Position:Home>Visual Arts> How to take photographs of a waterfall showing motion by playing with shutter sp
Question: How to take photographs of a waterfall showing motion by playing with shutter speed!?
I tried a lot but could not achieve the best results!. I am just an amateur photographer and holding Canon's powershot A570IS that allows me to do manual adjustments!.
In day time if I reduce the shutter speed to 1/8th or less and decrease the size of aperture, this should be fine to take the kind'a snap I want!. But the exposure is set automatically and the photograph is very bright(can't even see the subject)!.
This effect I can bring at night as the lights are not enough and reducing the shutter speed will do the exact magic!. I hope I tried my best to explain the problem Iam facing!. Please suggest me some other way or the exact way of how to do that!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
This is how you get the cotton candy look at a waterfall:
1!. Shoot in the shade, so you can use longer shutter speeds!.
2!. Shoot for seconds, not fractions of a second!.
3!. Buy and use an ND filter to further lengthen the shutter speed!.
4!. Shoot at low ISO;s (50 or 100 ISO)
5!. Shoot with the sharpest f/stop !.!. in the case of my 12-24mm, f/11)
6!. Use a sturdy tripod
7!. Take a ton of shots until you get just what you want!.
My typical set up includes
* a 12-24 mm f/4 zoom lens,
* use f/11 for all my shots
* two 4ND filters stacked (they vignette a little but that can be cropped out)
* use shutter speeds from 2 to 24 seconds
* a D300 DSLR
* a Bogan tripod
I shoot using RAW + JPEG and use the JPEG shots to edit the shoot (sort) and then once I have the best of the best, I process the RAW files and save them a TIFF'sWww@QuestionHome@Com
It's difficult to achieve the effect with a point and shoot camera because you can not set the aperture and shutter speed manually!. You also usually can not attached filters!. An ND filter would help in this situation!. Most point and shoot digital cameras also do not have the range of shutter speeds and apertures a DSLR would have!. You really need to invest in a more advance digital camera to get these effects!. If you want to stick to a point and shoot, the Canon G9 is an option!. It's an advanced point and shoot with manual settings!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
if you are shooting in bright daylight you are going to have to stop down to a very small fstop f16 or smaller if your camera goes smaller!. the smaller the fstop is the less light it lets in and the longer you can have your shutter speed!. Set the camera on a tripod!. You will blow out the pictures if you do not stop down the aperture to adjust for the longer shutter timeWww@QuestionHome@Com
It sounds like you have figured out a solution - shoot in the evening as it is getting dark!. That is a good option for your camera since it doesn't readily accept filters!. And, as mentioned, set the ISO to the lowest setting!. At 1/8th - 1/10th you will get plenty of blur and still have detail, increasing the exposure time will give you softer water!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
oooh if you had a nikon, id have so much to tell you!.
powershots are great snip snap cameras, but if you want a really nice, professional picture, you'll need to upgrade (unfortunately)
but you can slow down the ISO speed all the way!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Try to dial to Manula mode!.
Then use the biggest number for AP and the smallest number for shutter then try them neighbur number to get the best result!.
IF u do this at night!. set the ISO to the highest number!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
YesWww@QuestionHome@Com