Just a water fall

[Mr_Louisville]

Little water fall in the mountains. My pictures don't compare to most posted on here. I have recently
got into photography and I'm hooked.:thumbup:

 

[JWellman]

I saw your name and came to welcome a fellow neighbor, then realized it was TN (versus KY). Welcome all the same!

 

[Tigertail]

Slightly underexposed and the branch in the upper right of the frame is distracting. Also the colors could use a bit of tweaking as they are a bit dull. If you have a tripod you might try using a slower shutter speed to blur the water.

 

[WesternGuy]

I would agree with tigertail. The foliage in the upper right is distracting as it is much brighter than the rest of the frame - my eye went right to the foliage and not the waterfall - not what I suspect you were hoping for. When I do this type of shot, I use a tripod, mirror lockup, neutral density filters - 0.6 or 0.9 depending on how long I want the exposure to be (I find that the 0.3 doesn't give me a long enough exposure time to get the blur that I want - but that's just me), a remote shutter release cable and an ISO of 100. I will also set my aperture to one of f11, f16 or f22, depending on my idea of what I need to focus on - sometime it does not make a difference (my experience). If you want to get rid of the foliage in the upper right, you might consider moving a bit to your left (I think that is what it would be) and shooting the whole scene in portrait mode - just a sugggestion. I think that as landscape photographers, we do not use the portrait mode as often as we could or should and thus we ignore, probably subconciously, an alternative composition and I am just as guilty of it as the next person. Also, I sometimes try a polarizer to cut down on reflections from the water and any glare off wet rocks and vegetation.

Having said all that, it is a nice image for someone who is just starting out - keep up the good work and practice...practice...practive.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

P.S. Here is a link to a series of four web articles on waterfall photography...the link for each successive article is at the bottom of each one.

Waterfalls -- Part I

 

[Mr_Louisville]

Thanks for your input. My goal was to learn how to blur the water. Sounds like you have pointed me in the right direction. I knew the foliage would be a distraction and I should have been more specific with my post. There was also a bluff to my left, I had very little room. So If I understand correctly, to get the blur affect my ISO must be in the 100 range with a long exposure.

I'm pretty much an off trails explorer. I try to keep what I carry to a minimum. I will look into tripods, maybe there's something that will collapse enough to fit in my pack.

One question if you dont mind. Let's say I take many pictures of an object and I want to see the camera information from the file to compare with. Is this done easily?
Im sure you can with photo editing software but is there something easier?

Thanks for help

 

[Compaq]

You don't want to spend too little on a tripod, especially if you're going to be using it on trails and out in the nature. Many inexpensive ones won't let you change the angle of the legs, which is a must when putting the tripod on uneven ground

The ISO 100 thing is to be able to get a shutter speed as long as possible by reducing the sensor's sensitivity to the light that hits it. We choose a small aperture (small hole) to let in less light, providing us with the opportunity to use a longer shutter speed. The ND filter comes into play when it is still too bright outside to get the shutter speed we want, even after using our lowest ISO setting and a small aperture. What it is, basically, is a plastic thing in front of the lens which is greyish => letting in less light by x stops. This lets us have shutter speeds up to minutes in bright daylight.

 

[MTVision]

I was able to blur the water at a low shutter speed without a tripod! I used a rock to hold my arms still. If you don't have a rock you can make a tripod out of yourself too! This was my first attempt at photographing moving water and using manual on my camera. My picture isn't great either - its way underexposed. If you live close to the waterfall I would go back and take a few shots on different settings!

 

[alaurasgolfmom]

i'm from maryville! Hi, neighbor! Which waterfall was this? It looks very familiar. I'm also just starting out by reading some books and joining some forums...kind of feel out of my league, though, since I'm just working with a bridge camera..

 

[Mr_Louisville]

I was able to blur the water at a low shutter speed without a tripod!

Show off!!:thumbup: looking good to me

 

[Mr_Louisville]

i'm from maryville! Hi, neighbor! Which waterfall was this? It looks very familiar.

Laurel Falls...There is very little water flowing out of the mountains right now. This was only the upper section of the falls.
BTW,
There's plenty off room here in the beginner league

 

[alaurasgolfmom]

thought it looked familiar! It's been so dry around here that I'm not surprised the waterfalls aren't at their best.

 

[PJL]

As compaq pointed out, if you want to take waterfall shots, you should also invest in neutral density filters. It will allow you to get slower shutter speeds in bright daylight without altering the colors.