I’m very drawn to water: the ocean, rivers, lakes, waterfalls.
Consequently, most of my work is based around it.
When I’m standing at the seashore, I feel a sense of peace,
which I try to bring out in my photographs.
I like to use the camera as a paintbrush,
to give my own personal perspective on a location.
I also like simplicity,
and an uncluttered composition full of light and space.
I use long exposures to help me do this.
Long shutter speeds come about either from working in low light
or by use of a filter.
This means that anything that is moving appears blurred.
The effect on water and sky can be very beautiful.
The effect gives me simple, clean photographs.
Using a Big Stopper isn’t difficult,
but you do need to have a workflow.
Doing a few necessary things in the right order.
LEE Filters have two long-exposure filters,
the Big Stopper and the Little Stopper.
The Big Stopper increases your shutter speed by ten stops,
while the Little Stopper increases it by six stops.
You might think that there is not a lot of difference between 10 stops and 6 stops.
But to give you an idea, using the card
that LEE give you with each filter,
I can see that an exposure of 1/8sec
becomes two minutes with the Big Stopper.
Looking at the exposure guide for the Little Stopper,
I can see that an exposure of 1/8sec becomes eight seconds.
So you can see there is a big difference between eight seconds and two minutes.
Both filters come in the 100mm format and the Seven5 system.
Various things can happen during a long exposure
that will affect the quality of your photograph.
You need to make sure that your camera is as solid as possible.
Make sure you have a sturdy tripod.
I also recommend a plug-in cable release,
which allows you to control the shutter speed without touching the camera.
It also allows you to use the ‘bulb’ setting,
meaning you control the shutter speed, not the camera.
What I want to produce here is a photograph of this old sea wall behind me.
This sea wall has been here for hundreds of years and is a very solid structure,
which is ideal for this sort of photograph.
I’m going to use the Big Stopper to smooth the water
and hopefully create a very ethereal photograph.
First, I’m going to take a photograph without using a filter.
This will give me my starting point.
It’s telling me that the exposure is about 1/60sec.
We’re now ready to use the Big Stopper.
First of all, I fit the filter ring.
Next comes the filter holder, which fits over the top.
With regards to focusing,
as soon as you fit the Big Stopper, which is a very dark piece of glass,
the camera becomes ‘blind’.
If you are using autofocus,
you should then switch your lens to manual focus.
This will stop the lens searching for something to focus on after the filter is attached.
The last thing to talk about is the viewfinder.
Light can get in through the viewfinder and ruin your exposure,
so you need to make sure it is covered.
With my camera, I can flick a switch and the viewfinder is covered.
If your camera doesn’t have this, just hold your hand over the viewfinder.
Here is the Big Stopper.
Like I said, it is a very dark piece of glass.
The sponge seal on the filter has to face the camera.
And you need to place the filter in the rail that is closest to the lens.
This seals the light, so none can creep in around it.
I now need to measure the exposure.
Take the exposure guide that is provided with the filter.
My initial exposure was 1/60sec.
According to the guide, my exposure should be 15 seconds.
So now I set the camera to 15 seconds.
Let’s take the picture and see what happens.
I’m on top of the cliffs at the very beautiful Land’s End in Cornwall.
I’m about to take a photograph of this great rock formation behind me.
While I’ve been setting up, the mist has come in from the sea.
To counteract it and give me a more even exposure,
I’m going to use a neutral-density graduated filter in conjunction with the Big Stopper.
You need to fit the graduated filter before the Big Stopper.
Slide it into the rail furthest from the lens
and use your eye to judge where it should be placed.
Now I’m ready for the Big Stopper.
I’ve pushed it into place and made sure it covers the whole of the front of the lens.
I want to make a photograph of this tin mine
perched on the edge of this cliff.
Two things are happening.
First, the light is dropping very quickly
and is giving me a normal shutter speed of about 1/2sec.
Second, there is now quite a strong wind blowing.
If I use the 1/2sec shutter speed with the Big Stopper,
that’s going to give me me an exposure of around eight minutes.
This means the wind would start to move the camera.
So I’m going to use the Little Stopper
because if I look at the exposure guide,
I can see that my 1/2sec exposure will now become a 30-second exposure,
which is a lot more manageable in these circumstances.
Close down the eyepiece
fit the filter,
and off we go.
Now, I’m going to make a comparison between the effects
of the Big Stopper and the Little Stopper.
The shutter speed before fitting the filter was 1/30sec.
With the Little Stopper, that makes a two-second exposure.
You can see the effect this is having on the photograph.
There is still some texture in the water,
and you can make out the waves
but the water is still smooth.
With the Big Stopper,
the 1/30sec shutter speed becomes 30 seconds.
The difference is dramatic, the ethereal water is very flat
and the whole picture has a completely different atmosphere.
With the two images side by side,
you can clearly see the difference.
When using the Big and Little Stopper,
your images will have a slight blue colour cast.
This is easy to correct.
You can either increase the colour temperature of your camera
before you take the photograph.
Or if you shoot in raw, you can correct it in postproduction
by increasing the colour temperature slider.
Personally, I quite like the blue cast
and when I shoot in colour, I tend to leave it.
If you photograph in black and white,
the blue cast is not an issue.
As you can see, using long exposures can give you some very dramatic results.
Just remember to use a sturdy tripod,
set your focus and exposure to manual,
and cover the viewfinder when the shutter is open.