First try at long exposure

[Ekir]

Hi I read a photography magazine with an article about long wxposures, and liked the images they showcased
So, long story short, I got up one morning, and decided to try it!

P;ease let me know how I can improve for my next go, and if you think it would look good trimmed to a panorama?
I have a local cafe who has some of my images on their wall, and they are previewing a disk with five photos including this one to decide which one they would like to put up next, so cc and help would really be apreciated!


Lou.
:crazy:


easter 75 copy by Ekir78, on Flickr

[GB1]

Ekir - Welcome to PR! I like the shot overall. I think it's too bright, though not by too much. Compositionally, it's a bit split in half by the horizon ... but I can't see cropping either sky or water out. So in this situation I'd go with it and perhaps add another twist by making it into a square aspect ratio, see what happens.

Was that an old issue of Pop Photo? I remember some fellow's article about long exposures w/ great results. that was over a year ago .. he took shots of things like rowboats, etc.

G

[Ekir]

Hey G, thankyou for the welcome!!

I have done a square sample, and darkened those highlights a little
What do you think?

I have to get this print ready for hanging!

Ta,

Lou


easter 75square by Ekir78, on Flickr

[trout bum]

What settings etc. did you shoot with?

[Ekir]

ok, here it is!


File name: easter 75.jpg
File size: 311980 bytes (4752x3168, 0.2bpp, 145x)
EXIF Summary: 30s f/22.0 ISO125 28mm

Camera-Specific Properties:

Equipment Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 50D
Camera Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh
Maximum Lens Aperture: f/3.5

Image-Specific Properties:

Image Width: 4752
Image Height: 3168
Number of Bits Per Component: 32, 32, 32
Compression Scheme: Uncompressed
Pixel Composition: RGB
Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 300 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 300 dpi
Image Data Arrangement: Chunky Format
Image Created: 2011:05:06 14:05:23
Exposure Time: 30 sec
F-Number: f/22.0
Exposure Program: Manual
ISO Speed Rating: 125
Lens Aperture: f/22.0
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: No Flash, Compulsory
Focal Length: 28.00 mm
Color Space Information: sRGB
Image Width: 3428
Image Height: 2800
Rendering: Normal
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Scene Capture Type: Standard

Other Properties:

Number of Components: 3
Resolution Unit: i
Exif IFD Pointer: 300
Compression Scheme: JPEG Compression (Thumbnail)
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Resolution Unit: i
Offset to JPEG SOI: 838
Bytes of JPEG Data: 3510
Exif Version: 2.21
Image Generated: 2011:04:25 05:22:46
Image Digitized: 2011:04:25 05:22:46
Shutter Speed: 1/0 sec
DateTime Second Fraction: 00
DateTimeOriginal Second Fraction: 00
DateTimeDigitized Second Fraction: 00
Focal Plane Horiz Resolution: 5315 dpi
Focal Plane Vert Resolution: 5306 dpi
Focal Plane Res Unit: i

[trout bum]

I just recently started long exposure shooting myself. I did quite a bit of online research, asked a lot of questions and definitely blew some great opportunities during the process. Which makes it all the more enjoyable.

Since you don't have anything in the foreground, I'd recommend setting your lens to manual and focusing to infinity. You have your A set at 22 which necessitates a longer exposure. It looks like the max aperture with your lens is 3.5; I'd try that with a shorter exposure. The less your lens is open the less noise you'll encounter. If you shoot night shots it will also help eliminate star trails.

One other tidbit that was passed onto me: when shooting on a tripod ensure your vibration reduction or optical stabilization is shut off. I learned that the hard way.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[GB1]

Well, ... It still looks a little bright, but it's possible that slight variations of monitor settings are to blame. Not sure I like your highlight adjustments, as it makes the image look too flat imho. Also, looks like your center crop work moved the horizon off center, which some will think is good practice but it sort of negates the experiment I mentioned (seeing if the equal amts of sky and water would purposely add tension and make it more interesting due to that).

Anyway, what do I know?

G