Long Exposures and ND Filters

Learn how to optimise and use ND filters for long exposures in the landscape.

Level: Beginner and Intermediate
Date: Saturday 3 May 2025
Time: 3.45pm – 5.30pm
Price: $170
Instructor: Seng Mah
Location: City Beach
Maximum participants: 8

If you’ve always wanted to understand how to use ND (Neutral Density) filters and shoot long exposures, then come and join us for this hands-on workshop where you’ll learn how to capture long exposures at Perth’s iconic Cottesloe Beach!

We’ll demystify the ND numbers for you, so that you can learn how to use these filters without getting too stuck on the formulas and calculations.

We’ll start off by looking at regular exposures — those taken without fillters, before we look at the effect filters have on your exposures and on creating long exposure blur in your pictures. Then, we’ll head off along the beach to photograph a number of different long exposure scenes – including the views with the tea house and the pylons.

RECOMMENDED FILTERS

An ND (Neutral Density) filter is a filter with glass that is tinted to varying degrees of density. The filters reduce the amount of light entering the camera, thus allowing you to shoot at long exposures even when there is quite a lot of light in the scene. ND filters are often rated from very dense tinting (around ND1000) to very light tinting (around ND4 or ND8). The higher the ND rating, the darker the tint, hence less light entering the camera. For this workshop we recommend that you have a dense tinted ND filter (ND1000, ND500 or ND400) and a mid-level tint (ND64 or ND32).

You can purchase screw on filters (such as Hoya filters) or square filters that slide into a filter holder (these are sold as “kits” and brands include Nisi, Haida, Kase etc). The square filter kits are more expensive, but allow you to stack the filters for those times when you want to try super long exposures.

Screw on filters are manufactured for the size of your lens thread (the “thread” is essentially the diameter of your lens). Check the back of your lens cap to find out the thread of your lens — this is often expressed in mm eg. 77mm, 82mm, 67mm… You then purchase the filter for this lens. If you are starting out with using ND filters and are looking to buy screw on filters, then get the filter for your most versatile lens; this is usually your wide angle zoom lens eg. 24-70mm, 24-105mm lens.

You may find some filters called “Variable ND Filters” on the market on in stores, which is a filter that allows you to go from a light tint to a heavy tint — all using the one filter. We DO NOT RECOMMEND this filter (they are useful for videographers, not so much for landscape photographers). We do not support the use of variable ND filters in this workshop, as we focus solely on fixed density ND filters in this workshop.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

A DSLR or mirrorless camera, with spare battery (long exposures chew up battery life).
Lenses with a wide to mid-range focal length range eg. 18-55mm, 18-135mm, 24-70mm, 24-105mm and similar.
ND (Neutral Density) filters for your lens. You will need two filters — a very strong filter (ND1000 or ND400) and a mid-strength filter (ND64 or ND32). Some filters for lenses up to 77mm thread are available for borrowing. Your filters may be screw on filters (eg. Hoya) or square slide-in filters (eg. Nisi, Haida). We DO NOT RECOMMEND using Variable ND Filters for this workshop.
A stable tripod that is easy for you to use.
A cable release with a switch/button that allows you to trip the shutter (or you can use the 2-second timer on your camera, or your camera app on your smart phone — but you’ll need to make sure you know how to use this app before the workshop).
Weather appropriate clothing and insect repellant.

Come and learn how to get creative with long exposures!