Some photos

[SunderlandPhotography]

Thought I might let you look at some photos I took a while back...

I used the Hitech Pro Stop 10 filter in this one.


A tame Common Pheasant in Scotland. So close I could have touched it.... Or had it for lunch.


A White Rododendron shot during the day.


Crinan in Argyll, Scotland

[markgozz]

Looking at all four of these images I think my best advice would be to use your histogram more , the histogram on your camera or in your software will always read the information in the image itself so you don't need to rely on screen calibration to get the correct exposure .
To my eye and that of my histogram your first image is under exposed the second is over as is the third and the fourth again is under exposed . With the flower shot you couldn't of picked a trickier subject to shoot in bright sunlight , trying to avoid blown high lights in this situation is very hard and would probably result in everything else being under exposed to the point of blackness . A bright but overcast day is best or if you can try putting something up like a sheet that will diffuse the strong light .

Having said all that I do like number 1, 3 and 4 but the crop or composition of number 2 isn't very good , cropped tail and feet .

Mark

[beatnik69]

I think Mark has got it all spot on. 1 & 4 are the best shots and can be easily fixed by adjusting the levels in Photoshop (other photo editing software packages are available )

[SunderlandPhotography]

I love #1. It was one of the first few photos taken with the Pro Stop 10 filter. Tbh I need more practice in using it. And I'm not sure on what settings to use.

The photos plus many more are on my Flickr page.

[markgozz]

The settings will always depend on the light available at the time and the effect that you want to achieve but as a starting point set up your camera as normal to get the best exposure and DOF then put the 10 stopper on , for each stop of the filter you will need to double your exposure time ( with all other setting remaining fixed ) .
Example :- if you use a 4 stop filter and you start with a shutter speed of 1/1600 you need to double the shutter speed for each stop

1 stop = 1/800
2 stop = 1/400
3 stop = 1/200
4 stop = 1/100

and so on with your 10 stopper .

Mark