Use Welder’s Glass as a $1 ND Filter for Long Exposures in Daylight

Want to shoot long exposure photos in bright daylight without having to shell out big bucks on a neutral density (ND) filter? Try using a piece of welder’s glass — the kind that protects your eyes while welding. The 13-minute video above by photographer Mathieu Stern provides a nice overview of this photo hack.

Instead of spending many tens or hundreds of dollars on an ND filter designed for photography, Stern got a piece of welder’s glass for about $1.

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He secured the glass to the front of his camera lens using two rubber bands.

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This makeshift filter setup instantly makes it possible to shoot 30 second (or longer) exposures in the daytime, blurring movement in your scenes and creating a different look to cityscape and landscape shots. Here are some example photos by Stern, all shot during the day:

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The video above also features tips by long-exposure photographer Thibault Roland.

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