motion

[ohenry]

Same scene with varying shutter speeds to capture flow. No photoshop work was done other than resizing (original RAW format processed the same) in order to retain similar properties.

1/200 sec


1/50 sec


1/15 sec


1/8 sec

[selvin]

Ohenry,
Very interesting experiment.
I think what one considers the "best" probably depends very much on personal preferences as to what they envision water should look like.
Personally the 1/8 sec doesn't quite do it I prefer the 1/15 sec.
On reflection it would also depend heavily on what effect you were aiming for.
You've just provided excellent evidence to shoot a couple of scenes of flowing water at diffeerent settings to see which one achieves your goal.

[pavaros]

Nice shots! i agree with selvin, in my opinion the 1/15 sec depicts the flow and speed better than the others. But it depends what effect YOU wanted it to have.

[photosbyvito]

well i'm partial to the long shutter speeds so i'd say the 1/8....but it looks like it could go for a little longer.....maybe 1/4 or 1/2......if you have a chance can you try them? next time i'm near some rapids or a waterfall i'll do this.....

[ohenry]

Originally Posted by photosbyvito

well i'm partial to the long shutter speeds so i'd say the 1/8....but it looks like it could go for a little longer.....maybe 1/4 or 1/2......if you have a chance can you try them? next time i'm near some rapids or a waterfall i'll do this.....

The 1/8 sec shot was at f/45 at my lowest ISO, so unless I had a ND filter that was the limit. I would have preferred to do a 2 second shot as well but the sun was just too bright.

[Gandalf065]

Nice shots Ohenry. I do enjoy water shots, and the variety of the look of the surface of the water is interesting. Too bad you didnt have a ND filter as you said.

[photosbyvito]

yeah i had that same problem at a waterfall i went to.....it was a big one so i had to have the sky in it (well didn't HAVE to just would've cut off the top lol) and the sky ended up washed out.....that spot looks like a spot that you can get a shot i've been wanting to get for a while now.....just haven't been able to find a place and/or take a picture of it.......i've seen it a couple times and really want to do it.....it is a small stream like that....with white water......and a area of deeper water right underneath the white water......well the picture is for the shutter speed to be really long and have the white make thin areas coming out of the white under the waterfall.....i can't find a good word for it...lol

hmmm here
the water fall is the line....the full white area is where the stars are....i want to have kinda squiggly lines coming out from the white area....
___
(**)

i'll see if i can find an example.....

here....kinda like this....but with more small spots coming out of the middle.....not my picture....just found it on google.....
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/ribbotson/brook.jpg

[ohenry]

The other thing I noticed looking at these pictures again is that the leaves on the right side at the slower shutter speeds aren't as sharp indicating a gentle breeze was blowing (obviously all of these shots were taken on a tripod)

Selvin...while I did this primarily for my own edification, I wanted to share it with others. IMO, a photograph needs to convey what the photographer wants to say. In this case, the flowing stream is obviously what had my attention. I knew that freezing the motion would minimize the effect and that a slower speed would give the feeling of the movement of the stream. I agree with you that the 1/15 is my favorite of the 4. After viewing these, I realize that I have a need for ND filters as I would have loved to have taken a 3-4 second shot allowing the water to have a ribbon like effect.

Just for information, the settings were (all at ISO 100)

1/200 @ f/10, 1/50 @ f/18, 1/15 @ f/32, and 1/2 @ f/45

In retrospect, I should have also taken some shots at larger f-stops to see the DOF changes as well. Next time

[chuck biddinger]

They are all good, but I like 1/200 the best.

[Gandalf065]

Does anybody recommend a brand/site to get a good ND2 or ND4 in 77mm? Special effects filters in that large of a size are hard to find! Silly me and my wide mouthed lenses.