Photographing a fountain at night....

[My2Girls66]

I am thinking an ND filter would be in order for this? If so, which would be the most appropraite a .3, .6 or .9? I have a .6 for my 18-135mm(67mm) lens but I want to get one for my Tamron 10-24mm which is 77mm. Also, do I necessarily need a slim one or would a regular filter be ok? It is not something I will probably use very often, I think I used my .6 twice in 4 years so I am looking at these....
http://www.amazon.com/Tiffen-77mm-N...8781641&sr=1-1&keywords=tiffen+77mm+nd+filter

 

[havoc315]

If you are doing it at night, you may be ok just with closing your aperture, and don't necessarily need a ND filter. If you wanted that type of shot during the day, you would need the filter, the stronger the better.

 

[photo_chick]

If all you want is to blur the water at night.... The simplest solution is often the best. At night you don't need an ND filter. They're great when you need them but in this situation to me it seems like one more layer that can cause problems. A low ISO with a stopped down aperture should slow down your shutter speed more than enough to give a nice blur to the water. Now... if you want it to be several minutes long to make some of the people disappear that's a different story. Then you'd want the strongest ND filter you can get and go for the longest exposure possible with the aperture stopped down and the ISO set low. Just be aware of reciprocity failure in that case because although it doesn't affect digital quite like film when you get into those really long shots it will often make an appearance.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I agree that you don't need a ND filter at night. Here is one of my favorites shot at f8, 1.3 second exposure (bulb mode), ISO 100.


Epcot Fountain by Terry McGraw Photography, on Flickr

There was some minor PP but nothing extreme or major.

Saying that it is not necessary doesn't mean that it is not a tool in the toolbox. If you want to save some money, then I would recommend purchasing a filter for your largest lens and then step-up/step-down ( I can never remember which is the correct terminology) rings so it can be used on all your lenses.

 

[wiigirl]

Thats a really great nighttime pic!

 

[wbeem]

No ND filter, even at sunset. If you're in bright daylight, get one. I have a 10 stop filter for long exposures. In the evening, though, I just stop down.


Fountain of Nations by wbeem, on Flickr

 

[My2Girls66]

Thanks for the replies and beautiful photos! Just what I needed to hear and see I was looking at photos online for settings but of course the exif doesn't include filter info. Though, the making people disappear part is intriguing

 

[wbeem]

Thanks for the replies and beautiful photos! Just what I needed to hear and see I was looking at photos online for settings but of course the exif doesn't include filter info. Though, the making people disappear part is intriguing

Here's the thing about making people disappear with long exposure. It only works if there is enough of a gap before the next person goes through the scene. If you're trying to do a long exposure while a large crowd goes through, you never see the ground, so you just get a blur of people and it looks odd. Some of those Disney crowds can be quite thick.

 

[photo_chick]

Thanks for the replies and beautiful photos! Just what I needed to hear and see I was looking at photos online for settings but of course the exif doesn't include filter info. Though, the making people disappear part is intriguing

Making people disappear... it is easiest with light foot traffic when people are constantly moving. If the exposures aren't long enough you'll end up with the blur like wbeem mentioned. You can get past that... I've got a friend who does 30 minute and longer exposures in public places at night and it's pretty amazing to see the final shot where things are just empty. It takes some experimentation to get everything just right in a scene to make this work well.

 

[boBQuincy]

One reason to use a ND filter for night photos would be to avoid a small aperture that causes diffraction issues. On APS-C this might mean f/11 or more but on smaller formats it happens earlier. Since switching from APS-C to micro 4/3 I have been trying to not go beyond f/8 as f/11 shows visible loss of sharpness due to diffraction.

This was f/8 at 0.5 seconds, ISO 200 (-2 comp) and no ND was required (Canon Xsi, 24-105)