Long exposure photo stacking at Castleford Stoneground Flour Mill

Long exposure photo stacking, is a way to shoot long exposure, using multiple images. If you don’t have your ND filters with you, or you’re shooting in daylight. You can shoot multiple images, and using Adobe Photoshop stack and blend them together.

The image below of Castleford Stoneground Flour Mill, equates to a 6 minute exposure after photo stacking in photoshop. You would need multiple ND filters to complete this shot “in camera”, and no vibration from the bridge. One very costly, as a ND 10 filter would only help me get to 6 seconds. The other impossible without closing off a public bridge over the River Aire.

Long Exposure Photo Stacking at Castleford-Stoneground-Flour-Mill-Long-Exposure

The Method

  • Pick Location (Water is good for long exposure shots)
  • Setup – Tripod, Camera, Trigger (I used Miops on this one)
  • Settings – Dial in manual settings (I went for F16 at 1/30 (0.03 of a second))
  • Trigger – Time Lapse mode (I set mine to 200 shots, without interval)
  • Shoot!

Processing

  • Import images into Lightroom
  • Add tweaks to one images, & sync across them all
  • Select all, right click and edit as layers in Photoshop
  • Highlight all Layers, Create Smart Object
  • Click the Smart Object Layer, then from menu Layers, Smart Object, Stack Mode & Mean
  • Save and/or Export

The shooting is the easiest bit of the workflow, the process can take long time depending on processing power. I would advise to try the workflow, with a small amount of images. Once your happy with the full workflow, then add in a large number of images.

Ferrybridge Power Station, reflecting into the River Aire, Castleford, Yorkshire.
Ferrybridge Power Station, reflecting into the River Aire, Castleford, Yorkshire.