please leave your comments below and don’t forget to sign up for updates or follow me on twitter.

These images are also found in the following galleries nightscapes Seascapes, Sunrises and also for sale in the shop

Here we have 2 long exposures 30 seconds + each and a ‘natural’ shot at normal shutter speed.

These images are also found in the following galleries Seascapes, Sunsets and also for sale in the shop

although informative i found the guide and pictures attached a little confusing, so I have decided to make my own guide and make things simple to understand

Imagine you out shooting a landscape the clouds are dark and moody the landscape is perfect but there’s a piercing bright streak of sun right in the middle, if you put on a hard or soft grad over the sun your holing back the clouds too and this will make you lose any definition you may have…
The answer?….. Take one grad and another and invert the 2nd grad. (This method has been tested using lee Hard grads and works perfectly does not work with soft grads) ( soft grads give different effects. i have included the number of stops after each of the values for varying reasons, cokin users work in a different format and most of us work in stops however lee filters are marked up in the 0.3, 06 and 0.9 format.
the following diagram shows what happens when you invert a 0.9 (3 stop) hard grad over another one.
The central stripe isn’t as large as the diagram when filters are square on but if you off set them you can increase the stripe size to fit.

Of course what you now have is a 3 stop Nd filter with a 6 stop stripe across the middle. When was the last time your sky was perfectly in balance with the landscape except the sun on the horizon?
And how many of us have 2 of the same grads in our kit? not many is probably the answer, most of use are lucky just to have 1 hard set!
I would say the most useful would be a 0.9 (3 stop) on top and a 0.6(2 stop) bottom giving the sky 1 stop holding back over the landscape with a 5 stop stripe.

So you can obviously add different grads to achieve different effects below are several tables with the stop effects and stripe effects accordingly
I have tried to cover all combinations of mixing filters with each other with a higher grad on the bottom and then with a higher grad on top

Additionally if these stripes are not strong enough you can stack the 1+3 or the 2+3 to make 4 and 5 stops (0.3+0.9) or (0.6+0.9) the options with these are fewer but allow for a good stripe plus higher contrast / balance of the ND depending on light meter readings ( hand-held or in camera)
The following charts are for stacking the grads.

This practice is particularly good for sunsets/sunrises however due to the speed of the sun moving you will have to get it right almost first time, as light will change fast.
You could also use this stacking method to create a vertical stripe if you were shooting in between buildings for example.

The tutorial on reverse grads will follow shortly on another post and there will be a link to it from this post when its ready.

Comments and feedback welcome

Not sure what a 10 stop filter does here are some examples

First picture is without a filter shot at F11 100 ISO 1/160th sec

Second picture is with a Big Stopper at F11 100 ISO 15 seconds notice the blue hue

First up the B+W 77mm 10 stop, price of these things does seem a bit steep but they are all fairly close price wise.

Pro’s: fits on any 77mm screw thread lens with no adapter, cheaper than the LEE Filters Big stopper.
Cons: has to be screwed on to front of lens, creating movement (**discussed later), very difficult to use with any other filters like grads.

Next the LEE FILTERS BIG STOPPER (10 stops) seemingly the most expensive of all and always out of stock, you either pay way over the odds on ebay for short delivery time or wait up to 10 weeks for delivery from manufacturer, that said there are some major benefits to be had from the lee filters version.
Pro’s: Can be quickly attached and detached for light metering, able to use other filters with it (polarisers and grads), fits any lens size.
Cons: more expensive, delivery times.

Most filters will give you some kind of colour cast one way or another and while the LEE BIG STOPPER is a ND (neutral density) 10 stop filter it does give a slight blue hue, however this is easily combated with a warm up filter or colour balancing in Photoshop (even easier if shooting in RAW format) .
The B+W 10 stop filter comes well packaged and make no mention of any variation on the stop adjustment so appears to be a true 10 stop filter, However the LEE FILTER BIG STOPPER comes with a label in the packaging that says that due to manufacturing process’ ‘your filter may vary and will have a density of somewhere between 9 1/3 and 10 2/3 stops’ and suggests that before first use that you test your filters strength to determine its actual strength. (after testing mine is closer to 11 stops) (SEE END OF POST TO DETERMINE YOUR FILTER STOP) this is very important when setting up a shot as 1/2 a stop can have a massive time difference on exposure times.

The LEE FILTERS BIG STOPPER comes with a credit card style laminated card that is meant as a quick guide for exposure times and while accurate its not totally comprehensive.
Below is a home made chart that i have created for 10 stop filters exposure compensation time, to use it, simply put your camera on AV(aperture priority mode)( choosing the aperture you require), focus the camera and then put into manual focus mode ( if using auto)** this is where the issue lies with the B+W filter as screwing it on could un focus the camera. Now take a E-TTL time reading EG: 1/15th of a second, then attach the filter. Now switch the camera to manual mode making sure that you are on the same ISO and aperture setting as in AV mode now adjust the time according to the chart for 10 stops exposure (1 minute for 1/15th sec) and then expose.
Sounds simple but most cameras will only go up to 30 seconds exposure in camera so you will need either a timer remote or shutter release cable, either timing the exposure manually or setting the timer.
As you can see from the chart below a 2 second exposure becomes a 32 minute exposure now if your shooting a seascape for eg at sunset the light will be decreasing all the time and while the sun maybe on the horizon on shutter open it could be way below the horizon by the time the exposure has finished, so bear in mind the exposure times are for a constant light source or you may well end up under exposed.(reverse this if you are shooting sunrise)
it can be highly guess work to begin with but with some patience you can get some very rewarding photos.
it took me some time to get it right and if you want to redistribute it please do so but link to this page.

NEW CHARTS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOADING

If you would like a copy sent to you, make a paypal payment to wayne@waynesphotos.co.uk and include your address in the notes.

To determine how many stops your filter is you will need a tripod or something to keep your camera very still and a well-lit subject preferably non moving, also away from a window unless its very cloudy or no clouds as sun variation (sun going behind cloud during exposure) will cause false readings and exposures.
Start by setting your camera in av mode and taking a picture at your lowest aperture f/4 eg. note the time value.
Now set the camera into manual mode and set aperture to same as before now insert your filter and adjust the time value to 10 stops and expose again now compare the 2 images on your pc and see if the 2nd one is darker or brighter than the first, (allowing for the blue hue)
now simply go back to the camera and take a few more samples in 3rd stop increments either shorter or longer depending or darker or lighter and compare these images to the original until you get a match. Any questions E-Mail me wayne@waynesphotos.co.uk

*********************************************************************************************************************

As you can see in the second picture the entire singleton, Charlton and east dean valley was thick in fog giving a surreal image of this giant horses head appearing to float on the clouds.
this will definitely be the first of many trips as i cant fit in before the statue disappears for good…….

***********************************************************************
The horse has now moved from the trundle and its location is now the private members area at the racecourse see here ………. Location

update 16/12/2010 horse now back on trundle see location link above

************************************************************************

Where has Artemis gone?

update 26/04/2011 horse now move down to racecourse for racing season click here to see location

************************************************************************

Where is Artemis NOW?

update 1/9/2011 Artemis moved mid august 2011 down to to the lawn at goodwood house back in a semi public space visible to all click here to see location

Artemis now has a new home in Austrailia, He left the lawn at goodwood house this morning and will arrive in austraia some time in december. the following information was taken from a bbc article clik the link for full article….
A family have paid about £1m to buy a huge sculpture of a horse’s head and transport it from Sussex to Australia.

The 30ft (9.1m) high bronze called Artemis was created by artist Nic Fiddian-Green. It formerly stood on the Trundle on the South Downs.

Now an Australian family are taking it to Sydney to become a memorial at the grave of their late father.

Mr Fiddian-Green said the family had bought his work before and had a love of horses.
‘Something this personal’

The sculpture, which was sited at Goodwood House over the summer for the racing festival, is being transported to Southampton Docks before heading to New South Wales.

The artist said: “It’s going on to one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world – known as The Great Dividing Range – on their family estate as a memorial to their late father.

“It’s an honour to have been selected and to have made something that will mark something this personal – its something very profound.”

BBC Link