Kristen Ryan is a landscape and fine art photographer residing in the Midwest suburbs of Chicago. All images can be purchased in the Fine Art Store. Kristen leads ladies landscape photography retreats in the Tetons, Chicago, and the Canadian Rockies, offers private mentoring and teaches an online landscape photography workshop twice a year.

A 6 stop filter is perfect for a number of situations where you want to reduce your shutter speed in the .4 second to 5 second range.  I use my 6 stop filter when I want to create abstract photos of water or trees by using a panning technique. The 6 stop filter is perfect for photographing waves and water when I don’t want to freeze the motion but I want to keep some shape, texture and detail in the water. This is a technique I love to use at the ocean, lakes or rivers. It is also perfect for smoothing the water of waterfalls to create a soft flow. The longer exposures of 5-10 seconds will create a very smooth effect while less than 5 seconds leaves a little more texture in the water.  In very low light, the 6 stop can allow an exposure of 10 seconds or more, but in brighter light, the 10 stop will be needed.

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*Please note that accessories depicted in the image are for illustrative purposes only and may not be included with the product.

The following images are more examples of long exposures to show cloud movement. Exposure times are listed in the captions.

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One of my very favorite things to do when shooting nature and landscapes is to experiment with long exposures   Anytime I have the opportunity to get a creative exposure of clouds or water, I try to take it.

But it is a lot of fun to grab my 10 stop Neutral Density filter and shoot exposures with shutter speeds of 30 seconds and longer. As mentioned in last week’s post, if the clouds are moving fast, a shutter speed of 15 seconds may get some movement, but most often if I am shooting for cloud movement, my shutter speed will be 30 seconds to several minutes.

The 15 stop filter is the filter I need for creating dynamic wispy clouds during the daylight. This filter will allow me to shoot 3-6 minutes of clouds and capture creative clouds even with slow moving clouds.

7) Check your histogram. Sometimes finding the right exposure with the filter can be a bit of trial and error. Don’t rely on the app or the LCD screen. Make sure the histogram is toward the right without climbing the right wall. If you need to bump exposure, lower that shutter speed, OR if your shutter speed is where you want it for creative effect, raise your ISO or open up your aperture.

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Kristen Ryan is a landscape and fine art photographer residing in the Midwest suburbs of Chicago. All images can be purchased in the Fine Art Store. Kristen leads ladies landscape photography retreats in the Tetons, Chicago, and the Canadian Rockies, offers private mentoring and teaches an online landscape photography workshop twice a year.

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2) Invest in good Neutral Density Filters. I recommend a 6 stop and/or 10 stop ND filter. In brighter light and to get 30 second or longer exposures, you will often need a 10 stop filter. In lower light and/or an exposure of just a couple seconds, a 6 stop filter may be sufficient. For even longer exposures in daylight you can use a 15 stop filter as well. There are many companies that make Neutral Density Filters in various price ranges.

Below is a sample of 3 exposures, the first a faster shutter speed showing the clouds as we see them, the second one is 60 seconds and the third is 120 seconds. You can see dramatically more cloud movement from the first to the second and somewhat more cloud movement from the second to the third image.

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Neutral Density filters are an incredible tool for adding creativity to your landscape, seascape and nature photography. I highly recommend Breakthrough Photography* filters for their great quality. Have more questions about choosing a filter, feel free to reach out and ask me! I’m always happy to help.

8) Consider the creative effect and mood of the image you want to create! When choosing your shutter speed length, think about your creative vision. For really streaked clouds, you may need a 60 second exposure or even a few minutes. If clouds are moving fast, 15-30 seconds may create the look you desire.  With water, you may want to create a really smooth effect with 20-60 seconds or perhaps you want to leave more texture in the water with a 1 second exposure or a fraction of a second.

1)  A tripod is your best friend.  I know, I know, they are cumbersome and a pain to carry but are necessary so that you can keep your frame stable throughout the long exposure.  Make sure your tripod is steady and secure.

The 10 stop is my go to filter for exposures 15 seconds and longer. In daylight, the 10 stop is needed for these creative long exposures of water or clouds. Imagine those super smooth waters and wispy clouds. Those are when I pull out my 10 stop filter.

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9) Lastly, look at the other areas of your frame. Do you have unwanted blur in other areas of your frame…such as trees, grasses or other foliage?  If so, capture the exact composed frame with a faster speed so you can composite the two images later in post processing.

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And don’t forget to find your focus and composition before putting on the 10 or 15 stop filter and cover the viewfinder with a black cloth to prevent light leaks! For more tips on long exposures check out 9 Tips for Creative Long Exposures. Have fun shooting long exposures of the clouds!

6)  Cover your eyepiece viewfinder to prevent light from coming into the frame as this creates undesirable light leaks. My Nikon D810 and D850 have a little door that covers the eyepiece. But otherwise, I would cover it with a black/dark cloth or anything else that will keep the light out.

It's a little addicting, so don't say I didn't warn you! Are you looking for filters for long exposure photography? Check out Breakthrough Photography filters!* They are the filters I always have in my bag!

A couple weeks ago I shared all about photographing creative exposures of water and last week I offered thoughts on choosing a neutral density filter for various long exposure effects. So today I’m sharing all about creative long exposures of clouds. One of my favorite things to do on a day with pretty clouds is experiment with shutter speed for wispy cloud movement. Now, this is not to say that I don’t love an image of gorgeous clouds with a faster shutter speed, because I do.

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5) Use a Shutter release remote. These are critical if you are using a shutter speed slower than 30 seconds as you must then turn to bulb mode. But even out of bulb mode, using a shutter release is one more way to eliminate the chances of bumping your frame and increasing sharp focus.  If you don’t have a shutter release you can also use your camera’s timer delay.

Neutral Density filters block light from the camera sensor.  There are many Neutral Density (ND) filters of varying strength which block anywhere from 2 stops to 15 stops of light. In landscape photography, we use ND filters to reduce the light coming into our camera sensor so that we can slow down the shutter speed for creative effect. The ND filters that I always carry in my bag are 6 stop, 10 stop and 15 stop filters from Breakthrough Photography. The one that I need at any given time depends on the light of the scene, the subject I am photographing and the creative effect I am envisioning in my frame.

To experiment with exposures 30 seconds and longer, I encourage you to invest in a 10 stop Neutral Density Filter and perhaps also a 15 stop filter. My favorite filters are from Breakthrough Photography *.

3)  Compose your frame and focus for the desired depth of field BEFORE putting the filter in front of the lens. Once you put a 10 stop filter on,  you can't see through to focus and compose.

4) Set the new exposure BEFORE putting the filter on the lens. Find your proper exposure without the filter on.  Then you can use a Long Exposure Calculator App to find the new shutter speed after you put on the filter. Usually you will need to max out your ISO and aperture unless you are shooting in really low light.  For example, say I set my ISO to 100 and aperture to f/22 and my base shutter speed is 1/80.  If I enter into the app a 1/80 shutter speed and tell it I am using a 10 stop filter, the app will then tell me that a 13 second shutter speed will give me the same exposure with the filter on.  So then I will change my shutter speed to 13 seconds before I put on the filter.  The less I touch my camera after putting on the filter, the better.