Got question you think a lot of people would like to know the answer to? Ask it in the comments! I'll pull the best questions for future LPQOTW segments.
As a serial guesser when using my 10-stop, I found this video incredibly helpful. I like having a few options for outcomes so appreciate the variety, thank you! 🤘🏼
If you are a film photographer there is another aspect to this called reciprocity failure. In a nutshell, film (b&w, color, and slide) behave as expected up to a certain point with respect to shutter speeds. When you get into longer exposure territory though each film becomes less sensitive and requires extra time to create the correct exposure, and each emulsion has a different factor to consider. The result is that you can use the digital methods described here to get the back of napkin exposure time but you also need to find the reciprocity failure for the film you are using and add in that. Fantastic topic, thanks for bringing this up! BTW, if you are an Olympus digital shooter, the Live Time feature is your friend. Hopefully someone will buy Live Time/Live Composite, and IBIS from Olympus and use in their cameras (Fujifilm I see you over there in the corner....)
It would be great if you could do one on taking pictures in the afternoon with a high sun and harsh light. Great video as always, keep up the good work!
This was a great video... I am following you! And thank you for the time to share with us. Just ordering my first set of filters! So... gettinnnng readddyyyy ))) Oh... I like the math idea best! , but did download the app! )))
You can either approximate in your head like you said and divide into 1000 (or 60) if it's less than 1 second or multiply if it's 1s or more. e.g. 1/40s would be 1000/40 or 60/40. or 1s would be 1000x40 or 60x40. Which is normally what I would do. Or, this day and age, as long as you have a smartphone, you don't even need an app. Just use your favorite assistant Alexa, Google, or Siri. Alexa, what is 1024/250? Hey Google, what is 60/250? Instant and exact answer and if set up that way, you don't even need to touch your phone for it to work.
Ok I often drive along and I'll see an area that is breath taking. Buttttt. When I try to get that area in a picture it doesn't quite look so breath taking. How do I make those pics look better so the translation of the shot is as good as what I'm seeing with the naked eye. You might not be able to answer this one but there you have it. And thanks for this question of the week, cause it's a great help to us novice photographers.
Great video. But this raises another question. Let’s say you’re shooting a sunset where the scene is getting darker by the minute. These calculations dont account for that. So how do you set your shutter speed for a sunset shoot. Or how do you set your shutter speed during a sunrise?
I like the iso 6400 trick, 2.5 seconds @iso 6400= 2.5 minutes @iso 100 basically turn the seconds @6400 into minutes @100 never have to take the filter off.
Thank you Joshua. Of all the methods, I find the math technique the quickest and the one that makes the most sense. A possible question for landscape photography: What does the role of back-focusing lenses play, and does not using them negatively impact the final image quality? A second possible topic: Ball Head V.S Fluid Video Head for landscape images. Once you've used a Fluid Head there's no going back! Thanks again.
Very simplified, but thorough explanation as usual Josh. Thank you for your effective explanations. Possible question for your consideration - How can you focus on a subject in the foreground while doing astrophotography since it’s so dark? I’m already shooting in manual and have the Stars in focus using manual focus and enlarging Live View to get that sharp, but if you have a tree or cactus in a silhouette dialing that in accurately is problematic (at least for me). Merging the photos is the goal and having it all crisp. Thanks
Love the pilot title-sequence for QOTW! Here's a candidate for QOTW: When focus stacking, how do I decide what F-stop/DOF to use? ie. When not focus stacking, I choose an F-stop that gives me the depth of field I'm aiming for creatively, but when focus stacking what is the determining factor (or factors)? A possible follow-on question: Is there a scenario where you might actually change the F-stop between shots when doing focus stacking? Thanks Josh!
Good question! I'll add it to the list. For now, the short answer would be to use the f-stop of your lens' maximum sharpness, then you just need enough shots to carry you from front to back. Never thought about changing f-stop between shots.... I'll have to ponder that!
I have a question of the week for you. I was watching a video by Tony & Chelsea about apetures. Now we all know about the the crop factor ( I use a Canon camera & the crop factor is 1.6). What they said that had me scratching my head was that you also have to multiply the f stop by the same 1.6 to get the accurate f stop ( ex: f4 x 1.6 gives me an f stop of f6.4). I have never heard that before & wondered if that were true?
thank you for posting, makes sense the way you lay it out, What is the difference between a hard and soft gradual ND filter, and when would I be using one over the other?
I find it less confusing to just go through the stops in my mind, e.g. for a 6-stop filter: 1/500 -> 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8. It may a little slower to do, but I like that I don't have to remember anything except the standard stops.
One thing I'd like to add to this, not all filters are exactly the same. One brand 10 stop filter may actually be 9 stops or even 12 stops. It depends on the quality on the filter. That means you will have to use trial and error to see what your filter actually is.
This is a really good tool that we can have with us always, thanks for sharing! I would like to know what you do about hot pixels and long exposure noise control. This can be a huge problem depending on the camera used. Would you advise leaving the long exp noise reduction off, or on, or rather take a single dark frame long exposure and use that to remove the noise in post for multiple images of the same exposure time?
When using a nd filter, i just counted the stops when adjusting my shutter speed. My camera adjusts in third stop increments so I'd count 1 2 3, 2 2 3, 3 2 3, 4 2 3, 5 2 3... Easy. I regularly use the histogram when deciding on exposure times for deep sky astrophotography though, conditions change night to night, not to mention different brightness targets, so ill guess and then double check that my histogram curve is seperated from the left of my histogram, and if possible, not over exposing stars (causes loss of star color), or worse, my object.
Yup, the counting method works great. Until you hit 30 seconds. That's really interesting about the deep sky astro. I'm sure the histogram is pretty different from your typical landscape.
My question is , Where should I focus ? Should I use hyperfocul distance or one third distance or infinity focus method or the point of interest ? Which one will give me best result ? Which method you generally use to obtain the desired result ? If you can describe this with some examples that wold be great . Thanks a lot in advance .
Hi, for the question of the week, how to understand which is the maximum focus distance where have sense to focus rather then focus to infinite? I mean, your camera let you to chose to focus different points, but when these points are over a certain distance is always infinite. And, how the maximum focus distance is related to the focal lenght? Grazie
Mr. Cripps! How do I get perfectly blended focus-stacked images? I use Photoshop for auto-align and auto-blend but too many times there are blurry imperfections.
Hey Steve, some definitely use it. I use it occasionally. But these days the dynamic range of our cameras is so good it's rare to need more than one shot .
My entire commercial career has depended on that one very thing!!!!! 35yrs and I still use it - the reason we don't use Auto is simply because experience tells me that not all situations are the saem. By the time you have programmed it in - you could have done it yourself. I use X1DII and a flick of the front dial is all thats needed - sometimes I use HDR in the same way - even on very very long exposures!!
Use the PhotoShop Noise Filter called Dust & Scratches. Play with the radius pixel setting (keep the number small) to remove the hot pixels. Lot faster than using spot removal.
How do you get the same exposure when you don’t have all the filters a pro photographer might have , say using the camera only to get the same results.
Hey Malcolm, if you have a camera with multiple exposure mode you can use that to simulate long exposures. But at some point if the light is bright you will need filters to do long exposures.
Because you get the most information out of the scene as long as you don't clip your highlights. You can reduce exposure in post and get the lowest noise possible and the best colors.
Why do my two apps both suggest 2 seconds shutter speed with the 10 stop filter and initial shutter speed of 1/500 edit? 2 seconds is definitely not long enough
@@NMalteC because not all filters are consistent with their "darkness". Some might block more light than others. I have a Lee 6-stop and a Lee 10-stop filter. I've done some standards testing, and found my 6-stop needs to be 1 shutter click (1/3 stop) faster than the app, and my 10-stop needs to be 1 shutter click (1/3 stop) slower than the app to match the exposure of having no filter.
I think you can get it! I have a free course about the basics that explains things in simple terms, if you want to check it out: www.joshuacripps.com/free-photo-basics-course/
Got question you think a lot of people would like to know the answer to? Ask it in the comments! I'll pull the best questions for future LPQOTW segments.
As a serial guesser when using my 10-stop, I found this video incredibly helpful. I like having a few options for outcomes so appreciate the variety, thank you! 🤘🏼
It's what I do. If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
Wonderful video Josh! Very engaging... long exposures are awesome!
They definitely are! Thanks Sarah.
This was a great video. Both the click approach and the math approach was great. I appreciate it!!!
Thanks so much! Appreciate the support
Direct to my fav vids!
Great explanation!!!!
Awesome, thank you!
If you are a film photographer there is another aspect to this called reciprocity failure. In a nutshell, film (b&w, color, and slide) behave as expected up to a certain point with respect to shutter speeds. When you get into longer exposure territory though each film becomes less sensitive and requires extra time to create the correct exposure, and each emulsion has a different factor to consider. The result is that you can use the digital methods described here to get the back of napkin exposure time but you also need to find the reciprocity failure for the film you are using and add in that.
Fantastic topic, thanks for bringing this up!
BTW, if you are an Olympus digital shooter, the Live Time feature is your friend. Hopefully someone will buy Live Time/Live Composite, and IBIS from Olympus and use in their cameras (Fujifilm I see you over there in the corner....)
Thank you!
It would be great if you could do one on taking pictures in the afternoon with a high sun and harsh light. Great video as always, keep up the good work!
Good question. I would be interested as well.
I got you covered - czcams.com/video/uowBVeK7DVM/video.html
Thx Joshua, a good tutorial on aplying a long shutterspeed
Glad you liked it Ton.
This is such am amazing explanation and I am glad that I learned such deep details about using Filters to achieve stunning results.
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it.
Great tips...thank you
Thanks so much Tony
This was a great video... I am following you! And thank you for the time to share with us. Just ordering my first set of filters! So... gettinnnng readddyyyy ))) Oh... I like the math idea best! , but did download the app! )))
You can either approximate in your head like you said and divide into 1000 (or 60) if it's less than 1 second or multiply if it's 1s or more. e.g. 1/40s would be 1000/40 or 60/40. or 1s would be 1000x40 or 60x40. Which is normally what I would do. Or, this day and age, as long as you have a smartphone, you don't even need an app. Just use your favorite assistant Alexa, Google, or Siri. Alexa, what is 1024/250? Hey Google, what is 60/250? Instant and exact answer and if set up that way, you don't even need to touch your phone for it to work.
Most definitely! That's a great bit of advice about asking your phone.
This was a great tip.Thanks a lot.
Never knew about the click method! Game changer right there✌🏻✌🏻
Thanks for the video. Nice and simple explanation. Do you have any video related to GND filters?
Sure glad your back!!
Me too 😎
Ok I often drive along and I'll see an area that is breath taking. Buttttt. When I try to get that area in a picture it doesn't quite look so breath taking. How do I make those pics look better so the translation of the shot is as good as what I'm seeing with the naked eye. You might not be able to answer this one but there you have it. And thanks for this question of the week, cause it's a great help to us novice photographers.
Great video. But this raises another question. Let’s say you’re shooting a sunset where the scene is getting darker by the minute. These calculations dont account for that. So how do you set your shutter speed for a sunset shoot. Or how do you set your shutter speed during a sunrise?
Thanks
This was super helpful, thanks!
Thanks Paula!
I like the iso 6400 trick, 2.5 seconds @iso 6400= 2.5 minutes @iso 100 basically turn the seconds @6400 into minutes @100 never have to take the filter off.
Oh yeah! I forgot about that one. Heard about it awhile ago but it's slipped my mind since then.
Yep, that's the method I use.
Thank you Joshua. Of all the methods, I find the math technique the quickest and the one that makes the most sense. A possible question for landscape photography: What does the role of back-focusing lenses play, and does not using them negatively impact the final image quality? A second possible topic: Ball Head V.S Fluid Video Head for landscape images. Once you've used a Fluid Head there's no going back! Thanks again.
Thanks....was forgotten how easy it is to get the right sutterspeed.
You're welcome
Fantasticpiece of info. thank u
Thanks heaps. You are a gem. Please stay at my place in East Auckland whenever around.
pro cameras can be adjusted to 1 full stop increments in the shooting modes with every click, so you click 10 times instead of 30 times.
Very simplified, but thorough explanation as usual Josh. Thank you for your effective explanations. Possible question for your consideration - How can you focus on a subject in the foreground while doing astrophotography since it’s so dark? I’m already shooting in manual and have the Stars in focus using manual focus and enlarging Live View to get that sharp, but if you have a tree or cactus in a silhouette dialing that in accurately is problematic (at least for me). Merging the photos is the goal and having it all crisp. Thanks
Love it
Thanks Dane!
Love the pilot title-sequence for QOTW!
Here's a candidate for QOTW: When focus stacking, how do I decide what F-stop/DOF to use? ie. When not focus stacking, I choose an F-stop that gives me the depth of field I'm aiming for creatively, but when focus stacking what is the determining factor (or factors)?
A possible follow-on question: Is there a scenario where you might actually change the F-stop between shots when doing focus stacking?
Thanks Josh!
Good question! I'll add it to the list. For now, the short answer would be to use the f-stop of your lens' maximum sharpness, then you just need enough shots to carry you from front to back. Never thought about changing f-stop between shots.... I'll have to ponder that!
I have a question of the week for you. I was watching a video by Tony & Chelsea about apetures. Now we all know about the the crop factor ( I use a Canon camera & the crop factor is 1.6). What they said that had me scratching my head was that you also have to multiply the f stop by the same 1.6 to get the accurate f stop ( ex: f4 x 1.6 gives me an f stop of f6.4). I have never heard that before & wondered if that were true?
it is but why is it even an issue?
thank you for posting, makes sense the way you lay it out, What is the difference between a hard and soft gradual ND filter, and when would I be using one over the other?
I find it less confusing to just go through the stops in my mind, e.g. for a 6-stop filter: 1/500 -> 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8. It may a little slower to do, but I like that I don't have to remember anything except the standard stops.
For sure! As many methods as photographers out there.
Super useful!
Glad it was helpful!
One thing I'd like to add to this, not all filters are exactly the same. One brand 10 stop filter may actually be 9 stops or even 12 stops. It depends on the quality on the filter. That means you will have to use trial and error to see what your filter actually is.
Absolutely. That's a good, fine point.
wow, awesome stuff!
Thanks so much Jimmy!
Love the mental math method! Quick and (relatively) easy.
Glad you think so! For me too.
This is a really good tool that we can have with us always, thanks for sharing! I would like to know what you do about hot pixels and long exposure noise control. This can be a huge problem depending on the camera used. Would you advise leaving the long exp noise reduction off, or on, or rather take a single dark frame long exposure and use that to remove the noise in post for multiple images of the same exposure time?
Cool
was in mammoth lakes last weekend and was wishing i had a 10 stop nd finally ordered it :-)
Nice! You're gonna love it.
When using a nd filter, i just counted the stops when adjusting my shutter speed. My camera adjusts in third stop increments so I'd count 1 2 3, 2 2 3, 3 2 3, 4 2 3, 5 2 3...
Easy.
I regularly use the histogram when deciding on exposure times for deep sky astrophotography though, conditions change night to night, not to mention different brightness targets, so ill guess and then double check that my histogram curve is seperated from the left of my histogram, and if possible, not over exposing stars (causes loss of star color), or worse, my object.
Yup, the counting method works great. Until you hit 30 seconds.
That's really interesting about the deep sky astro. I'm sure the histogram is pretty different from your typical landscape.
Woah, what a good tip!
Thanks Ismael!
Should i be using Variable nd filter for indoor yt videos?
My question is , Where should I focus ? Should I use hyperfocul distance or one third distance or infinity focus method or the point of interest ? Which one will give me best result ? Which method you generally use to obtain the desired result ? If you can describe this with some examples that wold be great . Thanks a lot in advance .
Good question. I'll definitely make a video about this.
If figuring it out in your head is that easy then why does the Photopills calculator require entering the ISO and aperature as well?
Hope about iso?
Hi, for the question of the week, how to understand which is the maximum focus distance where have sense to focus rather then focus to infinite? I mean, your camera let you to chose to focus different points, but when these points are over a certain distance is always infinite. And, how the maximum focus distance is related to the focal lenght? Grazie
Sir can you tell me the brand name of your ND filter
Hi Joshua what is the best android app to use for this?
So essentially you are lining up the *1000 or *60 to the ND1000 or ND64 grades that are on ND filters? Clever, never thought about that!
Glad you liked it!
Mr. Cripps! How do I get perfectly blended focus-stacked images? I use Photoshop for auto-align and auto-blend but too many times there are blurry imperfections.
has the Wanaka tree survived ?
Mirrorless or full frame?
Hi Josh, why don't professional photographers like auto exposure bracketing?
Hey Steve, some definitely use it. I use it occasionally. But these days the dynamic range of our cameras is so good it's rare to need more than one shot .
My entire commercial career has depended on that one very thing!!!!! 35yrs and I still use it - the reason we don't use Auto is simply because experience tells me that not all situations are the saem. By the time you have programmed it in - you could have done it yourself. I use X1DII and a flick of the front dial is all thats needed - sometimes I use HDR in the same way - even on very very long exposures!!
Is the right of your cabin (your left) a portal to another dimension?
Definitely a portal to another dimension
Or use the Camera’s metering!
Final shutter speed = initial shutter speed * 2 ^ (number of ND stops)
Math games , wasn't expecting that.
Still confused arrr trying to work it out but my head banging really want to do the math game
what about noise in long exposures (> 2 minutes)? How do you deal with that?
Why would you have noise when you use a low ISO?
Use the PhotoShop Noise Filter called Dust & Scratches. Play with the radius pixel setting (keep the number small) to remove the hot pixels. Lot faster than using spot removal.
@@ron9338 althought with the lowest ISO, if you do long exposures (several minutes) you will have some long exposure noise or even hot spots
How do you get the same exposure when you don’t have all the filters a pro photographer might have ,
say using the camera only to get the same results.
You need filters to shoot long exposures during the daytime. You can buy much more affordable filters on Amazon than what this guy has.
Hey Malcolm, if you have a camera with multiple exposure mode you can use that to simulate long exposures. But at some point if the light is bright you will need filters to do long exposures.
Why exposing to the right is recomended in landscape photography?
Because you get the most information out of the scene as long as you don't clip your highlights. You can reduce exposure in post and get the lowest noise possible and the best colors.
Great question. I'll definitely talk about this in a vid.
Why do my two apps both suggest 2 seconds shutter speed with the 10 stop filter and initial shutter speed of 1/500 edit? 2 seconds is definitely not long enough
Because your shutter speed is not 0.500, it is 1/500 s. So 1000*1/500=2s
@@joschulzv that's what I meant. But 5 seconds usually produces a more correct result.
@@NMalteC because not all filters are consistent with their "darkness". Some might block more light than others. I have a Lee 6-stop and a Lee 10-stop filter. I've done some standards testing, and found my 6-stop needs to be 1 shutter click (1/3 stop) faster than the app, and my 10-stop needs to be 1 shutter click (1/3 stop) slower than the app to match the exposure of having no filter.
I like the mental math method - did not realize that it was a base 2 method. Quite binary. :p
great video but can you turn down the background audio..... distracting 😉
it's 2020 mate. use an app.
You lost me with stops and clicks. I took a photography course and will never understand the stops and aperture (too many numbers).
I think you can get it! I have a free course about the basics that explains things in simple terms, if you want to check it out: www.joshuacripps.com/free-photo-basics-course/