Street emptying

[Jim Kuo]

This is a poorly composed and exposed picture of two rubbish bags on Hampstead high street, but it's my first successful long exposure day time shot using the ND1024 filter.

F/16, ISO 100 and 240s.

I am looking forward to trying this filter out on more interesting subjects .

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Too be fair, I really like this!
Looks like time has sped up. this is great. have you tried doing a long exposure in a busy town centre pedestrian footway? that would be interesing! lol can I ask how long the exposure was?

 

[Jim Kuo]

Thanks Dan. The predestrain traffic on the foot path was quite busy actually, with stream of people walking by throughout the full duration of the exposure, probably wondering why there was a strange dude taking picture of rubbish .

The exposure was 4 minutes.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Nice one Jim, certainly an interesting effect eh
I'd like to know the settings used too!

Did you see this
http://www.realphotographersforum.com/content/505-2-quid-diy-neutral-density-filter-experiment.html

 

[Jim Kuo]

The setting is listed just above the image. It's F/16, ISO 100, for 240 seconds.

I tried 30, 60 secs at first, and got two black pictures. Even at 120 secs, it was still way under exposed. Finally settled on 4 minutes .

Yes, I've read your article about home made variable ND filter. Only I just placed the order the night before .

 

[Brian Moore]

I assume the dark smoky looking stuff hovering above the pavement is the residual of human being passers-by who were not completely recorded due to the exposure time. I am actually surprised that their essence remained with that long an exposure. It's an interesting photo, Jim. I actually like that the lamp post obscures the fellow sitting on the bench.

 

[Paul Lange]

I can see how you could make some real interesting images with that ND filter Jim, The ghosting of people around the Bistro is quite interesting.

It's OK, I read the camera settings in your post so I won't ask you for them

 

[Jim Kuo]

Thanks Brian, Paul.

I probably should have put the picture settings somewhere more obvious. People's curiousity about them indicate that this is a somewhat intriguing picture .

Yes, the dark smoke was created by some slow moving human traffic. It's hard to tell from this picture, but Hampstead high street was actually quite busy, with non-stop stream of people walking pass. Also, many people were waiting for the bus at the bus stop. Hence, the lingering human essence in this long exposed picture.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Cool - you got it already!

I'm think a shot of a street from an elevated position, looking down, could provide really cool flows of movement, like a river.

 

[Jim Kuo]

Yes Chris, amazon delivery from Germany took only five days, it is the MRC version, which is sold for £175 at warehouseexpress. Thanks for finding this great bargain for me .

I went out with intention to do more of this type of photography today, but I picked the wrong destination. We went to Hampstead Heath which is a park with hills, ponds and trees...etc. Hardly enough traffic to demonstrate the effect of this filter.

This picture was a half hearted effort taken when I was sitting on a bench on the high street while having lunch .

 

[Darren Bradley]

It's always fun to see experiments in ND filters. I use them quite a bit in my work to create a bit of motion blur in my subjects (it's easier than tracking them down to sign releases

 

[Vic Shaw]

I have always wanted a filter such as this, the idea I had would be to stand on the footbridge at Charingcross on the upper side and take a shot of the human statues that line the embankment just by the London eye with the people moving past them. This maybe a little to strong for this idea but worth a try. This opens up so great ideas for in the city.


Vic

 

[Jim Kuo]

Yes, that would be one of the ideas I would like to try.

As you said this filter opens up many possibilities especially in a city like London .

 

[Pete Askew]

Interesting Jim and I too really like it. Both for the bags of rubbish and the person sitting on the bench. They obviously weren't moving much and the fact that you only see the legs and a bit of their back really makes you want to know more about them.

 

[Jim Kuo]

Thanks Pete for the in depth analysis and uncovering of the hidden message of the photo.

What actually happened was that I set up my camera on a tripod pointing away from myself and started exposing while I was having my lunch .

 

[Pete Askew]

So, is that you on the bench then?!!

 

[Jim Kuo]

No, I was behind the camera

I didn't know what I was shooting and didn't realise the camera was pointing at rubbish bags until I saw the picture. I was more interested to see the effect of the ND1024 filter than the content of the photo .

Now I realise why I was getting odd looks from the passers-by .

 

[Chris Dodkin]

So Jim, you'd be ok calling it rubbish photography then?

 

[Jim Kuo]

Yes, I think it's a fitting title for this photo .