Slowing down

Ahead of my holiday, I decided to buy an ND filter (10 stop) for my camera. I wanted to be able to take some long exposure shots at the coast. I'm reasonably competent at long exposures in general, if the conditions are right. It has, however, to be very dull or shady to use a slow shutter speed without a filter, whereas with a filter (basically just a piece of dark glass over the lens) you can slow the shutter even in bright light. I'm not the most technically minded of photographers, so I decided I needed to practise the technique before my holiday. (And it was complicated enough to work it all out on a sunny day in Saltaire, so I don't rate my chances on a windswept Scottish beach in the drizzle!)

I quite liked this one, of the weir beside Salts Mill. The slow shutter speed has blurred the water quite attractively, I think, but the breeze meant the trees are also a bit blurred in parts. On some of the shots I took, that effect isn't really very attractive. This one is just about acceptable. And, oh... can you see the heron in the mid distance? Haha, after standing very still for ages it suddenly decided to move - very slowly - so that you can see at least three heron ghosts. If it had moved more quickly it would hardly have showed up at all.