Shooting water?

[purpleroan]

Hi everyone! I'm curious if anyone could offer tips as far as taking pictures of a running stream goes? I have had my camera about a month and am working on a motion project for school. I figured the stream in my backyard would make an interesting subject, but I am having difficulty completely freezing the motion. What settings would you all recommend? I am using a T5i with the 18-55mm lens it came with...is it even possible with this combination? I know it isn't a great lens, but I'd like to work with it a while and see what I can do before I spend a lot of money on different glass. All input/advice is appreciated! thanks!

 

[tirediron]

It's absolutely possible; freezing the water will require an appropriate shutter-speed. If it's a slow-running, 'meandering' sort of stream, 1/250 of a second is probably plenty, but if it's very fast running water, you might need closer to 1/1000. Use shutter priority (Tv) mode, and if necessary, increase your ISO.

 

[purpleroan]

It's absolutely possible; freezing the water will require an appropriate shutter-speed. If it's a slow-running, 'meandering' sort of stream, 1/250 of a second is probably plenty, but if it's very fast running water, you might need closer to 1/1000. Use shutter priority (Tv) mode, and if necessary, increase your ISO.

Thank you for clearing some things up! I had suspected I would need a shutter speed around 1/1000 as you said, and when I tried it the water was indeed frozen. My ISO was around 400 I believe, but I played with it a bit to see how much of an effect it had. I set my f-stop to the lowest number possible to let in sufficient light for the quick shutter, which was around 4, yet my pictures came out VERY dark. The water was difficult to see, though crisp, and I'm wondering if perhaps I forgot to change another setting as well? It was on Tv while shooting. In other words, how can I compensate for the lack of light allowed by the shutter with a max aperture of 4.5ish? Is a flash necessary at all times?

 

[tirediron]

Without having been there, it's very difficult to say, but my guess is that perhaps you're not yet familiar enough with how your camera 'meters' light. Depending on how your camera is set up, small bright patches (such as the reflections off of a stream) can 'fool' the camera into thinking it's MUCH brighter than it really is. If you read your camera's manual, especially the section on metering, and these tutorials here,it may help.

 

[purpleroan]

Without having been there, it's very difficult to say, but my guess is that perhaps you're not yet familiar enough with how your camera 'meters' light. Depending on how your camera is set up, small bright patches (such as the reflections off of a stream) can 'fool' the camera into thinking it's MUCH brighter than it really is. If you read your camera's manual, especially the section on metering, and these tutorials here,it may help.

Thank you so much!! Makes sense..I'll look into it tomorrow and see what I can come up with!