You'll have to wait till dusk to limit the light, otherwise, the brightness of midday or afternoon will be too bright for the minimum aperture of the lens to make a properly exposed image with such a long exposure time.

In layman's terms, there is simply too much light to use a long exposure time.

You'll see the aperture blinking in the camera display when the minimum aperture recommended by the camera is exceeded because the lens aperture can't get any smaller.

What you want to do is limit the sensitivity of the sensor, and limit the light going into the lens and reaching the sensor... artificially.

1. Set your ISO to the camera's lowest sensitivity... usually ISO 100. The pro bodies can go even lower to ISO 50.

2. Limit the light using a Neutral Density Filter; available in 2stop or 4stop or even 8stop effectiveness. Using a polarizing filter will be effective for about 1stop.

3. Use that tripod.

The Neutral density filter can also be use to use max aperture in midday to blur out the background; and also for those "car light streak" shots.

Good luck.

 

Awesome info, thanks! I will deff try that. I might wait until the 55-250 comes in to get the waterfall pics and will most likely pickup some filters around that time too. Even though it was very cloudy when I took those waterfall pics I will try to wait a little later in the day to take them next time. The lowest ISO on the T1i is 100 and will try that. How many stops does the UV filter provide? I have both that and the CPL on my fifty.

 

Yeah, use Tv mode, set it to 1/3sec or more, the longer time you select, the more blurred the water will be... and wait till it gets dark enough so when you focus and half press the shutter, the aperture value don't blink. When it blinks, it means the minimum aperture required exceeds the lens' capabilities.

UV filter will not really affect the amount of light entering the lens. People just use it not really to filter UV, but it's a cheap way to protect the front glass.

Really, the main reason to change ISO is to speed up your shutter speed so you can hand hold shots, otherwise, upping ISO will give you more noise.

Here's a thread on that 55-250mm, I got it when it first came out.
https://my350z.com/forum/photography...ns-thread.html

And whatever you do, don't sell that 50mm 1.8 even though you get something better. You'll find out when you actually have to travel with gear that you may want something small and light.

 

Oh, and one more thing... get a shutter remote so you don't have press the camera's shutter button... you may shake the camera.

 

Wow that 55-250 is nuts! What camera were you using? I cannot wait for that! There's also no way I will get rid of the fifty, it's just too good and too lightweight to not have. The AF is a little noisy and takes awhile (which I'm assuming is due to the plastic build) but I usually shoot in MF anyways. i can't believe none of those shots were adjusted in PS or LR! I do my PP on my TV which seems clearer and more vibrant than a monitor which is dissapointing when friends/co-workers look at it and it's not the same as on my TV..

 

That first post testing sharpness was not adjusted. But the rest are...

The camera body for taking these type pics for viewing on the internet/computer is really not important. In fact, I'm tempted to buy a point and shoot and use that to prove great car pics can be taken with one.

Looking back those old pics I kinda cringe, cause if I knew then what I know now, I can make them look better with better post processing.

...and whatever you do, don't use your TV for doing pics. You need to make your pics "universal."

First, use a monitor calibration device like the Pantone Huey Pro that I have or equivalent. Yes, getting your photos right IS GOING TO COST YOU $$$. Photography aint cheap... from high quality filters, to quality tripods, to color calibration, to lenses, to bodies, to flashes... you are going to hurt financially. Do you want to continue?

Then set your color profile on your post processing program to "sRGB."

 

Luckily I knew what I was getting into financially and am more than willing to feed my hobby. How much does the calibrator cost? I guess I'm going to have to dust off the screen, I only used the TV over it as it was bigger and more convenient to work with a bigger surface.

 

I need help.. I am debating on selling my 28-135 but not sure what price to ask as I got it like 2-3 years ago and barely even using em.. what are they going for these days?.. its the canon 28-135mmm f/3.5-5.6 is usm

 

Here you go:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...rchid=14840353

Looks like they're grabbing between $275-$330 depending on if you have filters/manual/condition etc..

 

damm I have mine at 250 and its still not goin

 

I have an XTI, the kit lense and the nifty fifty. Recently added the hack to allow 80 iso as well as mid iso's all the way to 3200 iso, and spot metering.

 

Link to ISO 80? I'm assuming this will also work with my T1i.

 

It's a firmware hack that's not available for the T1i.

 

I'm jealous ctwentytwo! Wish I was in HI to take pics all day long! I'll have to hit you up if I ever head over your way for a short vacation!

 

You should hand deliver the Sekonic if you need a reason to visit HI...lol

 

GTFO of our thread.

 

I think we can give him a visitors pass

 

ibtl lol

 

listen you nikonian sympathizer......

 

Can anyone suggest a good remote trigger to use. I've gotten responses on POTN from cheapo korean "x" brand to the Canon RC1. I'm going to be doing quite a bit of long exposure and star trails, etc.