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Time Passes By

by Paul Gallagher

Until recently the type of film I have been using has generally dictated my exposures which, for landscapes, was a pretty low ISO to get the optimum quality. This is generally the case for many landscape photographers who use colour film and most opt for Fuji Velvia with its low sensitivity of 50 ISO. The film choice for my monochrome work has always been Ilford Delta 100 with an indicated ISO of 100 on the box, but I found its true ISO after tests to be 64 and I have always set my light meter to this.

Clearly the other big consideration for the landscape photographer is the combination of aperture and shutter speed for depth of field. Even with the privilege of lens tilt on my Ebony large-format camera and my Nikkor 24mm PC-E lens attached to my D800e, I still need to stop down to get maximum sharpness from front to back of the image. So after using a low ISO film or ISO setting and stopping down then the shutter speed has had to look after itself and fall into line with the other, more important, factors.

The resulting images of working in this way have shown that if water was included in the scene it was recorded with movement and, depending on the degree of movement and exposure time, dictated how soft it looked in the finished image.

Long exposures have been around for quite some time even since the invention of photography as light sensitive materials were not very sensitive at all and so a longer exposure was needed to create an image.

Recently long exposures have become something of a fashion on photography and I personally think some of this was influenced by the work of Michael Kenna, which is a good example of how a master uses the technique and is then copied and emulated by many. I have been known to use filters to force long exposures in the past, such as 1-, 2- and 3-stop neutral density filters but the recent introduction of 10-stop filters has made it possible for photographers to make exposures of several minutes even on a bright sunny day!

About a year ago I took receipt of my Lee Big Stopper 10-stop neutral density filter and to be honest I did not really use it much as it did not seem to be in keeping with my kind of landscape photography work.

Things changed as I was intending to head to Wester Ross and Kintyre in Scotland and concentrate on my colour digital photography as opposed to my monochrome large-format film photography. As I packed all of the kit I made a decision to try this filter out fully, and focus my work on long exposures.

I must point out that this stage that you do not need a 10-stop neutral density filter to obtain long exposures and obtain smooth water. This is often a misconception carried by many who try to get their hands on these filters which is difficult in its own right as the demand seems to outstrip supply. If you head out in the evening or on an overcast day then fitting a 2- or 3-stop neutral density filter, or a combination of both, will get you that effect already! Try it out! It is for this reason alone that I often did not feel the need to fit a 10-stop filter to any of my cameras.

The difference with a 10-stop neutral density filter is it will give you exposures long enough to 'streak' clouds in the sky and give a true long exposure effect. If you look at the image First Coast, Wester Ross you will see that using the combination of 2- and 3-stop neutral density filters has rendered the water as a smooth mist surrounding the giant boulder in the foreground. You will also notice that the clouds in the sky have full definition and are almost rendered still with full structure. Similarly, with the image Sunset and Storm, Wester Ross, the same technique was used with lesser effect to deliberately streak the retreating foam as the wave broke and washed across the sand. For this image I used a single 2-stop neutral density filter as I did not need any more for the image to work.

When it comes to considering using a 10-stop filter then you must understand that the image still requires a degree of underlying structure and 'composition' as the filter cannot do this for you! Whilst running workshops I have seen many people just sticking the filters onto the front of the camera whenever water appears in the landscape in the hope that the filter will magic-up a cracker for them. It will not! The use of this filter requires visualisation. I am not going all arty on you when I mention this, but it is a fact that you need to understand what the accumulation of time during a long exposure will do to the image and estimate what it will look like also. It is just as important to consider several other factors when using these filters, such as wind and the movement of clouds, the swell and movement of waves and tides, and more importantly if you are working at the tail end of the day, how much the light will fade during your long exposure as you will have to compensate for this. The image Kilbrannan Sound shows what I saw when I arrived in the early evening. When I stood there it was still and silent and I could see very little movement in either the clouds or the sea. But I then waited to gain an understanding of which direction the cloud was moving and I noticed it was moving slightly to the right and away from me which would create a 'sweeping effect' during a very long exposure. I then fitted my Big Stopper and calculated the exposure which was to be eight minutes. Then I waited and the resulting image is what you see in the image titled Long Exposure Kilbrannan Sound which was a winner for me. Although both images are entirely different, I feel they both work in their own right because they have a simple composition, with a limited colour palette, which is exactly what I visualised in both. It is important that if an image looks awful using a 'normal' exposure then please don't expect it to blow your socks off just because you have smooth water and clouds. It still needs to be a picture in the first place.

The next two pictures where taken on the Kintyre peninsular not far from Westport Bay. The first of the two was a considered exposure and composition. I wanted the retreating sea water to rush round the series of boulders as the next wave approached the back of the boulder. I placed the sequence of rocky outcrops that where in the sea in the correct place on my frame and fitted a 2-stop neutral density filter to curtail the exposure a little and capture the movement of the water. After a little waiting around nd consideration to the timing of the waves I pressed the shutter at the right time and the picture came together just as I had intended. I was a happy man. This brings me to the next image at virtually the same location at the same time. After this exposure I fitted the Big Stopper to the camera and calculated the exposure. Many people who have seen this image have made a guess on the exposure time and many have said it was between 5 and 10 minutes as they were fooled by the streaking of the waves and the almost dream-like appearance of the smooth sea water. In fact because the sea was raging and there was a strong wind blowing the clouds I only needed a 79-second exposure! This example shows that you do not need extremely long exposures to create this effect and the movement of the water and clouds can help you out a lot! For both images the underlying structure was there in the form of rock outcrops in the sea. It was these that first caught my eye and the very reason I got my camera out of the bag. The choice of filters used simply changed the effect of the elements surrounding the underlying structure.

A few things must be considered when using these filters. Always use your camera on the lowest, native ISO setting to avoid the noise that will certainly appear in the shadows. Also using this ISO will help lengthen the exposure and where you have detail in the image, it will be at its best. Secondly, if you have a Long Exposure Noise Reduction setting in the menus of your camera switch it on! If it is switched off it can be to the detriment of the final image as you will see plenty of little artefacts in the form of rogue coloured pixels in your final file. I once made this mistake and spent a long time cloning out red and blue pixels from the mid-tones of my image.

Incidentally, for the impatient ones amongst you, this seriously lengthens the time it takes to see the finished results of your long exposure on the back of your camera as the Long Exposure Noise Reduction processing takes as long as the exposure itself. Yes that's right! So, after making my eight-minute exposure, I had to wait a whole eight minutes longer to see if it worked!! This is something to bear in mind if you are working in failing light. If you get it wrong at the very end of the day, you may have to wait until tomorrow to get the same level of light.

Another important point is to cover the eye-piece on the back of your camera and ensure the sponge backing on the rear of your filter is tight against the filter holder. The slightest degree of light leakage puts lovely purple stripes right across your image which are almost impossible to remove and look awful! (See failed long exposure) Whilst we are considering exposure my advice is not to get too hung up about it. I have seen folk with mobile phone apps and charts coming out if their ears which I do not believed help.

Most of the charts I find are only rough guides at best and I found I have regularly to add a third more time to the value provided in the chart with my Big Stopper.

Charts are constant and fixed. Light certainly is not, so if you spend an age with your calculator determining that perfect exposure for the light, it could (and probably will) change during your exposure time. This is not an exact science at all!

Lastly, it goes without saying that you need a good tripod and a good tripod head that will stay still during the exposure. Along with this, try not to get too adventurous in inclement weather with strong breezes , or even worse, strong winds. The skies might look great and the winds may be producing amazing swells and waves, but if your camera moves it will not only be the water that looks soft, but all of it, so it wasn't worth getting it out of the bag in the first place!

So if you are considering entering the ethereal world of long and considered exposures, find a quiet location. Get your set-up just right and make a nice omfy spot made out for yourself because to may need it. One last point, when does an exposure become a 'long' exposure . . . . . ?????



Updated 27/04/2026 16:44:22 Last Modified: Monday, 27 April 2026