Make the most of in-camera processing
Experiment with a range of different looks
While you can shoot long exposure JPEGS, this technique really suits Raw files, as you can freely fine-tune the brightness, colours and noise later.
If you do record your images as JPEGS, then it pays to get everything right in-camera; even if you rely on Raw it makes sense to get the settings correct so that you get an accurate preview image.
One of the things you’ll likely need to address is the white balance. Strong ND filters often give images a colour cast. For instance, the LEE Filters Big Stopper can leave images with a cool blue cast. You can go some way to
correcting this in-camera by setting a ‘warming’ white balance preset, such as Cloudy or Shade, or manually dial in a K (Kelvin) value north of 7000K if your camera offers this option. Alternatively you can remove the blue cast completely in post-production, whether you use Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software or a third-party one, such as Lightroom.
Then again, the cool look can really suit some pictures. Throw in a subtle vignette and you’ve got a classic moody long exposure. I’ll often go this route for coastal shots.
Your choice of Picture Style will allow you to manipulate the mood too. Some images will suit the more saturated look you get with the Landscape preset, while others may benefit from the desaturated look offered by Neutral. A high-contrast black and white treatment often adds a sense of drama too.
Long exposures at higher ISO settings can increase picture noise, so it’s worth setting ‘Long Exposure Noise Reduction’ is set to On if you shoot JPEGS. The drawback is that the noise reduction can take the same amount of time as the exposure and you cannot take another picture until it’s finished. Save yourself some shooting time by switching to Raw and reducing noise in images in Photoshop.