Over the past 7 or 8 years, I have experimented with using filters. I started off using very cheap ones I got online for under £10. Those were really rubbish but I could see the potential.
I then upgraded to brand name filters, I won’t name the company as those filters resulted in soft photos and a colour cast on some occasions. They worked to an extent but you could not rely on them.
For those who don’t know, filters block a certain amount of light which means you can leave the shutter open longer. Longer shutter time means more time passes and you can get longer and longer exposures as are required. If you choose the wrong photographic filters your images may have colours or tones which are not actually there.
After doing some research on Twitter (basically asking photographers which filters they used), I found that the Lee Filters system was the one to go for. While I was in London recently I decided to take the plunge. I got the adapter ring for my 24-105 L series lens, the foundation kit holder for the Lee filters and the Lee Filters Big Stopper. The Big Stopper is a whopping 10 stops of a filter, so a 1-second exposure becomes a 16-minute exposure using the Big Stopper.
In the past 24 hours I have tried out the filters and they work really well as you can see yourself below. I hope to post more photos using these filters on my photo website at www.shanemcdonald.me and on my Instagram account www.instagram.com/shanesphoto
Sample Photo using Lee Filters
