Just got back from WDW - and it was HOT! (how hot was it?) It was so hot, the asphalt returned to its liquid state. It was so hot, the birds were using tongs to get the worms out of the ground. It was so hot, McDonald's coffee was selling out - everyone was pouring it on their laps to cool off. Ba-dum-dum!
OK...hot jokes over. Other than the heat, had a wonderful time as usual - just drank alot more and took some shade breaks. I also got the chance to whip out the ND400 filter, stacked with an ND4 filter, to shoot some slow shutter shots on Main Street in the middle of the afternoon. For each of the shots, I used 5 second shutters and shot 4 shots of each scene, stacking the 4 shots and blending for a combined 20-second effect (it was way too bright to get away with any longer shutters - next time I'll try closer to dusk when the sun is less intense). Still, I love the effect you get - ghosted people blurring by with the rest of the scene normally exposed - and the blurring has the added benefit of reducing the people blocking your view. Here are a few of the results:
This was a true mass of humanity...right after the show in front of the castle - Main Street was shoulder-to-shoulder:
Here you can really see where people in motion can be almost completely removed from the shot - on the left and right side where the people were moving past me, only the faintest outlines hint that people were walking there:
If you wait for a little less intense late-day light, and stack another ND8 or so, you should be able to get away with a 30-second exposure of the same scene, which would all but eliminate the moving people from the shot. A little white balance adjustment is necessary since the 8-stop filter creates a bit of a reddish tinge - easily correctable with either white balance or in post processing.
OK...hot jokes over. Other than the heat, had a wonderful time as usual - just drank alot more and took some shade breaks. I also got the chance to whip out the ND400 filter, stacked with an ND4 filter, to shoot some slow shutter shots on Main Street in the middle of the afternoon. For each of the shots, I used 5 second shutters and shot 4 shots of each scene, stacking the 4 shots and blending for a combined 20-second effect (it was way too bright to get away with any longer shutters - next time I'll try closer to dusk when the sun is less intense). Still, I love the effect you get - ghosted people blurring by with the rest of the scene normally exposed - and the blurring has the added benefit of reducing the people blocking your view. Here are a few of the results:
This was a true mass of humanity...right after the show in front of the castle - Main Street was shoulder-to-shoulder:
Here you can really see where people in motion can be almost completely removed from the shot - on the left and right side where the people were moving past me, only the faintest outlines hint that people were walking there:
If you wait for a little less intense late-day light, and stack another ND8 or so, you should be able to get away with a 30-second exposure of the same scene, which would all but eliminate the moving people from the shot. A little white balance adjustment is necessary since the 8-stop filter creates a bit of a reddish tinge - easily correctable with either white balance or in post processing.
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