong track?

[marlunn]

Izzie thanks, the Big stopper is 10 stops - not sure about the variable - I guess its have a play and see

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Guess I'll have to google what a stopper is, but I had the same thoughts as Dave above in post #4.
Cool effect and shot.

[IzzieK]

Izzie thanks, the Big stopper is 10 stops - not sure about the variable - I guess its have a play and see

Mark, I supposed you looked at your viewfinder when you took this image (of course you did, silly me..) but what I want to ask is did you see the ghost-like figure before you pressed you shutter button or did you rely on your shutter speed, aperture, ISO and all that, including your stopper? What do you think I should use in your situation here -- I have a 12-24mm but nothing in between. My next lens is a 70-300mm. Toes this shot depends on the lens used or it does not matter as long as the shutter speed is as low as 51 sec. Between my two lenses, how do you think my shutter speed should be, granted that my ISO is between 100-200 and granted that I used F8.0? Am I asking too much question? Don't answer if you find me too inquisitive. I'd just like to know what my options are...I am really interested in that kind of effect...ARe the people stationary like the plants or are they moving too?

[marlunn]

Hi Izzie,

To use the Big stopper and any other strong nd filter - you view frame focus etc with the filter not in place - that gives you the exposure you want for that image. Then you put the filter in place and use a provide table to convert the exposure you have to one with the big stopper - lee have the tabl eon their web site and you get a copy witht he filter when you buy it.

The image was in my head as to the people and the amount of blur / ghostliness they would be captured at. I took three but this was the one with the effect i wanted. i really is a bit of a play with peoe as they have to pause for long enought to leave ans image but not so long as to be fully exposed. I used F8 as that is generally the sweet point on the lens but up to f11 is good - after that same as any exposure you start to get to lower image quality and increased chromatic aberation.

I used a 17mm to get the area in I wanted but any size lens is fine I think depending on the image you want, so long as you have the filter adaptor to fit it.

The increase in exposure realtes to the strength of the stopper and the original exposure without it in place. so, set up the shot as normal on tripod - take a exposure reading - add the nd - adjust the exposur eot allow fo that and play

[IzzieK]

Hi Izzie,

To use the Big stopper and any other strong nd filter - you view frame focus etc with the filter not in place - that gives you the exposure you want for that image. Then you put the filter in place and use a provide table to convert the exposure you have to one with the big stopper - lee have the tabl eon their web site and you get a copy witht he filter when you buy it.

The image was in my head as to the people and the amount of blur / ghostliness they would be captured at. I took three but this was the one with the effect i wanted. i really is a bit of a play with peoe as they have to pause for long enought to leave ans image but not so long as to be fully exposed. I used F8 as that is generally the sweet point on the lens but up to f11 is good - after that same as any exposure you start to get to lower image quality and increased chromatic aberation.

I used a 17mm to get the area in I wanted but any size lens is fine I think depending on the image you want, so long as you have the filter adaptor to fit it.

The increase in exposure relates to the strength of the stopper and the original exposure without it in place. so, set up the shot as normal on tripod - take a exposure reading - add the nd - adjust the exposure to allow for that and play

Thanks for the quick response. I did not expect that. I will play with my exposure and lens when my husband is in his den and wait for him to stand. I need to experiment. I just bought a shoulder mount camera stabilizer to use with our event this weekend so I can practice there too before the formation flying. Thank you, thank you so much...

[marlunn]

apologies for the terrible typing - was a bit hurried at the keyboard

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Izzie,

You don't need to wait for Bill, you can try it yourself (if you can decode my 'instructions'/suggestions) ...

Indoors, in a not too well lit room ...
Put your 12-24mm lens on your camera, set at say 20mm (for a suitable angle of view), set the Camera to Manual exposure, set aperture to f/8
Put your camera on a tripod (I think you have one?) or just on something like a counter top, looking across at an object like a vase of flowers which someone could stand either side of.
Before you fit the filter; focus and get an exposure reading and adjust ISO to achieve longest shutter speed possible, I'll assume this will be say; 0.5 seconds - if you can't get that, stop the lens down some more, and/or close the curtains/blinds, whatever you need to do.
Now set focus to manual to avoid it changing.
Being careful not to upset the framing and focusing, fit your filter set to maximum darkening (I don't what that is, but I'll guess 7 stops)
To compensate for the ND filter, now calculate the shutter speed necessary, 7 stops on top of my guestimate of 0.5 second, so that's; 0.5->1->2->4->8->16->32->64 seconds. Put the camera in B (Bulb) as the shutter speed and start an exposure, walk to the flower vase and stand still for say 25 seconds in one position, then go round the other side and stand still there for 25 seconds, by now the exposure probably needs ending as your 64 seconds will have elapsed, so return to camera and end the exposure. Don't fret over being accurate with my timings.

Good luck (and show us the result if it works), Dave

If you Vari-ND filter maximum is say only 5 stops, adjust accordingly; so aim the metered exposure to be 2 seconds to retain 64 seconds for the test exposure (so you have time to move about).

[Manfred M]

It's an interesting experiment and that is something that we should always do to see what works well and of course, works less well.

Your technique is sometimes used to eliminate people in a busy scene. A long exposure (I'm thinking minutes, rather than seconds) means that you can pop a camera on a really sturdy tripod and take a long exposure. The static parts of the image will be there, but for the most part, the transient ones (i.e. the people) won't be noticeable.

[TonyW]

I like this image and heartily approve of the idea of experimenting.

I have a question about long exposures. To what extent can you get the same effect by taking lots of short exposure pictures and then blending them with, say, Photoshop?

[IzzieK]

Thanks Dave...I will try this...and yes, I have tripods -- been a tripod collector in my other life...

I think my Variable filter is only a 7 or 8 stops...it is a Singh-Ray (sp?) And you forgot to tell me about using a remote control for more stability..would that help?

From what I understand now, the setting is bulb that create that ghostlike image...gotya!
OK...that is very very helpful...and I just prepared my camera last night for an event this weekend my camera is going to attend... (I go with it..btw...) I have time...Thanks...

Hi Izzie,

You don't need to wait for Bill, you can try it yourself (if you can decode my 'instructions'/suggestions) ...

Indoors, in a not too well lit room ...
Put your 12-24mm lens on your camera, set at say 20mm (for a suitable angle of view), set the Camera to Manual exposure, set aperture to f/8
Put your camera on a tripod (I think you have one?) or just on something like a counter top, looking across at an object like a vase of flowers which someone could stand either side of.
Before you fit the filter; focus and get an exposure reading and adjust ISO to achieve longest shutter speed possible, I'll assume this will be say; 0.5 seconds - if you can't get that, stop the lens down some more, and/or close the curtains/blinds, whatever you need to do.
Now set focus to manual to avoid it changing.
Being careful not to upset the framing and focusing, fit your filter set to maximum darkening (I don't what that is, but I'll guess 7 stops)
To compensate for the ND filter, now calculate the shutter speed necessary, 7 stops on top of my guestimate of 0.5 second, so that's; 0.5->1->2->4->8->16->32->64 seconds. Put the camera in B (Bulb) as the shutter speed and start an exposure, walk to the flower vase and stand still for say 25 seconds in one position, then go round the other side and stand still there for 25 seconds, by now the exposure probably needs ending as your 64 seconds will have elapsed, so return to camera and end the exposure. Don't fret over being accurate with my timings.

Good luck (and show us the result if it works), Dave

If you Vari-ND filter maximum is say only 5 stops, adjust accordingly; so aim the metered exposure to be 2 seconds to retain 64 seconds for the test exposure (so you have time to move about).

[mugge]

Mark, my kind of photography. I just love it. Keep it up.
Cheers Ole

[dem]

I have a question about long exposures. To what extent can you get the same effect by taking lots of short exposure pictures and then blending them with, say, Photoshop?

How many images at what shutter speeds are you going to combine? If you shoot a one minute video and then combine all frames into one image, the final result will be pretty much the same. If you combine say 10 shots each exposed for 6 seconds, same result again. 10 images taken every 6 seconds and exposed for a fraction of a second will give 10 overlapping ghosts rather than a smooth motion blur.

The good thing about taking a lot of short exposure images is that you can then remove people complete from the scene. But instead of blending the images, open them as transparent layers and then manually erase the people.