Hiking Sweetwater Creek

[zach_original]

Hey TPF,

After my adventure at an abandoned tennis stadium Friday night (post will follow), I decided I wanted to shoot some nature. So, my friend and I decided to go for a hike today at Sweetwater Creek State Park, apparently a relatively popular place to be on a Saturday afternoon. We hiked the very short red trail (2.3mi round-trip), and had the opportunity for lots of great photos. For the first time, I tried shooting some long exposures at the creek, so tell me what you guys think! It was great fun.

1.
IMG_3553 by UERnephron, on Flickr

2.
IMG_3562 by UERnephron, on Flickr

We also got to see an old confederate mill that was burnt down by the union during the Civil War:

3.
old manchester mills by UERnephron, on Flickr

Three of my other favorites:

4.
IMG_3573 by UERnephron, on Flickr

5.
IMG_3598 by UERnephron, on Flickr

6.
IMG_3565 by UERnephron, on Flickr

Comments and general critique are always appreciated! Thanks guys!

 

[Borad]

I see a lot of pictures of really smooth, almost blurry looking water flowing over rocks like in your photo, but is that how it looks in real life?

 

[dannylightning]

Those are all very nice

 

[zach_original]

I see a lot of pictures of really smooth, almost blurry looking water flowing over rocks like in your photo, but is that how it looks in real life?

No, unfortunately the water doesn't look like that in real life It would be awesome if it did though! The shots you're talking about are long exposures. Long exposures are shot with the shutter open for longer than 1/30th of a second usually. When the shutter is open that long, it captures the stationary parts of your composition but causes the moving parts of it to become blurry due to motion. From my knowledge, they're easiest to shoot at night, but I shot these today using a neutral density filter (ND8 specifically) which essentially reduces the amount of light entering the lens, thus preventing the shot from over-exposing.

Those are all very nice

Thanks for your kind words