help with two exposures

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Tekagudun

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Name
Ian
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hi all
so I like to use long exposures to smooth water out on my seascapes,
but im not a lover of blurred clouds
how do I stop the clouds blurring?
one exposure for the sea, one for the sky
do I need to keep the tripod and camera in exact same position, keep the filters on the lens and keep everything the same and just increase shutter speed ?
then figure out how to blend them in photoshop
hope this makes sense
thanks
 
Yep.

Setup on tripod.

Set aperture & ISO manually (you don't want them changing between shots)

Photo #1 at normal exposure. Check composition, clouds etc.
Strap on relevant stopper
Take photo #2 ensuring focus point hasn't changed and camera hasn't moved.
Review - swapping back and forth between the two images to make sure the exposure (amount of light/dark in the image) is roughly the same. If bad - repeat steps above.

Pull both into photoshop
Select all, copy & paste one photo into the other. This should create a single image with both photos in as two layers.
Add a mask to the topmost image layer, select the mask, select a soft round brush and black as a colour.
Paint black onto the mask to "erase" the top picture and reveal the one beneath. If you were on a tripod and the camera didn't move between exposures, and your exposure is the same for both photos, then this will be an easy 5 minute job. If you moved the camera, got different focus points and/or got different exposures, it could take a lot longer. Best get as much right at the outset.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Yep.

Setup on tripod.

Set aperture & ISO manually (you don't want them changing between shots)

Photo #1 at normal exposure. Check composition, clouds etc.
Strap on relevant stopper
Take photo #2 ensuring focus point hasn't changed and camera hasn't moved.
Review - swapping back and forth between the two images to make sure the exposure (amount of light/dark in the image) is roughly the same. If bad - repeat steps above.

Pull both into photoshop
Select all, copy & paste one photo into the other. This should create a single image with both photos in as two layers.
Add a mask to the topmost image layer, select the mask, select a soft round brush and black as a colour.
Paint black onto the mask to "erase" the top picture and reveal the one beneath. If you were on a tripod and the camera didn't move between exposures, and your exposure is the same for both photos, then this will be an easy 5 minute job. If you moved the camera, got different focus points and/or got different exposures, it could take a lot longer. Best get as much right at the outset.
Click to expand...

:plus1: only thing I would add is before doing all that, when you have your two layers, select them both and go to edit---auto align layers. That way Photoshop will align them both so you don't need to worry about whether the tripod or camera shifted a little and it'll save a lot of messing around if they were slightly misaligned.

And just to add my 2 cents, I don't see it as 'cheating' at all, it's part of photography, you're simply combining two different exposures of different shutter speeds.
 
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