topic Re: Long Exposure settings on T6 in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Long Exposure settings on T6

CraigPearson — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 16:31:11 GMT

Help! I've been trying to do long exposure to get the bluring effect on running water. No matter what settings I enter into the manual mode all I get is pretty much a white image for anything longer than 0.5 seconds. I set the:
ISO to 100
Aperature to F32
Picture style: Standard
Ambience Priority: Auto
Auto Lighting: Standard

18-55mm lens

50-250mm lens

I've tried using a Hoya ND8 neutral density filter (helps a little but images are still way too washed out)
I've tried using a CPL filter at 90 degrees to the sun, no real improvement.

Any suggestions?
Can I stack two ND8 filters for a better picture, or will that create other problems?

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

Waddizzle — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 16:49:09 GMT

What shooting mode setting are you using on the mode dial on the top of the camera? Use Av or Tv mode.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

CraigPearson — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 16:51:01 GMT

Manual mode (M)

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

Waddizzle — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:05:12 GMT

@CraigPearson wrote:
Manual mode (M)

Hmm. Can you post a sample photo with the EXIF data included?

With an f/32 aperture, your images should not be washed out with an ND 8 filter and a 0.5 shutter speed. You really should not need such an extreme aperture setting. A setting of f/8 to f/11 should be sufficient for most landscape shots. Your shutter speed is fine, and ISO 100 is ideal for shooting landscapes from a tripod.

Are you using the viewfinder or Live View? What is the exposure scale showing you before you take a shot?

Again, use Av or Tv mode.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

CraigPearson — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:09:31 GMT

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

CraigPearson — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:12:41 GMT

That's the very best I could get

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

chriskendrick — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:16:51 GMT

Agree this does not make sense. I'm a novice, so I rely on using PhotoPils. I typically just snap a photo in auto mode, then use the app to determine the appropriate settings with a filter applied. Maybe that will help?

--Chris

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

chriskendrick — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:18:25 GMT

May need to combine photos then. Take a photo where you get the disired water effect, then apply layer masks for the backgrounds?

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

ebiggs1 — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:35:25 GMT

"No matter what settings I enter into the manual mode all I get is pretty much a white image for anything longer than 0.5 seconds.

Any suggestions?"

You bet!

Well for this kind of shooting trial and error is the way to go and it looks like you have tried a lot. First before you 'try' again reset your T6 to factory. Menu, Tools , Clear all settings. Now set the T6 to record Raw only files. No jpg are needed for this. ISO to 100. You can set WB to average but it doesn't matter with Raw. Forget all the other settings. Off is best. Use M mode. You will need a tripod. Your exposures will be in the 10 sec range with the the Hoya ND8 neutral density filter installed. Aperture anywhere from f5.6 to f22. You need to block the view finder opening, too.

This should get you a usable image. Adjust settings as needed. Keep in mind with a 10 sec exposure, reducing to 5 sec or increasing to 20 sec is just one stop.

"Can I stack two ND8 filters for a better picture, or will that create other problems?"

You can but it is not needed or required. Don't use the polarizer either. My preference is to not use any of that or go to the trouble of all that and edit my shot in Photoshop. Works every time!

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

Waddizzle — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:37:29 GMT

@CraigPearson wrote:

Ah, I see. The background is washed out, not the water streams. This is an HDR, High Dynamic Range, problem. I would bet that if you moved about, and took the shot without the bright background, then the problem will be minimized, if not eliminated.

If you are not familiar with HDR photography, you may want to explore it. The human eye can see a wider dynamic range of light than a camera sensor. DR is the difference between the brightest and darkest areas of a scene. Your shot is a textbook example of it, with a much brighter background compared to a darker foreground.

Had you exposed the shot for the background, then the foreground just might be nearly completely dark. When you expose for the foreground, then the bright background becomes overexposed and washed out. So, how do you solve this problem, and get correct exposures on the foreground and background in one image?

Basically, you “cheat.” You would need to take multiple exposures and then use software to combined them into one image. This is not as complicated as it might sound, because the software is usually totally automated. All you have to do is capture a good set of images for the software to work with. It usually takes a minimum of 3 photos, but you could use a larger sampling if you wanted.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

Waddizzle — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:56:05 GMT

@CraigPearson wrote:
That's the very best I could get

Your best is actually pretty good. Most photos have one challenge. This shot has two challenges: capturing the water and capturing the dynamic range. The fountain seems to be almost exactly what you wanted.

A graduated filter could work on this scene, too. In fact, it just might be the best and simplest solution.

A regular HDR sequence would take 3 exposures: -1 Ev, 0 Ev, and +1 Ev. The under exposure, -1 Ev, would capture the bright areas of a scene. The over exposure, +1 Ev, would capture the dark ares of the scene. The normal exposure, 0 Ev, would be used by the software as a baseline for combining elements of the other shots.

That is an example of a HDR shot. I did not use the typical -1,0,+1 sequence of exposures. In fact, I very rarely use that typical sequence..

In most HDR scenarios, the camera cannot capture the scene because it is not able to fully meter the scene properly. I believe I used -2, -1, 0 for this shot. I got an exposure lock on the ground in front of me, and used that as the baseline for the compensated shot sequence.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

CraigPearson — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 21:49:40 GMT

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. You gave me more tools to work with. I was working with the premise that I could do it alone with just camera settings on a single shot. I guess multiple shots with photoshopping is the way to go. I was going crazy with isolating different camera settings and not getting the results I was hoping for.

Thanks!

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

ebiggs1 — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 14:34:46 GMT

"I guess multiple shots with photoshopping is the way to go."

A more than working knowledge of Photoshop can overcome and create many different results. Great shots come from post editing more so than just from the camera. Having three or more exposure settings make a fine start to edit in PS. The flowing water can be done without any special filters or multi-exposures with PS.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

BurnUnit — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 14:02:39 GMT

@CraigPearson wrote:
I was working with the premise that I could do it alone with just camera settings on a single shot. I guess multiple shots with photoshopping is the way to go.

Thanks!

If your scene was more evenly lit, without the large brightly lit sky in the background and the darker walkway and fountain in the shadows in the foreground, you could likely get an acceptable shot from a single exposure.

If you can, shoot the same fountain again but move in closer, maybe angle the camera down some and keep the bright background out of the frame. If the lighting is fairly even across the remaining scene you should get something much closer to the desired results.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

CraigPearson — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 16:37:51 GMT

I tried again at a different time of day, and used a variable ND filter. After several attempts adjusting the settings and the filter I was able to get a lot closer to what I wanted on a single shot. Still not perfect, but better. Anything longer than a 1 second shot still washed out pretty bad, and trying to compensate by turning the filter any farther resuled in uneven brightness. I understand that's the characteric of a variable ND filter to do that. I'm slowly getting there.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

BurnUnit — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 13:51:53 GMT

Yep... You're headed in the right direction now. And this scene has some completely different lighting than your first sample shot. The lighting, in general, is a lot more even here.

Re: Long Exposure settings on T6

Waddizzle — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 00:06:33 GMT

@CraigPearson wrote:
I tried again at a different time of day, and used a variable ND filter. After several attempts adjusting the settings and the filter I was able to get a lot closer to what I wanted on a single shot. Still not perfect, but better. Anything longer than a 1 second shot still washed out pretty bad, and trying to compensate by turning the filter any farther resuled in uneven brightness. I understand that's the characteric of a variable ND filter to do that. I'm slowly getting there.

I like this shot. You have captured a very good starting point.

Now it needs to [have just] a little post processing. Check the dynamic range of whites and blacks, level the horizon, and adjust the highlights and shadows. Finally, go ahead and tweak the contrast and colors however if you want. Done.