Water Fall Pictures

ashcroft999

ashcroft999

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Scott
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Good Morning All,

I'm new to photography and love the pictures of waterfalls. What settings on my camera should I be using to make the water look frozen like the picture below (hope the person who took the shot didn't mind me using it)

sgwddwilli2_filtered.jpg


The reason i'm asking is that i'm going camping to Ullswater and want to capture them in the best form.

Thanks for any help.

S
 
half of that water is frozen! :)

you need a slower shutter speed to induce blur into the water, you might be able to do this with a combination of small aperture and low ISO, however you may need ND filters to get the desired amount of motion blur into the water.

you'll also need a tripod and cable release to prevent camera shake
 
You need a long exposure time. This means either putting the camera in shutter priority mode, or bulb mode and use an exposure time you deem OK. Probably 30 seconds or more.

Depending on lighting conditions you might want to use a Neutral Density filter so that the image doesn't end up overexposed. And of course a tripod. Maybe a shutter remote control thing.
 
Thanks for the speedy replies,

I did realise the water is half frozen, i should've worded it better haha silly me.

I keep hearing about filters and things. I do have a tripod but not a shutter remote! I'll have to look into buying either of these 2 things. Some pictures amaze me. Would love to be able to pull of some great shots.
 
As mentioned you need a slow shutter speed. The actual speed depends on the affect you want, how fast the water is moving, how far you are from the waterfall etc. I have had good results with 1/8 sec, holding the camera against a tree trunk for extra stability.

Have a look here http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm

The second article on waterfalls deals with shutter speed.
 
For stationary objects (like waterfalls) you can use your camera's 10s timer (like when taking family pics where you have to run into the shot) in stead of a remote shutter release to stop you shaking the camera.


Edit: Whitewash beat me to saying the same thing whilst I was typing!
 
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I use the 10s feature alot, So that's good to know!

thanks for replying everyone!

I'm going to give the waterfall/water shots a try at the weekend. I don't have any filters or know where to get them from?

Like said i'm very new to this :lol:
 
yep,as mentioned above...slow shutter speed[with use of neutral density filters unless taken in low light],remote and tripod.most of my waterfall shots are taken with a shutter speed of 1-2 secs.

and no,i didn't mind you using one of my shots to demonstrate your point :lol:
 
filters can be bought from most photo shops. ND filters are whar you want. just go and experiment, you might not even need a filter if the waterfall is covered with vegetation and trees.

do you have a circular polarizer filter in your kitbag?, i;ve often used that to slow the shutter speed down, with the added bonus of cutting down reflections on the wet rocks etc, crcular polarizers are a bit pricey, but they are very very useful for landscape shots, i certainly never leave home without one!

http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/airaforc.htm is a good waterfall near ulswater.
 
a piece of welding glass is a good thing to carry too, cost £2.50 off ebay :) Attached to the lens with elastic bands wrapped around the hood (put hood back to front) or camera body

It does screw the white balance up but i can live with that as i shoot in RAW & it's easy enough to correct
 
munchycarrot said:
a piece of welding glass is a good thing to carry too, cost £2.50 off ebay :) Attached to the lens with elastic bands wrapped around the hood (put hood back to front) or camera body

It does screw the white balance up but i can live with that as i shoot in RAW & it's easy enough to correct
Click to expand...

i just bought some welding flass from the bay to try the long exposure shots in the day. :)

to get a similar effect on a small stream, i used a 4 second shutter with the exposure turned down to the lowest setting. the daylight was starting to get a little low which let me do it i think. :)
 
Isnt welding glass green?

I would have thought that a 30s exposure is too long for this, surely anything around 1-2s is enough to capture the movement of the water. I was reading a book and they suggest a filter to darken down, that way it wont be over exposed.
 
HornetSting said:
Isnt welding glass green?

I would have thought that a 30s exposure is too long for this, surely anything around 1-2s is enough to capture the movement of the water. I was reading a book and they suggest a filter to darken down, that way it wont be over exposed.
Click to expand...

I depends on the effect you're looking for - as the water hits the pool below, it's speed drops dramatically, so if you want the water there to look silky you need a much longer shutter speed.

Best bet, if you can get a ND filter or two (they come in different strengths) is to find a fall, and spend some time messing around with different settings.
 
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as i've previously mentioned,a shutter speed of 1-2 secs is about right to achieve shots similar to above.just use an ND filter[or several of depending on how bright it is]coupled with your chosen F stop to get your desired shutter speed.you can experiment with faster/slower shutter speeds until you get what your looking for :thumbs:

welding glass is very dark[similar to a 10 stop filter i believe],and will there fore give you much longer shutter speeds,but will also give you a colour cast,which,if you shoot RAW,can be sorted in post processing.
 
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