I knew going into today that I wouldn't be able to shoot sunset, so I set out to do a little mid day long exposure photography with my new assortment of filters.

I picked up the Singh-Ray Vari-ND and 5-stop Mor-Slo filters. I also got a B+W 10-stop ND and a Hi-Tech 4-stop soft resin GND. Whew!

This shot gives you some perspective of the cliffs along Davenport and adds a bit more meaning to my story of how I got this shot.

I had fun slapping on different combos of filters and seeing just how crazy the colors got and how long of an exposure I could pull off in pretty bright day light.

The biggest lesson is simply to do everything first before putting the filters on. I composed, focused, and dialed in my settings, then put the filters on. You really can't see anything once they are on.

In fact, I got all the way to the car, reviewed my images only to realize this shot, the one I liked best, was not focused properly. I went back out to the bluff and did it over again to make sure I got it right.

That's something you can't do at sunrise or sunset, the light won't wait for you like it does at mid day.

Nikon D300
Nikkor 12-24mm
90 sec @ f16, ISO 100
B+W 3.0 ND Filter (10-stop)
B+W Polarizer
Hi-Tech 1.2 Soft GND Filter (hand held)