SteemitPhotoChallenge #50 - Entry 2 - Daytime Long exposure in Venice

Most long exposures are at night because a long shutter open in daylight will end up with blown out to white. However, this is what the ND filters (Neutral Density) are for as they trick the camera into thinking it is much darker than it actually is by essentially putting on sunglasses.

There are many advantages to being able to shoot long exposures during the day and this is an example here. This is Venice on a warm summer day during peak tourist season yet, not one tourist is to be seen. Well, not a clear one. This is how the postcard shots of landmarks during the day are usually devoid of people as with a long enough exposure time, all of the people move through the frame and essentially get disappeared, mafia style.

Of course, this will also allow for moving water to be smoothed out also and like in this one, all of the boats that passed were also taken from the frame. What is left (considering I had no tripod and had the camera leaning on my camera bag), is a pretty clear and crisp shot without the distractions of people. If you zoom in really close around the bridge and shop, you will be able to see ghosts of them as they stopped for long enough to imprint the sensor.

ND Filters are around 60-80 Euros for decent glass ones but I bought some screw on nylon ones for 1 or 2 on Ebay. If you are interested in playing around with long exposure photography, they really are a must in my opinion as they give a much wider set of options in varying light conditions and for a few euros to test them, it is not a large investment. With the screw-on type, they are obviously lens dependent so make sure that you order the right mm and if you have several lenses, get them for your best, most useful lens, this will generally be your walk around lens.

This particular shot was taken while waiting for the train back to Milan while on Honeymoon almost 2 years ago to the day. Venice is a beautiful city and I could spend days exploring it and taking advantage of the early morning before the trains arrive and the late night after all are in bed. We only had one night there however and it really wasn't enough but it was a spur of the moment decision. I am very grateful to have some times in my life where a spur of the moment move winds up with a night in Venice.

Hopefully, this post will help some people get over the umming and ahhing and buy a couple cheap NDs to experiment with. This was shot with an ND8 Filter which means it lets in 1/8th of the light (12.5%) and reduces the f-stop by 3. An ND2 would therefore let in 1/2 (50%) and drops it by 1. If interested in testing, try a 4 and 8 as it gives a decent set of options to play with.

Have fun :)

Shot details:
[ Olympus EM-1 | f14 | 25 sec | 12-40 2.8 ]

Taraz
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