Welding Glass (£1/$1 ND Filter) Exposures

20 minutes of edge sanding with my dremmel tool allowed me to use the filter in the second row of the cokin filter holder, but it is still not thin enough to fit in the closest filter slot

note to self, use ear plugs when sanding glass. @#^%@$^@$^@#^@#^ someone set off a flashbang?

Matt Photog Peters wrote in post #8859712
=Matt 'Photog' Peters;8859712]

now that i think about it, i shouldn't have shaved the sides of my glass and should have filed off the bottom filter a little to make it more snug. d'OH oh well, the sides won't fit into the image.

edit* Nice! I shaved the bottom row just enough so that I can still use the 2nd row as well! The filter now fits flush to the filter holder and i am ready to do some more test shots!

Long story short: mod your filter holder, not your filters. Be careful with using a dremmel tool as it is always easier to take away than to add back on.
Time to do some tests!!! I'll be doing some night shots later this evening. One thing that is advantageous when using this filter is that it allows you to use 30 seconds for an exposure as opposed to the cheap nd filters that you buy on ebay for $24.99 which only reduce the exposure to say 3 or 5 seconds. However, this welding glass filter DOES give off a GREEN tint as evidenced in previous posts, which may be difficult to correct in post processing. Be sure to shoot in raw whenever using filters.

Jill-of-all-Trades wrote in post #9893404
Got anywhere outside that you can keep dry and take longer exposures of the rain coming down?

Unfortunately not with how hard it was raining, LOL. And I just have a T1i, so no weather-protected body either. It was torrential downpour and so windy not a speck of dryness anywhere on my lanai! lol

Too bad! It might make for some interesting pics, having rain running off a roof or something. I don't really have anywhere here either, just the 2ft overhang of the roof.

c2thew wrote in post #9901175
i tried setting the tint to +150 in lightroom but i got an even pinker image. it is overcast right now, so the lighting is probably messing up my white balance. time to get to sanding

Sometimes the sliders in LR just don't go far enough so more touching up in PS is needed, although to be honest sometimes the pictures look better with a strange colour balance
Also these pieces of glass aren't made to perfect photographic tolerances so the colours of them will probably all differ.

You know, you can also get red tint and I think Silver was available when I was still welding for a living.

I haven't seen red much, but silver and gold are around. Even blue. Price gets to be the problem Wish there was just some grey ones.

Anke wrote in post #9885726

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …9/sizes/o/in/ph​otostream/

Is this usually a busy corner full of cars a pedestrians? The reason I ask, I know the long exposure makes the cars/people (anything moving really) fade out, but this looks completely deserted.

justincase724 wrote in post #9911146
Is this usually a busy corner full of cars a pedestrians? The reason I ask, I know the long exposure makes the cars/people (anything moving really) fade out, but this looks completely deserted.

It's usually extremely busy, but on this early morning not so much, I'd say about about 50 cars went past in the three-minute exposure. All of them disappeared

canonloader wrote in post #9909676
You know, you can also get red tint and I think Silver was available when I was still welding for a living.

It seems that the green ones turn up the most here, perhaps they're the cheapest.

I'm curious if you can point it at the sun? Has anyone tried?

canonloader wrote in post #9911976
I'm curious if you can point it at the sun? Has anyone tried?

You go first

I suppose if it can hold back the light from a welding torch then it's feasible.

As soon as I get a glass, I will try it. Although it won't be much of a test with an ultra wide angle lens as I can shoot the sunrise or senset already. When I was welding though, I looked at the sun many times through a #10 with no problems. I'm wondering about using it on like a 400mm though. It shouldn't matter much I guess.

canonloader wrote in post #9912409
As soon as I get a glass, I will try it. Although it won't be much of a test with an ultra wide angle lens as I can shoot the sunrise or senset already. When I was welding though, I looked at the sun many times through a #10 with no problems. I'm wondering about using it on like a 400mm though. It shouldn't matter much I guess.

It'll make for an interesting effect that's for sure, I shall look forward with interest to your findings

I think with something like a 400mm lens, you should be able to see sunspots. And not the kind you see from looking at the sun.