Which ND filter do I need for a 5-minute daylight exposure?
Asked 8/3/2012
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I want to make very long exposures in daylight, around 5 minutes, like the example image linked. What kind of filter should I use, and roughly how strong does it need to be?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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We can actually work this out using the information given to us by the metadata and the photo itself. This is going to be a rough science, but good enough to help choose a filter.
Firstly, we have the exposure information in the photo's metadata. This tells us it was taken at f/22 for 105 seconds at ISO 100. Secondly, what does the photo itself tell us about the prevailing light conditions? The sky clearly shows it was cloudy, but the soft shadow under the bench indicates there was some sunshine too (as do the streaks in the sky, in fact). So let's call it partly overcast.
The Sunny 16 rule tells us that on a partly overcast day, at ISO 100, we'd use an exposure of 1/100s at f/11. But the photographer has used f/22, so we need to adjust the shutter speed accordingly to 1/25s (we've lost two stops on the aperture so need to add two to the shutter speed).
So, without a filter we think this scene could have been captured with something like f/22 at 1/25s and ISO 100. We're already making lots of assumptions here - it might have been a much brighter or cloudier day than we're assuming, and of course the image may have been substantially post-processed - but let's assume we're near enough, say within a stop or two. To convert that into a long exposure you'll need a neutral density (ND) filter.
So, the question now becomes: what strength of ND filter is needed to convert a shutter speed of 1/25s into one of 105s? That's somewhere around 11 stops of difference (11 stops is equivalent to multiplying the shutter speed by 2048: here it's multiplied by nearer 2600, but only according to our back-of-an-envelope calculations). If our figures are more or less correct, 11 stops of filtering would produce roughly an 80s exposure. A 10-stop filter would produce a 40-second exposure. Both of those would produce a very similar looking result to the photo you've linked to. Plus I always find very dark ND filters will take quite a bit of extra exposure: those shutter speeds may end up nearer to 100s and 50s respectively.
I'm not sure you can actually buy an 11-stop filter but 10-stop filters are common. So my answer is: you'd need a 10-stop (aka NDx1000) neutral density filter. You may want to stack this with a lighter filter (e.g. a 2 or 3-stop ND) if you really want to get extreme long exposure times.
Originally by user3644. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user3644
14y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Use a neutral density (ND) filter. For multi-minute exposures in daylight, you need a very dark ND filter, or a variable ND.
From the example’s metadata, the shot was made at ISO 100, f/22, for 105 seconds. In partly overcast daylight, that suggests the photographer used roughly 9–10 stops of light reduction. That puts you in the range of an ND400 / 10-stop ND filter, assuming you also use a low ISO and a small aperture.
For a full 5-minute exposure, the exact strength depends on how bright the scene is. In brighter sun you may need even more reduction, while in dimmer light a 10-stop filter may be enough.
A variable ND can also work, though very dark fixed ND filters are a common choice for this kind of shot. Another workaround is using two polarizers, which can act like a variable ND, but they also polarize the light and may affect the image differently.
So the short answer: start with a strong ND, around 10 stops (often sold as ND400), and adjust based on the actual light.
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