More Adventures with my Heliopan 10-stop ND Filter

It has been awhile since I done any long exposure shots using my Heliopan 10-stop ND filter. I decided to blow the cobwebs off and take it out for a spin. I just wished they made a Lee Big Stopper for the Cokin X-Pro holder. It gets a bit tedious having to unscrew the Heliopan, compose and screw it back on. Anyway, enough whinging, below are some of the shots I came back with.

Hyde Park

30s | f22 | ISO 100 @ 16mm

The first one was shot at the Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park, Sydney. I waited for the crowd to dissipate before attempting this shot.  There were busloads of them milling around the fountain and a rather large wedding party to my left. That's St. Mary's Cathedral in the background.

I have always wanted wanted to capture long exposure shots of fountains. I never tire of these types of shots, the super smooth glass-like surface. I especially love the movements of the clouds, I think it really adds to the photo.

Hornby Lighthouse

30s | f11 | ISO 200 @ 19mm

This one was taken just after sunrise at Camp Cove, near Watsons Bay, Sydney. The sun was just starting to slowly warm things up. The distortion of the lighthouse is cause by me pointing the Nikon 16-35mm lens downwards.

I should have increase the aperture to f16, which would have given me a 60 seconds exposure. This would have made the water so much smoother or smokier. I really love the colours in this shot. Now if I dropped the ISO down to 100, the exposure would have doubled again to 120 seconds.

Coogee Beach

66s | f20 | ISO 160 @ 18mm

This one was taken of the tidal pool at Coogee Beach, Sydney.  I love how the sea here is misty/smokey white and you can see the rocks peeking through and the movement of the clouds. The surface of the tidal pool look like a giant piece of emerald glass. It was rather cold on this particular morning. I remembered that the cappuccino from the local cafe was crap.

Conclusion

I am really starting to get a feel for the Heliopan. I can now easily guesstimate how long to do the exposures for and by checking the histogram and can tweak it until it's perfect. The Heliopan does not add any color cast like my friend's BW does. If you are in the market for a 10-stop ND filter, give the Heliopan a go.

Learning about 10-Stop ND Filters

Still Learning

I really need to start learning how to get the best out of my, recently, purchased Heliopan 10-stop ND filter. I have seen heaps of amazing long exposures using 10 stop filters and I wanted to see if I could emulate what others have achieved. So far, I have only done a couple of test shots nothing fantastic.

I noticed that there clouds in the sky this morning and the wind was picking up so I decided to head into the city. All I needed now was somewhere with large expanse of water. I decided that St. Marys Cathedral and Hyde Park would be perfect location for some experimentation. The aquatic centre in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral has two large pools of water and there’s also a massive fountain in Hyde Park.

St. Mary’s Cathedral

EXIF data for all three shots: ISO 100 f/22 20s 19mm

My goal today is to get some shots with dynamic cloud movements, “smooth as glass” water with awesome reflections. Hopefully, I have managed to achieve what I set out to do. Next I decided to take a few shots in portrait mode.

EXIF data for all three shots: ISO 100 f/22 20s 17mm

In the second shot, I dropped the tripod down so that it was just above the height of the pool and also moved it towards the centre of the pool. There is no colour cast with the Heliopan 10-Stop ND filter.

Banding issue

EXIF data for both shots: ISO 100 f/22 20s 17mm

Here’s a problem I discovered if you get too much direct sunlight, downside of aiming at the sun. Notice the distinct vertical band just off centre towards the right hand side of the photo. I just used a LR3 preset “cold tone” to try and minimise the impact, it is still there but not as obvious. It was rather hard to judge the timing as sometimes the sun would pop out from behind the clouds as they move by.

EXIF data for both shots: ISO 100 f/22 15s 16mm

 

I just love the movements of the clouds behind the cathedral, for me, it really makes the photo. There was some human traffic but thank god the long exposure took care of them.

 

EXIF data for both shots: ISO 100 f/22 15s 16mm

 

Hyde Park

It was hard to get good position here as there were quite a few tourists milling around the fountain trying to get their holiday snaps. There was also tons of tiny school kids passing by wondering what I was doing. Besides my choice of positions was limited as I wanted St. Mary’s Cathedral in the background.

EXIF data: ISO 100 f/22 20s 16mm

 

I think that these two shots are my favourites from today. I really like the movement of the clouds away from me. I love the smooth glass-like look of the water in the fountain.

 

EXIF data: ISO 100 f/22 30s 16mm

 

EXIF data: ISO 200 f/22 30s 22mm

This was my last shot of the day as it looked like rain was coming so I quickly packed up, walked down to The Rocks where I met a friend for a, well earned, large cappuccino.

St. Marys Cathedral & Hyde Park

 

Hongcun Village (宏村) - Anhui - China

Hongcun Village enjoys the reputation of 'a village in the beautiful Chinese picture' because of its location at high altitude and being shrouded by clouds and mist.

Established in 1131, this well-preserved centuries old village is unique. What makes Hongcun Village so unique is that the village was designed by a fengshui master to resemble a cow

 

The architecture and carvings of the approximately 150 residences dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties are said to be among the best of their kind in China. One of the biggest of the residences open to visitors, Chenzhi Hall, also contains a small residence museum.

 

Together with Xidi it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Hongcun was a location where the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was shot. Since then, tourism has dramatically increased.

Don’t let the photos fool you, they might look empty but let me assure you the crowds were there. I just waited for them to move on before taking the shots.

 

 

 

Hongcun Village is built in the shape of an ox. The locals liken Leigang Hill as the 'head', two huge trees on the hill as the 'horns', the residences in the village as the 'body', a winding stream as the 'intestines', a crescent pond as the 'stomach' and the four bridges as the 'four feet'.







Hongcun is unique among all Chinese villages for its very sophisticated water system. Water is the main feature in this village. Its two large ponds are connected to a series of flowing streams which pass by every house, providing water for washing, cooking, and bathing.

 

 

 

 

The humidity was extremely high today, probably, made worst by the fact that we just came down from the much cooler mountains (20C). It wasn’t fun especially with the huge crowds, from various tour groups, pushing and shoving. There appears to be no concept of queuing in China.

Ascend to Mt. Hallelujah - Huangshan - China

After a good night sleep and a good breakfast we were ready for our ascend up to Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). Our guide gave us the option of either visiting Hongcun in the morning and then up to the mountain later in the day. Apparently, it is still raining up on the mountain. We all decided to risk it and go straight to the mountain as that has always been our priority for this trip.

Cable car trip to the Top

There was fog all the way up to the top of the mountains. Near complete white out in some places as we saw nothing except white or the occasional cable car going the opposite way.

 

There was a collective sigh in the cable car when the fog parted and we caught glimpses of what was awaiting for us up at the top. The scenery was breath taking and I knew straight away that I was going to get great shots today if the weather cooperated.

 

 

Check out those pine trees growing on the side and top of the mountain.



"The prototype of Mount Hallelujah in 'Avatar' originated from Mount Huang, whose peculiarly-shaped granite peaks and steep mountain shape brought us great inspiration", said James Cameron, director of 'Avatar', at its Beijing Premiere on December 23rd.

 

Due to same stuff up, I mentioned in the last post, by our travel agent meant that we would only be staying for 1 night and 1 day instead of 2 nights and 2 days. I still get angry when I think about this.

 

Mt. Huang, Huangshan, China

 

Tunxi (屯溪区) – Anhui - China

Tunxi Ancient Street

Arrived here late afternoon from Shanghai. Due to a stuff up of our flights by our less than observant travel agent we missed the last cable car up to the Mt. Huang so we will have to spend the night here in Tunxi. After checking in and a quick rest we wandered down to ancient street.

               ISO 280 f/4 1/60                                              ISO 200 f/4 1/60

                 ISO 3200 f/4 1/60

This tea house is about 800 years old. The girl is performing a traditional Chinese tea ceremony and later instructed us on the proper tea drinking etiquette. I really enjoyed drinking one so much so I bought some.

                                                   ISO 3200 f/4 1/60

We then tried out Chrysanthemum tea. It was lovely, sweet and mellow. I really enjoyed it.

                                                     ISO 3200 f/4 1/60

This was lovely too and the most expensive tea we tried that night. Excellent green tea indeed.

                                                     ISO 400 f/4 1/60

Hmm, looks like some sort of bicycle convertible. How cute is it?
Wonder if it would catch on back in Australia.

                                                    ISO 640 f/4 1/60

I found this bicycle parked all on it’s lonesome in a back lane off ancient street.

                   ISO 560 f/4 1/60                                            ISO 900 f/8 1/60

                                                     ISO 500 f/4 1/60

                           Drying clothes the traditional way.

                                                       ISO 800 f/4 1/60

                             Fan Artist/Calligrapher/Painter.

                                                       ISO360 f/4 1/60

Seal stone Carver at work. He is actually carving this one for me. You can see what it looks like at the top right hand corner of this photo.

                                                      ISO 450 f/4 1/60

                                      A very friendly local.

                                                      ISO 500 f/4 1/60

              ISO 2800 f/4 1/60                                              ISO 500 f/4 1/60

                                                        ISO 3200 f/4 1/60

Random tourist trying to decide which fan to buy or get both. This goes on for an eternity. Okay, I am exaggerating.

                                                      ISO 640 f/4 1/60

Fast food Chinese style. The food was actually very tasty and ridiculously cheap.

History

This street with centuries-old history dates back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Emperor Huizong (1082-1135) moved his seat of government to Lin'an (now Hangzhou), when many architects and workmen were conscripted to construct the new capital. After returning to their hometown, they imitated the structural style to build architecture along the street, so Tunxi Ancient Street was formed.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a merchant in Anhui invested money to build 47 stores so as to attract businessmen, which contributed to the communication of the street with outside world.

Gradually it developed into the distribution center for materials in and out of Anhui in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The street is paved with maroon flagstones with a total length of 1,273 meters (about 1,392 yards), of which 895meters (about 979 yards) is the pedestrian commercial street.

Shops standing on both sides are generally of two or three floors, which feature the local Anhui style of stone base, brick construction and tile roof. The layout of these buildings commonly takes on the appearance of shops in front while houses and workshops are to the rear. Once a professor from America was amazed by the street and he said he had found an Oriental Ancient Rome. Nowadays the street is also used as a natural studio for films and TV series.

Tunxi, Anhui, China

Tunxi, Anhui, China