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Perfect Inspiration: Episode 58 - Making the Most of Long Exposures with Scott Wyden Kivowitz

4,929 views · Published 22 November 2013 · 12:10 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: ON1 · 2013 · Education

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Spring time in New Jersey is always eventful and changing. There are some days where the sky is blue and full of clouds. However, the next day the rain can be coming down so hard and the sky so dark that you feel like staying indoors.

When a friend asked if I wanted to meet up one Sunday morning to go shooting, I hopped on the opportunity because I had never been to the location in question.

The morning of the outing, it was one of those rainy days. I woke up at 5am so I could pick up another friend before the hour drive to the spot you see in this photograph.

There is something inspiring about shooting a waterfall (it's actually a spillway) while it is raining. Not only are you getting wet from above, but also from the ground due to the excessive water rushing at your feet. The craziness drives me to shoot more because I figure I am wet anyway, I might as well take my time and have fun doing it.

I decided to bring one lens down to the water, but also one of my neutral density filters. The three stop neutral density filter allowed me to create smooth, milky water but not have exposures too long where I am standing in the same wet spot for minutes at a time.

My goal for the day was to create a long exposure photograph of the spillway's wide view (shot with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm) and use the focus stacking technique for a deeper depth of field.

The sky was so gray that the exposures were pure white, which was ok for this photo. In the end, the focus stacking worked, the long exposure worked and processing in Perfect Effects was perfect for my vision. Using the following effects, I was able to bring out the rainy spring day in New Jersey and also achieve my creative goals.

    Warm Highlights - Cool Shadows with highlights masked out
    Tonal Contrast on the focus points for added texture
    Increase color for the greens
    Orton Hears a Who for subtle glow and added milky smooth water
    Big Softy for the slight vignette

Thanks for reading and happy shooting,

- Scott Wyden Kivowitz

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