I haven’t spent enough time shooting long exposures with my Lee Filters Seven5 kit, but I desperately need to change this. I really love that silky smooth, ethereal look that shooting with ND filters give. I think my next photo series will be something unique with this type of look.
Here’s a very quick walk-through tutorial on how I pulled this photo off in the bright daylight conditions:
Step 1 – Make sure you are on manual focus all the way out to infinity
Step 2 – Set your ISO (lower the better – in my case, I shot at ISO 200 to reduce grain
Step 3 – Set your f-stop to where you want to be – I was at f/22 since the sun was blazing out and wanted silky water
Step 4 – Take a test shot at to see what your shutter speed would normally be – mine showed 1/1800
Step 5 – Attach the filter kit to the lens – Big Stopper against the lens and .6 soft grad on outer slot
Step 6 – Use the chart that came with the filter kit to help you choose shutter speed – I went to 30 seconds
The final photo below is of the Pacifica Pier in mid day shot with my Fuji X-T1 and XF10-24mm lens. I was stable on my Induro CT114 tripod w/ BHD1 ball head. I used the Lee Filters Seven5 kit with the .6 soft grad and the Big Stopper 10 stop filter. I did some light correction and crop in LR.
Pacifica Pier
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