 Seth Binsted |
Waterfalls Hello, I was wondering how you make a photo of a waterfall look like it does in the National Geographic magazines, like all blended together. if I use a slow shutter speed then the picture turns all bright and I can't see anything.
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John A. Lind |
Seth, You cannot slow down the shutter speed without adjusting lens aperture to a narrower one to maintain the same exposure. In other words, trading shutter speeds for aperture f-stops, you can maintain the same exposure. I suggest using an aperture of about f/11. There are number of reasons for this related to image sharpness. Shutter speed is then adjusted for a proper exposure. Usually simply stopping the lens down does not allow a slow enough shutter speed. There are two other things done to achieve this: (a) Nearly all photographs like the ones you describe are made with slow films: Kodachrome 64, Ektachrome E100S or E100VS, Fuji Provia 100F, or Fuji Velvia. (b) They also use a "neutral density" filter. This is a neutral gray filter that cuts the amount of light down without affecting color balance. Known commonly as ND filters, they come in various "strengths" (how dark the filter is) to allow choosing how much light is to be blocked by the filter. Watch how long the shutter speed becomes though. A shutter speed too long runs into an effect called "reciprocity failure" in which the effective film speed becomes slower than its rated one and with some films it can also create color shifts. How long the shutter speed can be before reciprocity failure occurs depends completely on the specific film. See the data sheet for the film you plan to use; it will have information about this and what to do to compensate for it. Film data sheets for Agfa, Fuji and Kodak films are readily available in PDF form on each of their web sites. Depending on how fast the water is moving, it usually does not require more than a 10 second exposure. Shorter shutter speeds will show blur, but some texture of the water flow remains. Longer shutter speeds tend to blur it more and remove texture of the water. -- John
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Piper Lehman |
Hi, Seth. Just wanted to add that you should be careful how you meter the waterfall scene to get your starting exposure. Make sure you meter off of something "medium" (light gray rocks, some greenery beside the falls, or the blue sky without the sun, etc.) and not the white water in the scene, which will cause underexposure in the end no matter how "perfect" you get the slow speed down. Also, in addition to using slow film with or without filters, as John and Jeff have suggested, if you are having trouble getting the right reading when starting at f/11 or so, you can start by opening up wide to see what your strarting exposure is and then compensate from there with corresponding ap and ss. Don't forget your tripod! I almost lost my camera to the water a couple of weeks ago trying to use a slippery rock as my tripod (too lazy to climb back up to the car...). Good luck, and be sure to show us what you get. pcl
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