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Long Exposures with the Fuji X-T1 in The Lake District

A

Andrew Stannard

pro member
Hi,

I've recently switched from my 5D MkII to the Fuji X-T1, mainly because of the drop in weight when hiking with the camera. Have shot a few thousand frames on it now, and been really happy, but had my first chance at some long exposure shots last week.

There were all taken at the edge of Derwent Water in the Lake District in the UK - a beautiful place, and well worth the visit if you've never been before.

All images were shot on tripod with a Lee Big Stopper (10 Stop ND), and a 0.9 graduated filter. Longest exposure was on the last image and was around 4 minutes. System worked really well for me, and I plan to get at least two of these images printed out at either 18x12 or 24x16.


2014_05_ASxt4264_AndrewStannard.jpg




2014_05_ASxt4265_AndrewStannard.jpg




2014_05_ASxt4269_AndrewStannard.jpg




2014_05_ASxt4272_AndrewStannard.jpg




Thanks for looking,

Regards,
Andrew.
 
Doug Kerr

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Andrew,

Andrew Stannard said:
I've recently switched from my 5D MkII to the Fuji X-T1, mainly because of the drop in weight when hiking with the camera. Have shot a few thousand frames on it now, and been really happy, but had my first chance at some long exposure shots last week.

There were all taken at the edge of Derwent Water in the Lake District in the UK - a beautiful place, and well worth the visit if you've never been before.
Click to expand...

Lovely work, all of them.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug
 
Antonio Correia

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Lake District in the UK is really nice.
My wife and myself we have been there some years ago.

Lovely place shown in great images, indeed ! :)
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Andrew Stannard said:
Hi,

I've recently switched from my 5D MkII to the Fuji X-T1, mainly because of the drop in weight when hiking with the camera. Have shot a few thousand frames on it now, and been really happy, but had my first chance at some long exposure shots last week.

There were all taken at the edge of Derwent Water in the Lake District in the UK - a beautiful place, and well worth the visit if you've never been before.

All images were shot on tripod with a Lee Big Stopper (10 Stop ND), and a 0.9 graduated filter. Longest exposure was on the last image and was around 4 minutes. System worked really well for me, and I plan to get at least two of these images printed out at either 18x12 or 24x16.
Click to expand...


2014_05_ASxt4264_AndrewStannard.jpg


Andy,

It's easy to enjoy the scene you present with sharply rendered boats, flat water and mountains in the b.g. But what's the purpose of the slow shutter speed? Are you getting smoothing out of the water or is it the focus maximized on the foreground that's important?

Asher
 
A

Andrew Stannard

pro member
Hi Asher,

That's a good question. In this case the long exposure was to blur out the water. There was actually a degree of choppiness to the water and without the long exposure this just seemed to make everything look too busy. Smoothing the water also helped to bring out reflections on the water.

I do have an image taken at shorter shutter speeds, so will post that later on today for comparison.

Thanks.
Andrew.
 
B

Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
Andrew Stannard said:
In this case the long exposure was to blur out the water. There was actually a degree of choppiness to the water and without the long exposure this just seemed to make everything look too busy. Smoothing the water also helped to bring out reflections on the water.
Click to expand...

Hi Andrew,

What surprised me was that the boats didn't blur from the water movement as well. The water apparently wasn't wavy enough for that to be noticeable at this output size, or they were resting on something solid.

The long exposures do produce a nice tranquil atmosphere. It helps to offset that with something that stands out, like these boats, but clouds can become an issue.

I know from experience that these long exposures take a lot more consideration to pull off successfully, instead of just slapping on a filter and be patient. One needs to pre-visualize something that we cannot see in real(-time) life.

Cheers,
Bart
 
A

Andrew Stannard

pro member
Thanks Bart,

What surprised me was that the boats didn't blur from the water movement as well. The water apparently wasn't wavy enough for that to be noticeable at this output size, or they were resting on something solid.
Click to expand...

I'll confess that I was pleasantly surprised myself that the foreground boats remained sharp. Fortunately they seemed to be well beached on the shoreline gravel! The boats further back, tied to the jetty, do have some movement that would be easily noticible in a print, but I don't think this distracts from the image.

I quite like experimenting with long exposures, sometimes the result isn't quite what you expect, but that's part of the fun! I also like the idea that with a long exposure you can create a photo that isn't something you could directly see with the naked eye.

Cheers,
Andrew.
 
Murray Foote

Murray Foote

Member
Very nice. It raises the possibility of doing it when the natural conditions are almost still, just to accentuate the effect.

I'm expecting to get an X-T1 myself in the next week or two.
 
Robert Watcher

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Bart_van_der_Wolf said:
Hi Andrew,

What surprised me was that the boats didn't blur from the water movement as well. The water apparently wasn't wavy enough for that to be noticeable at this output size, or they were resting on something solid.

The long exposures do produce a nice tranquil atmosphere. It helps to offset that with something that stands out, like these boats, but clouds can become an issue.

I know from experience that these long exposures take a lot more consideration to pull off successfully, instead of just slapping on a filter and be patient. One needs to pre-visualize something that we cannot see in real(-time) life.

Cheers,
Bart
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing when I looked at this thread this morning - - - why there was no ghosting of the boats from the water movement. Something I probably wouldn't have thought about, until I was out trying to make the same type of slow exposure shot.

All of your photographs are really nice - with the first one (boats) standing out to me. The setting looks like it presents many wonderful photographic opportunities.

----
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Andrew Stannard said:
Hi Asher,

That's a good question. In this case the long exposure was to blur out the water. There was actually a degree of choppiness to the water and without the long exposure this just seemed to make everything look too busy. Smoothing the water also helped to bring out reflections on the water.

I do have an image taken at shorter shutter speeds, so will post that later on today for comparison.
Click to expand...

Andrew,

I'm really interested to see the fast shutter shot! I have never thought of using a slow shutter speed to smooth out the water and increase visibility of reflections - great ideas!

Asher
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Bart,

I wonder if the boat is sharp since it occupies one position 99% of the time and the outlier rare "ghosts" are overwhelmed. As you imply, magnifying the edges, (especially against the sky), might reveal the faint ghosts that must have been there!

Asher
 
A

Andrew Stannard

pro member
Hi,

Thanks for the additional comments.

Below is a short shutter speed (1/12sec) version of the same scene, together with the long exposure version for easy comparison. The 1/12s version was shot as jpg, so the processing isn't quite the same, but near enough.


2014_05_ASxt4254_AndrewStannard.jpg




2014_05_ASxt4264_AndrewStannard.jpg


My thoughts:

I prefer the long exposure version because it helps to simplify the scene. As well as smoothing out the water and enhancing the reflection it has also removed some, possibly distracting, groups of ducks.

Overall the long exposure better represents my artistic vision at the time of a tranquil evening in a beautiful location. Of course others may think differently, and that it the beauty of photography and art!

Thanks,
Andrew.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Another wonderful look at the Lake District and a great approach to simplifying the scenes with long exposure!

Asher
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I remember my Father in Law taking very long exposures, (with his Deardorff 11x14) camera), of a courthose with so many people walking by! It seemed simply weird!

Of course, the image that appeared in the darkroom tray under the red safelight showed not a single person. I was so impressed!

Asher
 
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