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SLR Photography Guide Blog

Photography blog for those who use digital SLR (DLSR) cameras.

0.9ND Lee filter, Slow motion water with a .9 ND Lee filterDecember 13 2008

.9 ND Lee Filter - Why it's useful for slow motion water photography

A .9 ND (neutral density) filter darkens the overal scene by 3 stops. This allows the photographer to shoot with a much slower shutter speed that would other wise have been possible.

Take the image below for example. This photograph was taken at quarter to five in the afternoon, which is still quite sunny here in North Queensland Australia. Even with extreme camera settings of F/22 aperture and ISO of 100, I was unable to achieve anything that resembled slow motion water, until I added a .9 ND Lee filter to the setup.

Yes, some could argue that if I'd waited another couple of hours, I would most likely have gotten the same photograph without the use of filters. However, as most photographers understand, sometimes you have to take a shot while you can. In this particular place, waiting around till dark, we'd have been eaten alive by sandflies. Personally, I also like seeing a hint of sunlight within the photograph, that I would not have had the opportunity to capture if it were a later time in the day.

Note: click on the photograph below to view the larger image 

Combining 2 Lee Filters .9 ND plus Coral StripeDecember 12 2008

Experimenting with combining 2 Lee Filters .9 ND (neutral density) plus a Coral Stripe

As you can see by the example photograph below, our recent trip away to Cape Hillborough Resort was the perfect landscape to test out a few new Lee Filters. The Lee foundation kit that I purchased a week ago allows me to combine up to 3 filters to my camera lens simultaneously. For the photograph seen below, I combined a .9 ND with a Coral Stripe filter on top.

Note: Click on the landscape photograph below to view the larger image

.9 ND + Coral Stripe filter on a Canon 5D with a 17-40mm f4 L lens

Why did I choose those two filters?

The .9 ND (neutral density) Pro Glass filter reduces light by 3 stops. This allowed me to set a slower shutter speed of 30 seconds, which created a smooth milky water effect.

The Coral Stripe Lee filter was perfect to help enhance a band of orange in the sky that was already

nightscapes like daytime, long exposure landscapesDecember 11 2008

How to photograph nightscapes with long exposure, so they look like daytime shots

While on a trip to the beach recently, I played around with long exposures at night time and realised it was possible to photograph nightscapes so they look as though they are taken during the day. Take the nightscape image shown below for example. As you can see, landscapes that would normally be photographed during the day, can look quite dreamy when taken at night with a long exposure.

Note: Click the photograph below to see a larger image.

This nightscape shown above was taken at Cape Hillsborough National Park (Australia), in total darkness at 8.14pm. It looks as though it was taken during the daytime because the exposure was set to 521 seconds. In other words, the SLR camera actually took the long exposure in just over 8 and a half minutes. It then required another 8 minutes thereafter to finish processing the final image within the camera.

You can clearly see the star

Hand held panorama tips photographing panoramasNovember 29 2008

Tips for photographing hand held panorama's 

A few weeks back I took a Sydney ferry ride across to beautiful Manly beach in Australia. It was my first visit and after a few quick shots, I soon realized the lighting was perfect for beach scapes. After admiring all the great panoramas I'd seen on Flickr, I thought it was time to try one myself. However, being on holidays and without a tripod, a hand held panorama was the only choice. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised how it turned out and most importantly, I learned a few tricks along the way.

Example Photograph - Hand held panorama

Note: Click the thumbnail below to view the larger panorama photograph. It is best to have a fast Internet connection for viewing the larger image as dimensions are 4219 x 800 pixels.


This panorama was created from a series of 8 photographs that were stitched together with Photoshop CS3. If you have Photoshop CS3 you can create panorama's by opening File / Automate / Photomerge. If you're lucky, you

Review Canon 17-40mm f4 L lens example photographs suppliedNovember 21 2008

Canon 17-40mm f4 L lens Review: from a personal photographers perspective


 After doing much research on the Internet, I decided to purchase my first Canon L lens. For those new to SLR photography, L lenses are regarded as the professional end of Canon's range for glass. As it's turned out, I wasn't dissapointed in my choice. In fact, it's now my all time favorite lens. This review will demonstrate by example the reasons why.

The Canon 17-40mm f4 L lens is an extremely sharp wide angle lens, perfect in particular for landscape photography, as you'll see by the photo examples displayed below. However, is also useful for indoor shots of museums and exhibitions, or anywhere that you have limited space but still need to capture a wide area.

If you've found this review while looking for technical specifications, you can already read this on the Canon website, so I won't rehash this too much here as well: Technical Specifications for Canon 17-40 f4 L lens

Instead, I'll be explaining what it is that I love about this lens by example.


Examples of photographs taken with Cano