My get-pushed partner, Sharyn @sewsharyn asked me to create a 'low key, long exposure image in B&W'. It was a perfect opportunity for me to try using my ND10 filter which I've always been sort of nervous about using. With the bright sunny day and breezes reducing the biting bugs, I headed with my camera, tripod, and filter to Barney's lake. This is looking north with a very very bright sun just to the left creating sparkle on the water. Even at f7.1, with an ISO of 50 and the filter, I was able to use a long exposure of 13 seconds. Processed in b&w to create a low-key look using Silver Efex.
@sewsharyn Here's my first real attempt to respond to your challenge. I don't think I could do it without the filter, so thanks for getting me started with it!
Fabulous mood on this one Taffy, gives a real sense of mystery. Do you like the filter? Fab processing too. I have been trialling the Topaz suite, do you have the whole suite or just parts of it?
@elaine55 I have Topaz suite but haven't used any of it except Topaz Fusion Express which is sort of an elaborate SnapArt. I really need to learn layers but keep putting it off for no particular reason. And with the semi-funk I'm in now would be the ideal time to start figuring it out or doing some tutorials. Have you found any helpful ones?
@taffy I have so far just used the black and white, the adjust and the clarity one so must hurry up and use the others as the trial will be ending soon. I do like a lot of the effects in the black and white, which incidentally aren't always mono. I have only used a couple of their own tutorials when I downloaded the trial.
@elaine55 Forgot to answer re the filter. I do like it. It's very simple -- not graduated which probably would have been smarter to get. You just put it on, and then I use trial and error to sort out the exposure rather than do the calculations that I know you can do to be more accurate. My gut usually is on target within one or two tries.
