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Photography Question 

Beth
 

Freezing water fountains & falls


can anyone recommend a general shutter speed and aperture setting for freezing a water fountain or fall? and also for a stream?


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February 08, 2006

 

Bob Cammarata
  That depends on how close you are to the stream or falls and how fast the water is moving. (Vertical falls move faster than water tumbling through rapids.)

Generally speaking, 1/250 or faster should freeze anything.


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February 08, 2006

 

Beth
  Thank you for your response. I was wondering what the general rule of thumb is for aperture. I have read a lot, but it still sort of confuses me. I mean about which aperture to use with which shutter speed. Any recommended online reading?


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February 09, 2006

 

David A. Bliss
  About 32 degrees ;-)


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February 09, 2006

 

Brendan Knell
  First, you do want to freeze it, not get that silky effect, right? Just want to make sure, as more people want to know how to get the silky effect rather than freeze it.

For shutter speed, I would do as Bob says, and about 1/250. Then for aperature, you most likely you want to get everything in focus, so a smaller aperature, but not your camera's smallest, would be best. The reason that I don't reccomend the smallest you camera has is that I've heard most camera's aren't at their sharpest at their largest or smallest aperature, so you'll want to go about 1-2 stops larger or smaller. So for example, my camera's smallest aperature is F/8.0, so I would want to use F/7.1-F6.3. So it depends on your camera's minimum aperature.


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February 09, 2006

 
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