Scott Clark wrote:
They were shot with flash...he just used his ND filter to shoot them at f2.8 instead of say f16 or f22 (whatever would have been required to keep the ambient under control at 1/180th of a second).
Thanks Scott. That makes more sense now I have a couple of Hoya ND filters I keep forgetting about. Gotta pull those suckers out of retirement.
cordellwillis wrote:
Thanks Scott. That makes more sense now I have a couple of Hoya ND filters I keep forgetting about. Gotta pull those suckers out of retirement.
Dig 'em out and play . I've got a bunch of ND filters too...what's really interesting about the variable one he got is you don't have to pack more than one, and it's infinitely variable so you're not just stuck at one density. And 8 stops...yikes, that's stronger than any single filter I have .
The first shot is great, but the background looks sharp, you sure it was 2.8? Doesn't seem like any benifit on that one, but the second shows the DOF much more.
brett maxwell wrote:
The first shot is great, but the background looks sharp, you sure it was 2.8? Doesn't seem like any benifit on that one, but the second shows the DOF much more.
full 24mm on the first one versus a bit more telephoto on the second. The EXIF is still there.
Scott Clark wrote:
They were shot with flash...he just used his ND filter to shoot them at f2.8 instead of say f16 or f22 (whatever would have been required to keep the ambient under control at 1/180th of a second).
Its easy to know.
If you read his settings.
They were F2.8 180th at ISO 100.
The only factor we don't know is the amount he had it set to.
But what we do know is if he had it set at 2 then to get the same shutter speed at 100 ISO without the filter aperture would have been F5.6. If he had it set to 8 stops the Aperture would have to have been F45 to get the same results without the filter.
This is a great tool to be able to shoot at larger apertures in bright sunny conditions and still be able to sync strobes.
those images looks awesome, especially #1. what type of strobe(s) are you using? I assume it has to be pretty powerful since the ND is cutting a lot of the light.
Tried an experiement on my lunch break...dug a couple of circ. polorizers out of my big filter box and put them together to see what would happen...sure enough, works like a variable ND filter. BUT...(and it's a big but) it has a serious blue cast near full density. I did a little google searching on the subject, and some guys recommended using a linear pol. in front of a circ. pol....tried that with a Cokin linear pol. and my B + W circular pol...same effect, same blue cast. Other guys said you need to take the the filter apart and reverse the front element (which should be a linear element) and install it that way. I took a couple of Hoya polorizers apart and they were both laminated glass, so there's no way to test that and see if the results are any different... The blue cast only comes in right near full density, and it doens't come in evenly, but with a 50mm on a crop body it looked pretty even since I was just shooting the middle of it. If the one Jeremy got doesn't have any color cast cranked all the way down, it might be worth it just for that...I guess it would depend on just how dark you'd really need it to go.
My quickie test using the sky to meter off of showed almost exactly 10 stops difference between no filter and maximum density...I didn't check what the light loss was with it at minimum density, but you can probably figure each PL eats about a stop all by itself. Of course the camera I was using is only accurate to a third of a stop . 10 stops should be all you'd ever need, at least on Earth...and if the blue cast isn't visable at 8 stops, that would work fine too. Either way, it worked pretty well for being free .
Impressive Jer. First shot is so good. Just....tasty, can't explain it.
I'm mixed about spilling your secret sauce here. I think your awesome for helping out the peeps, (in seriousness, I built a freakin 6 figure business on what I've learn here on FM. I'd say 80% of my how-to goodies came from here. How can I not give back?) Still though, shot two is so unique and impressive to the point, I'd rather the man behind the curtain had stayed there. To have that lighting AND the DOF would/will give you a look SOOOO your own and I can count on one hand how many I've seen adopt these techniques. Granted the info is out there and for the taking, still, it's wise to hold some cards. In short, be selfish at times.
I have a couple of Hoya ND filters I keep forgetting about. Gotta pull those suckers out of retirement.
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