Moving sky

Click first image to view the photographs

I look at the summer skies over my home in Shepherds Bush, west London, every day. Clouds fly across cobalt blue and rich dusky sunsets happen on even bad weather days.

My aim was to capture some of this movement, using a tripod and a neutral density (ND) filter. This keeps out most of the light and enables you to lengthen exposures even in bright conditions. This was just a stuttering start to show some of the motion of the clouds. The result appears milky and quite blurry, while foreground objects – such as a pigeon graciously sitting on an aerial mast – retain their clarity.

I haven’t decided whether I like the motion blur effect, or if it would be more impressive with a much bigger sky and very long exposures. Time to experiment further, I think…

The photo below was a regular exposure, but sky porn too good not to include, with its smoky pink puffs of cloud and aircraft trails picked out by a blazing evening sun.

Tags: clouds, London, long exposures, nature, ND filter, neutral density filter, photography, Shepherds Bush, skies, sky, sky porn, sunsets

10 thoughts on “Moving sky”

leecleland on August 11, 2015 at 23:04 said:

Love the sky porn :D What filter did you use for the middle one? I’ve just realised my ND filter isn’t dark enough to get what I want in the middle of the day – I have the expanse of sky which is being wasted at present for motion shots.

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- mikeosbornphoto on August 11, 2015 at 23:45 said:
  
  Hi Lee, that’s a Hoya nine stop filter so it’s pretty much black out. I’d love to use it on some of those huge Australian skies. Having some landscape and ground in the composition is more ideal. I’ll have to make do with some glassy skyscrapers around here.
  
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  - leecleland on August 12, 2015 at 11:48 said:
    
    Thanks for that Mike. OK looks like that’s the sort of dark I’ll need for our bright skies. Next on the ‘want’ list :)
    
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    - mikeosbornphoto on August 12, 2015 at 22:36 said:
      
      The darker the better. I picked mine up for around £20 so not too pricey. Ask Mr Amazon!
      
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Laura (Createarteveryday) on August 11, 2015 at 14:21 said:

Awesome job, I particularly like the last image. So inspirational for the artist. :)

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- mikeosbornphoto on August 11, 2015 at 15:25 said:
  
  Thank you very much Laura. The last one wasn’t a long exposure but needed to get an airing :)
  
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ckponderings on August 11, 2015 at 11:06 said:

Nice shots and effects! :)

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- mikeosbornphoto on August 11, 2015 at 12:35 said:
  
  Thanks Richard! Hmm. I’m not sure. I think the effects need to be more dramatic and would be more effective with a bigger sweep of sky…
  
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  - ckponderings on August 11, 2015 at 12:37 said:
    
    Fair comment; they work well for me, though. :)
    
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    - mikeosbornphoto on August 11, 2015 at 15:22 said:
      
      I’ll have another crack with sone longer exposures if possible. It needs to be breezy so the clouds have plenty of pace!
      
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