First use of a Lee "big stopper"

[Josh Bear]

Dear all

I picked up a Lee "Big stopper" filter at focus this year and below you will find two pictures from my first day with it. In each case I moved any litter and unsightly debris and then choose a large pebble for foreground interest. I would welcome your thoughts.

The pictures were taken with a canon 5d mark 2.

Best Regards

Josh

[Barr1e]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

The first pic grabs me more out of the two. I think the stone in the second seems to dominate the image and perhaps should be placed more to the right or the left in my opinion.

Very nice shots - I think the 'big stopper' has contributed well, plus your eye of course.

Regards. Barr1e

[Tom]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

I have no idea what a big stopper filter is Josh but looking at the images I assume it emulates or works with slow shutter speed etc. The horizon line appears unusually heavy here and to my eye the land mass even looks as though it has been effected but I might be wrong on that.
Generally I find the effect, especially in the sky, a bit unsubtle and I can't help but feel that the subject matter might have made a far more pleasing photograph had the filter not been present.

[Patrick]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

I have no idea what a big stopper filter is Josh but looking at the images I assume it emulates or works with slow shutter speed etc. The horizon line appears unusually heavy here and to my eye the land mass even looks as though it has been effected but I might be wrong on that.
Generally I find the effect, especially in the sky, a bit unsubtle and I can't help but feel that the subject matter might have made a far more pleasing photograph had the filter not been present.

[Patrick]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

I have looked at the second shot some more and have come to the conclusion it works best without the sky, it becomes for me at least a great minimumalistic shot, would still prefer the stone to the right though.

Patrick

[Josh Bear]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

dear All

thank you very much for the useful critique, it is a great example of what this board is about and helps me understand how I can do things better.

Tom the big stopper is and a quote "a high quality glass 10 stop long exposure filter. It reduces the amount of light entering your lens by 10 stops allowing you to use a much slower shutter speed or wider lens aperture.

By greatly extending exposure times the BIG Stopper has the effect of allowing anything that is moving in your image to become blurred or ghost like, for example, clouds, waterfalls, rivers, and the sea. However the effect is not limited to landscapes, the filter can be used on cityscapes to blur people or roads and motorways to blur traffic."

I agree about the second picture. I was going for a minimumalistic shot but I think it may work better if the wave had been further in.

Patrick, this is a filter I have wanted for a while hence the purchase and no focus didn't provide a discount on this.

best regards

Josh

[Horacio]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

DearJosh,
I do like more the second one.
I will probably like to try some changes.
The lower half of the scene is very nice to me and has a reasonable focus that can be sharpened a little more more with some plugins.
The sky with moving clouds look unpleasant to my eyes and the horizon is somewhat curved because of distortion.
In terms of creation and working further more in the picture, I wonder how it will look like if you correct the horizon distortion and change/add a new sky with new clouds and with darker B&W tones in the corresponding blues. That will raise the interest of the lower half of the picture.
Regards, Horacio

[Bear]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

Not sure of the protocol of doing this and have no wish to hijack the critique thread - apologies to the OP is this is how it seems - but this was a picture I took earlier in the year. Thought it was interesting because of the similarity in composition to the first picture.

[Andrew Thatcher]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

Your off to a good start Josh. What settings did you use? For me i think there needs to be more movement in the clouds and i always like something in the water to give it that misty feel. But that's just me

[Josh Bear]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

Thanks for the comments and suggestions all.

Andrew. I was hoping you would chip in as i saw your fantastic long exposure set a few weeks ago. The settings for both were 30s f/13.0 at 24.0mm iso100.
Best regards

josh

[Patrick]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

Thanks for the comments and suggestions all.

Andrew. I was hoping you would chip in as i saw your fantastic long exposure set a few weeks ago. The settings for both were 30s f/13.0 at 24.0mm iso100.
Best regards

josh

I was at Smethwick Photo club Thursday and one of the members did the talk, Dave Yates http://www.daveyatesphotography.com a very successful and gifted photographer.
He showed some long exposure shots from Venice and other places, with exposures as long as 4 minutes, doubling and trebling the ND filters.

Sadly none of these particular images are on his website.

Patrick

[Stephen]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

I'd very much agree with Andrews comments Josh. For me I'd be considering at least a 60s exposure, which should be easily achievable with your setup

[Josh Bear]

Re: First use of a Lee "big stopper"

thanks All,

I will keep persevering and will go for 60 seconds.

Best regards

Josh