Long exposures

[Gary Holliday]

I'm planning on doing some coastal scenes and need a basic question answered to save me some time!

How long an exposure do I need in seconds to get a glass like sea?

I'll photograph the water around dawn and dusk when the water goes calm as the sun meets the horizon.

"When the water respects the sun" as a fisherman once told me.

I'll probably use Fuji Acros 120 as I understand it has good characteristics in long exposures. Do I need any exposure corrections?

Cheers

 

[wirehead]

I usually prefer to wait until there's at least a few minutes of exposure. 15 seconds is not enough. 5 minutes is enough.

this is a 5 minute exposure

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

Longer exposures will do more for getting ultra smooth looking surface water. However, if you are photographing when the sea or coast is not so turbulent, then about 30 seconds might be good enough. If you have visible waves coming in, or crashing on rocks, then you need longer exposures to average that out, though you might end up with some ghosted images of waves in the final photos.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
Dead Link Removed

 

[Jim Noel]

Wirehead is correct. Five minutes or more is usually necessary if one wants the sea to be like glass with a fog hovering above it.

 

[Vaughn]

For a different look, try multiple short exposures (5 to 20 of them on a neg)...timimg the exposures as the waves hit the rocks.

 

[chrisofwlp]

Be sure to adjust for reciprocity failure. A compensation chart is usually included in a new box of film.

sincerely;