Ultra Long Exposures with the 16 Stop Firecrest

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I have long been a fan of long exposure landscape photography and one of my MacLean Photographic workshops is called the Long Exposure Landscape workshop. Blurring the moving elements in a composition with a strong non moving subject is something I look for when out and about with my camera.

 Until recently I relied on my Lee 10x ND filter or 'Big Stopper' as it is more commonly known.  This turned a shutter speed of 1/15s into a 1 minute exposure due it blocking the light hitting the sensor by a factor of 10.  When the light is subdued in the early morning or late evening it was easy to get an exposure time of 1 or 2 minutes with a Big Stopper fitted but during the day, which is when my workshops take place, a 10x ND was only giving me a 30s exposure at best.

 So I turned to the Formatt-Hitech Firecrest 16x ND filter.  A 1/30s exposure without the filter becomes 35 minutes with the 16x ND in place, making it a much better proposition in bright sunlight.   

 Last week I hosted two workshops here in East Lothian where I was demonstrating the use of ND filters and I have found a shutter time of between 4 and 8 minutes is long enough to get some extreme movement in the surf.

 The Firecrest filter is much more colour neutral than the Lee 'Big Stopper' which tends to colour shift towards the blue end of the spectrum, so there is less to do in post production.

 Here are three images all shot on the Fujifilm X-T2 using the Firecrest 16x ND Filter with exposure time of 8 minutes in each of the shots.



For more information on Firecrest filters CLICK HERE

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Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE


MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.  CLICK HERE for more details and availability

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