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Shooting the Rapids - water features
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marvin on 28 May, 2008 08:46:00
 
Equipment needed:    Camera, tripod, possibly a filter or 2.
Skill level needed:   Any.  Beginners can do this easily.
Long exposures have always given a magical appearance to waterfalls and water
features but many people misinterpret the word LONG.  It is a comparative
expression. Compared with high-speed action shots of 1/4000s, even 1/10s seems
like an eternity.
The random nature of moving water appears to repeat several times per second so
there is no need to struggle trying to obtain exposures of half a minute.
The waterfall above was taken at shutter speeds of 1/100s, 1/10s, 1s & 10s.
As you can see, there is a massive difference between the first two  but not
much difference after that.  A one minute shot showed no noticeable difference
to the 10 second shot.   OK so this one was pretty easy as it was a fairly
shaded location allowing long shutter times.
This next location was in full bright sunshine just before midday with the same
shutter speeds.  A little bit more of a challenge but still not too difficult.
Many people resort to the expensive ND filters but I found a cheaper
alternative.  If you have 2 polarisers, perhaps for different lenses, you can
use both together and make a variable ND filter. Just hold one still and rotate
the other and the image will go almost black as the polarisations obstruct each
other.
The effect can easily be simulated with no filters whatsoever.  Simply go back
later in the day, perhaps after sunset.   Light levels and the speed of the
water will dictate what shutter speed is needed, as will the subject distance
and angle of shot, to a lesser degree.  Low ISO and small apertures are the
obvious settings here
For maximum effect you will only want the water to be blurred so if there is an
abundance of vegetation you will need to pick a day when there is less wind to
blow them around.
Most of all, keep shooting.  Take plenty of shots at different speeds because
the difference might not show too easily on the LCD.  It might look much
different on your monitor at home.