Using a 10 stop ND Filter: In the eBook "Tack Sharp" by James Brandon, he states while taking a picture of a Forum in Rome, he used a 10 stop ND Filter, set the shutter speed to 2...

mrmal Loc: Saskatoon, Sask, Canada

In the eBook "Tack Sharp" by James Brandon, he states while taking a picture of a Forum in Rome, he used a 10 stop ND Filter, set the shutter speed to 2 minutes which made all the tourists in the frame disappear quite nicely. How is this possible that only the static portions of the forum are so sharp and all the moving tourists do not appear. I would have thought they would be a blur. I have a 10 stop but only used it twice to take pictures of waterfalls in Mesquite, Nevada.

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

I sure don't know. Doesn't look like anyone else does either!

Dan

tsilva Loc: Arizona

Because the people are moving fast enough. If they stayed in one spot longer or moved slower they would start to show up.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

The slower the shutter speed, the more faint the blur of moving people. At some point in shutter speed the blurred subjects will be too faint to see.

Rick36203 Loc: Northeast Alabama

You can watch the technique used by Mark Wallace to remove cars from a highway here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNtAXbaNr0

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

All well and good if the clouds are not moving and there in no wind in the trees...

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

kymarto wrote:

All well and good if the clouds are not moving and there in no wind in the trees...

And the sky can always be replaced . . .

Shoeless_Photographer Loc: Lexington

mrmal wrote:

In the eBook "Tack Sharp" by James Brandon, he states while taking a picture of a Forum in Rome, he used a 10 stop ND Filter, set the shutter speed to 2 minutes which made all the tourists in the frame disappear quite nicely. How is this possible that only the static portions of the forum are so sharp and all the moving tourists do not appear. I would have thought they would be a blur. I have a 10 stop but only used it twice to take pictures of waterfalls in Mesquite, Nevada.

With a 10-stop filter, it takes a while for the light to "accumulate" so the sensor can see it. Hopefully, the people won't stand in place for long so they'll never send enough light to the sensor from any one location. That's what makes them "invisible". If they remain in place for maybe a third of the time the shutter is open, they could end up like I do in the attached image. (I stood in place for about 30 seconds of this 90-second exposure.)

(Download)

Haydon

kymarto wrote:

All well and good if the clouds are not moving and there in no wind in the trees...

Sometimes the streaking sky from the long exposure can offer leading lines and a desired effect IMO and image blending can also provide a non blurred tree.

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

I like to think about it as brush strokes on canvas. If the shutter speed is very fast than you get one or two heavy brush strokes. If the shutter speed is very slow than that is many hundreds of faint strokes so the people would be overwhelmed by the static objects.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

These links should explain it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNtAXbaNr0
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/how-an-nd-filter-can-remove-crowds-from-busy-shots--27054

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Rick36203 wrote:

You can watch the technique used by Mark Wallace to remove cars from a highway here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNtAXbaNr0

Yes, very good demo.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

Rick36203 wrote:

You can watch the technique used by Mark Wallace to remove cars from a highway here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNtAXbaNr0

Don't try this at night ;~)

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

mrmal wrote:

In the eBook "Tack Sharp" by James Brandon, he states while taking a picture of a Forum in Rome, he used a 10 stop ND Filter, set the shutter speed to 2 minutes which made all the tourists in the frame disappear quite nicely. How is this possible that only the static portions of the forum are so sharp and all the moving tourists do not appear. I would have thought they would be a blur. I have a 10 stop but only used it twice to take pictures of waterfalls in Mesquite, Nevada.

Here is another way to approach this in Photoshop if you do not have a filter.

http://toomanyadapters.com/how-to-remove-people-travel-photos-photoshop/

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

One time I made a pin hole camera out of an oatmeal box (panoramic view) and took it to the factory I worked at put it on a table and opened the "shutter". the only person that should up was one standing by his machine reading a newspaper and he was just a blur. I think I used about a three min exposure on ASA 100 4X5 sheet film. - Dave