Using a long exposure without an ND filter

Monday 4 December 2023, 16:32 by Nando Harmsen | 5,174 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

To achieve long exposure times, you need to make sure that not too much light enters through your lens. In daylight, a small aperture is not enough, and you need an ND filter. Is it also possible to take multiple shots and combine them? Let's put it to the test.

This article was written in response to my question about what the readers of this blog would like to read. This subject, long exposures using multiple separate shots, was suggested by MacBigFoot, for which I am grateful.

If you want to use long exposure times, not too much light should enter through your lens. The less light gets through, the longer your shutter speed needs to be for a correctly exposed photo.

Why you would want to achieve long exposure times will be clear. To create movement in water, or to remove movement from it. Or to capture the movement of clouds as streaks in your photo.

A real long exposure. This was taken with an exposure time of 5 minutes by using an ND filter
A long exposure is possible by taking photos during the darker hours of the day. Twilight or evening is the perfect time for this. If you want to do this during the day, you need to block light with an ND filter.

Not everyone has an ND filter. Is there another way? The answer is yes and no. As you may know, some smartphones can simulate long exposure times by combining multiple photos. You can do this with your ordinary, real camera too. And Photoshop. This is called stacking.

Want long exposure times? Take photos with an ND filter. If you don't have one, you could use multiple shots with a short shutter speed. Within limits, that is.
Stacking does have some limitations, as you will notice. A one-second photo may be possible to simulate, and perhaps ten seconds too. But a minute becomes difficult or even impossible. Unless you are very committed.

How does it work? Very simply. You choose the longest possible shutter speed. How long this is depends on the amount of light available. Choose ISO100, or even ISO50 if possible. Choose aperture f/22, or the smallest available aperture of your lens.

Invest in a good ND filter if you enjoy photographing with long exposure times. That is better than using digital tricks.
In the middle of the day, in full sunlight, you can get a shutter speed of 1/50 second at ISO 100 and f/22. If you want to simulate an exposure of one second, you have to take no fewer than 50 photos in succession.

For five seconds, you need 250 photos. For a full minute, that becomes no fewer than 3,000 photos.

Of course, you will need fewer photos at twilight or in heavy cloud, as there is less light. But it will be clear that you have to keep taking photos continuously until you reach your desired long exposure.

What does the result look like? I tried it for you. I used a situation in which I could achieve a maximum of 1/13 second without a filter. With a 10-stop ND filter, it is then possible to achieve a shutter speed of 1 minute. To achieve that minute without a filter at 1/13 second, I would have to take 780 photos.

I did not do that, though. I stopped after 37 photos, which when combined corresponds to only 2.84 seconds of exposure. Imagine if I had taken 780 photos. If you want to read more about this method, take a look at my extensive article about it there.

Under the same conditions, an exposure of 1 minute was possible with a 10-stop ND filter.
My advice, if you want to photograph with long exposure times, is not to make things difficult by taking hundreds or thousands of photos, but to invest in an ND filter. It is much simpler and makes the work much more enjoyable.

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