#petapixel

by Michael Zhang - PetaPixel, December 10, 2015

Back in 1909, a super-rich French banker named Albert Kahn decided to create a photographic record of the world using the new color photography process that had just appeared, the Autochrome Lumière. He commissioned 4 photographers to take their cameras to places all over the world. One of the cities they documented was Paris.

Starting in 1914, Kahn’s photographers (Leon Gimpel, Stephane Passet, Georges Chevalier and Auguste Leon) began to document life in Paris using the pioneering color process, which featured color filters made from dyed potato starch grains.

Here’s a beautiful gallery of the color photos they made a century ago (with some color enhancing done on the original shots):

The Story: Photos of Majestic Ice Caves Hidden in the Canadian Rockies

The Writer: Michael Bonocore

So, you’ve reached your destination. It was a rigorous climb up the mountain and you begin to setup your shot. You frame your scene and you reach inside your bag and your heart sinks deep into the depths of your stomach.

You’ve just realized that you forgot your ND filters. “NO!“ you scream in defiance. However, it is all in vain as no amount of screaming will undo your blunder.

Fortunately, you’re a resourceful photographer. Rather than throw your hands in the air in defeat you realize that you are wearing a potentially good ND filter alternative. You quickly remove your lens clip on sunshades from your glasses and you begin to MacGyver a solution to your woes. And then...

...this is your handy work.

Or this...

Neither of which look sexy or professional. Quite frankly, it looks terrible. Not only on your camera, you soon realize that you have zero fashion sense. But, whatever!

“This just might work!” you shout joyfully! And you would be right.

Ok, so that’s a very farfetched scenario, however, it is not uncommon for us to forget very important pieces of gear on photo shoots. Or perhaps you’re really  strapped for cash and simply can’t afford a decent set of filters. The above example can yield some decent results and offers nearly 3 stops of light.

Obviously, this is not an ideal setup. Nor, should we bank on this method to replace proper ND & polarizing filters but if we find ourselves in need of a couple extra stops, this could very well do the trick.

Besides the obvious, this method will only work with certain lenses. For this test I used my small 40mm Canon pancake lens. The entire lens element fit inside the width and height of the clip on lenses. This method will definitely not work with my 70-200mm or any other lens with large glass.

These images are straight out of camera. Absolutely nothing was changed or edited. I shot these images on an overcast day later in the afternoon (it was 4:30ish) which is why I was able to get slow shutter speeds right off the bat. However, theoretically, whether I was shooting at high noon, I should get the same amount of stops regardless.

So, for the first image, my settings are as follows: 1/4 f/13 ISO 100

Now, using the Solar Shield polarized Clipons I was able to slow my shutter speed down to 1″6. Aperture and ISO remained the same:

The results are not too shabby. You can see the biggest differences on the bottom portion where the stream is hitting the pond. So, at 4:30 in the afternoon I was able to go from 1/4th of a second to 1″6 seconds. That’s a third of a stop away from a full 3 stops. Now, if this was closer to sunset or sunrise you easily slow your shutter speed past 1″6 seconds. I would guesstimate that you could potentially achieve a shutter of 15″.

As a matter of fact, I could have slowed my shutter speed even more and still have maintained a good looking histogram and tweaked my exposure in lightroom. 

Here’s my histogram for the image using the clip on lens:

How is image quality affected by using such a cheap method? Surprisingly, not very much. Sharpness didn’t seem to be affected very much. Whatever difference I saw was negligible. Take a look for yourself: 1″6 Shutter Speed:

1/4th Shutter Speed:

Will you be replacing your ND filters for this method? I sure hope not...but, if you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have your filters and you happen to have a pair of non-prescription sunglasses this is a good method to employ to help you achieve slower shutter speeds.