photographing waterfalls?

sser · November 2, 2005

Just a question that im a little unclear of can anyone tell me how to photograph waterfalls and water that gives that 'flowing' feeling to it ive seen alot of photos now ive never tried it as of yet but looking at the exif with shutter speeds at around 2-5 seconds and iso's at 100-200 now my question is wouldnt that just blow the picture out what i mean is wouldnt a ton of light come into the camera especially is broad daylight?
Can anyone shed some light on this for me or direct me somewhere i can learn about this?

Andy · November 2, 2005

sser wrote:

Just a question that im a little unclear of can anyone tell me how to photograph waterfalls and water that gives that 'flowing' feeling to it ive seen alot of photos now ive never tried it as of yet but looking at the exif with shutter speeds at around 2-5 seconds and iso's at 100-200 now my question is wouldnt that just blow the picture out what i mean is wouldnt a ton of light come into the camera especially is broad daylight?
Can anyone shed some light on this for me or direct me somewhere i can learn about this?

Shed some light? Actually, we need to shed some "darkness"

neutral density filters

The trick is to fool mother nature

you have to force a longer shutter speed. In bright daylight, I used a 10-stop Neutral Density filter and ISO 100, f/13, and 6seconds to obtain this effect:

Of course, you'll need to mount on a tripod

Oh and one more thing: usually you need to use some negative exposure compensation, as the highlights in the water tend to blow out. Typically I'm -2/3s or -1/3 ec.

Hope this helps,

sser · November 4, 2005

Thanks andy that helps so much ive been wondering about this for some time now, i knew it had something to do with using filters but wasnt sure.. also beautiful picture

I'm gonna have to post mine as soon as i do it up

andy wrote:

Shed some light? Actually, we need to shed some "darkness"

neutral density filters

The trick is to fool mother nature you have to force a longer shutter speed. In bright daylight, I used a 10-stop Neutral Density filter and ISO 100, f/13, and 6seconds to obtain this effect:

Of course, you'll need to mount on a tripod Oh and one more thing: usually you need to use some negative exposure compensation, as the highlights in the water tend to blow out. Typically I'm -2/3s or -1/3 ec.

Hope this helps,

Andy · November 4, 2005

sser wrote:

Thanks andy that helps so much ive been wondering about this for some time now, i knew it had something to do with using filters but wasnt sure.. also beautiful picture I'm gonna have to post mine as soon as i do it up

You are very welcome.

schmoe · November 5, 2005

Waterfalls
As Andy mentioned, using ND filters is one way of doing the flowing waterfall effects. But if you don't own a ND filter you can get the extended exposure without blowing the picture off the end of the histogram.

You set the camera up on a tripod and take several shots at the longest exposure you can muster without blowing it out and then stack them in your photo editing program of choice and then use the "lighten" blend mode on all the leyers. This will bring the brightest pixel in the stack to the surface. Everything around the waterfall is static and the only thing changing will be the flowing water.

An example:

I think this was around six exposures stacked. The more unique shots you stack the more pronounced the flowing effect will be.

Joel

babybluetx23 · November 5, 2005

I did a few at the Zoo this week that didnt come out bad AT ALL! I did a long exposure on them....WITHOUT A tripod and came out Shake FREEE!!! hehehehe I had a rock to set the camera on to keep it steady (ok ok so I cheated a LITTLE - But ya gotta use what ya got!) hehehe
Here ya go!

Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Exposure Time1/5s
F-Stop f20.0
ISO Speed 100
Focal Length 34.0mm

Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Exposure Time 1/5s
F-Stop f36.0
ISO Speed 100
Focal Length 54.0mm

Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Exposure Time 1/20s
F-Stop f4.0
ISO Speed 400
Focal Length 27.0mm

kdog · November 8, 2005

Great tips from Andy and Joel. Two different approaches with equally awesome results.

Coincidently, I did the same thing as Cynthia this weekend at the local park with the kids.

f22, 1/15s, ISO100

Phil U. · November 9, 2005

Another useful tip is to shoot on an overcast day or wait for a large cloud. The light is softer that way so there isn't as much contrast. You can control contrast later when you edit. Use this in conjunction with the other tips already mentioned.

sser · November 9, 2005

thanks for the suggestions, and really nice photos i ended up getting a ND 8 filter this week so now to fins some waterfalls...hmm

photographing waterfalls?

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