Long Exposure settings on T6

[CraigPearson]

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?

[Waddizzle]

@CraigPearson wrote:

That's the very best I could get

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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.

[CraigPearson]

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! 

[ebiggs1]

"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.

[BurnUnit]

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@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! 

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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.

[CraigPearson]

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.

[BurnUnit]

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.

[Waddizzle]

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@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.

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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.