# Overexposure?



## PepnFluff (May 27, 2011)

So I went to the beach today as it was a lovely day with the intentions of snapping some pictures. I wanted a long exposure on the waves coming in so set a low shutter speed think it was around 2 seconds long and had an aperture of f5 and all I was getting was bright white shots? I had a look on the internet but couldn't really find anything? Any camera gurus have any insight? 
Thank you!


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## Watermelons (May 28, 2011)

Shutter speed was too slow for that ammount of light, aperature could have been smaller if your camera allowed. Change your ISO to 100 if you can. 
You probably could have gotten similar shots with a much shorter time. That bright bright sun doesn't let you do much for slow shutter speeds.
Your shots still need to be balanced properly between your F-stop and shutter speed for the pictures to come out.


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## PepnFluff (May 28, 2011)

Ahh, ok, thank you very much for that! Is there any formula or secret to balancing it? I was getting so frustrated, thanks for helping!


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## MikeScone (May 30, 2011)

PepnFluff wrote:


> Ahh, ok, thank you very much for that! Is there any formula or secret to balancing it? I was getting so frustrated, thanks for helping!


The formula for exposure in bright sun is f/16 at a shutter speed equal to the ISO. So, at the usual 200 ISO of most digital camera, you'd want f/16 at 1/200th. You can lengthen the shutter speed, but only by stopping down the lens to let in less light - f/22 at 1/100, f32 at 1/50 - or shorten it by opening the lens more -f/8 at 1/500, f/5.6 at 1/1000. Most point and shoots won't go much more than that in either direction.

Neutral density (grey) filters can be used to cut the light and allow longer exposures, by one or two stops depending on the filter.


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## PepnFluff (Jun 2, 2011)

Phoar that looks very mathematical, I think I'll write it down and pop down to the beach tomorrow and give it a whirl! Thanks again


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