Blurring Moving Water experiment

[Chrislaf]

I have been experimenting with blurring the water from a tiny stream to simulate the effect of using an ND filter to slow down the shutter speed. This was just an experiment to see if it would work so the photos aren't of the best subject/composition.

Sample 1 - original photo – ISO 100, Exposure time 1/60, -3.0 EV


Sample 1 - Blurred


Sample 2 - original photo – ISO 100, Exposure time 1/10, -0.3 EV


Sample 2 - Blurred


I think Sample 2 worked the best as I was able to choose a slower shutter speed of 1/10 and the water was flowing over rocks.

To get blurring, I shot 10 images of each area and then merged them in photoshop.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

Interesting... Is 1/10 second the longest shutter the neo will do?

It's 100% shutter speed, the ND filter in this application is only there to allow the slow shutter with proper exposure (I know you knew that ).

When I played with creating those slick flowing water shots years ago I found 1/4–1/2 second produced the most pleasing results, subjective of course.

 

[Chrislaf]

Interesting... Is 1/10 second the longest shutter the neo will do?

It's 100% shutter speed, the ND filter in this application is only there to allow the slow shutter with proper exposure (I know you knew that ).

When I played with creating those slick flowing water shots years ago I found 1/4–1/2 second produced the most pleasing results, subjective of course.

Yes 1/10 is the longest the NEO supports. In the second sample the area was much darker than the first sample so I was able to use a longer shutter speed and still keep have the proper exposure. I couldn't do this in the first sample without overexposing the photo. The two photos were taken on a cloudy day.

I have an ND 1000 filter for my Mini 3 Pro specifically for the purpose of blurring water.

I am considering getting a set of ND filters so that I can compensate for the limited shutter speed on the NEO especially when photographing water on bright days.

Chris