WIDE ANGLES & ND FILTERS
Compose the scene
When shooting at wide angles, it’s a
good idea to have areas of interest
close to the camera, as the middle
distance can look far away. We set up
our shot so that the steps led the viewer
from the bottom left corner into the
image and used the trees for framing.
Level up
Set up the camera on a tripod and use
Live View to ensure it’s level. We used our
Nikon’s touch focus facility to focus on
the stone steps towards the bottom of
the frame; the wide focal length combined
with our narrow f/11 aperture ensures
the whole scene is in sharp focus.Test shot
In Aperture Priority, take a test shot with no
filter attached and take note of the exposure
time. Under the shady tree canopy we had a
reading of 1/15 sec – slow, but not slow
enough to turn the water into a blur. Switch
to Manual focus to prevent your Nikon from
trying to refocus once the filter’s in place.
Calculate exposure
Our 1/15 sec shutter speed works out at one
minute with the filter attached – you can try
and work this out, or use an app such as Lee
Stopper. The app can also set a timer based
on the calculated exposure, which sounds
an alarm when the exposure time is up.Attach the filter
It’s best to have filter adaptor ring already
attached to the lens filter thread beforehand
and the 10-stop filter in place in the filter
holder, so you can simply clip it into place.
Take care not to touch the focus or zoom
rings on the lens, or otherwise jolt the
camera and alter your composition.Time mode
If your resulting shutter speed is slower
than 30 secs, as ours was, use the Time
exposure mode option, which opens the
shutter on the first press of the cable
release and closes it on the second press.
This is a better option than Bulb mode
- as for this mode you have to keep the
shutter button held down for the entire
duration of the exposure.
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35
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Quick TipThe filter holder we were using had a
cover that was designed to eliminate
light leaks, but, at 14mm the corners
of the filter holder casing crept into
the shot, causing vignetting.
Removing the casing eliminated
this problem.