Long exposures...

[Ristretto]

I'm a big fan of long exposures and love the slightly surreal effect of softened clouds and water surfaces. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea—but hey, it doesn't have to be

1. Quadro Towers in Zurich / Switzerland

• Hasselblad - X2D 100C
• XCD 28P
• 28.0 mm
• ƒ/16
• 64 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• 0.2
• ISO 64

2. Historic town center of Zurich with Grossmünster cathedral

• Hasselblad - X2D 100C
• XCD 75P
• 75.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 64 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• 1
• ISO 64

 

[135mm]

Nicely done. What type of ND filter did you use? Did you do some perspective correction in the first one? A friend uses a phase one which has frame averaging. Check it out as it might be for you.

 

[Ristretto]

Thanks 135mm. For both pictures I was using a magnetic KASE Revolution ND1000 (10-stop) filter. And yes, I did perspective correction in post processing. In the first version, I corrected everything to 100%, meaning all vertical lines were perfectly vertical. However, this resulted in an unnatural look. I think the current correction with still some converging lines, appears much more natural to the eyes.

Your hint about frame averaging is interesting – I wasn’t aware of that, but Google helped me out. The advantages are certainly compelling. But whether those benefits justify the stellar price tag of the PhaseOne camera system is something everyone has to decide for themselves. For me, definitely not – I prefer the simple filter solution that doesn’t break the bank. Besides, many of the problems frame averaging is meant to solve simply don’t apply to me...

 

[135mm]

It is really stunning, just discovered the reflections on the big screen right now. And yes, the Phase One is a rather specialised tool...