Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
Around this time of year, the California climate generates a marine layer of cloud at the coast, known to locals as May Gray and June Gloom.
We can be socked-in for days or weeks - with no sign of the sun.
Perfect weather for long exposure seascapes!
These were taken today at La Jolla Cove, CA.
La Jolla Caves in B&W and Color - X-Pro1 at 35mm Lens - ND400 Filter
La Jolla Caves - X-Pro1 at 18mm Lens - ND400 Filter
La Jolla coastline - X-Pro1 at 18mm Lens - ND400 Filter
The technique is to use a very dark ND filter, in this case an 8.5 stop ND400 from Hoya, to drastically reduce the light reaching the camera sensor, meaning that even in full daylight you need long exposure times to get an image.
On this cloudy day, at ISO200 and f/16 - I was using exposure times of around 25-30 seconds.
Exposure calculation can be difficult, as some cameras can have difficulty working out the correct exposure with the ND filter fitted.
The X-Pro1 was actually spot-on with it's metering, but for a check, you can use a free smartphone app such as LongTime Exposure Calculator
App Store - LongTime Exposure Calculator
This is a great little app - you select the filter strength you'll use - you set the exposure reading from the camera without the filter fitted - and the App tells you what the correct exposure time will be with the filter fitted and your selected F-stop.
AF can also be a challenge, so you can set the focus and then switch to manual before fitting the filter.
The X-Pro1 however had no issue achieving AF lock with the ND filter fitted, so this made things very easy.
To take the shot - use a very sturdy tripod and cable release - set your F-Stop and exposure time - frame your shot, and off you go.
I disabled long exposure noise reduction, as it slows the shooting cycle, and I find any pixel/dust issues can easily be fixed in PP. (Long exposure NR takes a black frame after each shot, of the same exposure length as the original frame, and uses that to figure out any noisy pixels).
PP was Photoshop and Topaz Adjust for the color shots - Photoshop and Nik Silver FX Pro for the B&W.
We can be socked-in for days or weeks - with no sign of the sun.
Perfect weather for long exposure seascapes!
These were taken today at La Jolla Cove, CA.
La Jolla Caves in B&W and Color - X-Pro1 at 35mm Lens - ND400 Filter
La Jolla Caves - X-Pro1 at 18mm Lens - ND400 Filter
La Jolla coastline - X-Pro1 at 18mm Lens - ND400 Filter
The technique is to use a very dark ND filter, in this case an 8.5 stop ND400 from Hoya, to drastically reduce the light reaching the camera sensor, meaning that even in full daylight you need long exposure times to get an image.
On this cloudy day, at ISO200 and f/16 - I was using exposure times of around 25-30 seconds.
Exposure calculation can be difficult, as some cameras can have difficulty working out the correct exposure with the ND filter fitted.
The X-Pro1 was actually spot-on with it's metering, but for a check, you can use a free smartphone app such as LongTime Exposure Calculator
App Store - LongTime Exposure Calculator
This is a great little app - you select the filter strength you'll use - you set the exposure reading from the camera without the filter fitted - and the App tells you what the correct exposure time will be with the filter fitted and your selected F-stop.
AF can also be a challenge, so you can set the focus and then switch to manual before fitting the filter.
The X-Pro1 however had no issue achieving AF lock with the ND filter fitted, so this made things very easy.
To take the shot - use a very sturdy tripod and cable release - set your F-Stop and exposure time - frame your shot, and off you go.
I disabled long exposure noise reduction, as it slows the shooting cycle, and I find any pixel/dust issues can easily be fixed in PP. (Long exposure NR takes a black frame after each shot, of the same exposure length as the original frame, and uses that to figure out any noisy pixels).
PP was Photoshop and Topaz Adjust for the color shots - Photoshop and Nik Silver FX Pro for the B&W.
