The remnants of old pier pilings dot the water all along the Hudson and East rivers in Manhattan. I have been wanting to do some photos of them where the water is a milky blur in contrast with the craggy sharpness of the wooden pilings. This past weekend I had the opportunity because the weather was overcast enough to lower the exposure time necessary to cause the blur. Even so, I needed an even lower shutter speed to achieve the effect I was after. For this I relied on a neutral density filter that would knock 9 full f-stops off the exposure. At an ISO of 100 that gave me 30 seconds at f/8 to f/11, enough time and depth of field for the motion of the water to blur while the pilings remained sharp.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZX90CqLFOLsfuioXKGj_RRGrAhbTlWu_OTTQGvnJ2PTaHhkhgOxYWdbUJCkvezM0VpslL0NrfwfyYQ967qNx0JvS9_P6_JnH68dsH8I16D6iAdrwxcFw582wEoffR3KivM4k7W1iMzol/s1600/ti01069665bl.jpg) |
One of the final images, taken with a Nikon D800 at f/9 and ISO of 100. I used a 9-stop ND filter to increase the exposure time, but probably could have achieved the same effect with a 6-stop filter instead. One problem with the 9-stop filter is that it is so dark you cannot even see the subject through the viewfinder when the filter is on the lens. I had to remove the filter and refocus for every change of scene. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOu0dCHinS3gqwttpnfqjrQE_POpvcIQHU7vbNySwrXHec8gXO7RsWmX0SzQMvpkzLUG9g3oSV8rZdBg1x28L3cW4RDerpStXk4O2kRL4RTAmi87OKoyEEGAGRTVN501Os8D1y5-_NFUDg/s1600/ti01069703bl.jpg) |
This is the actual scene shown how it would have been without the ND filter. Even stopped down to f/16 I was only able to slow the shutter speed to 1/4 second for this version. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4r9wYD3t8djHzdEf1qOA1OJUGgskg_si410BHtpZGLKQPdvtBV-45BpRG5_UVStgg2Kyy7oj8uxDOblV13ADYt90mZps3i0hrExlL3rw-A1lUFCUuK44GTO9LB6p8laMFUwflMOZqWF0/s1600/ti01069704bl.jpg) |
This is the scene shot at 15 seconds. I wanted the water to be milkier than this so I increased the speed to 30 seconds for the final versions. |
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