Cranny Falls

Steve400 · 01-06-2007, 11:28

Hi,

I had never shot a waterfall before this one so i would love some good critism of it to make me do better the next time!

handheld @ Exposure 1/4" , ISO 100, F5.6

Steve

JMitchell · 01-06-2007, 11:36

Handheld, are you joking? Bloody hell. I handheld at 1/20 and got sharp stuff, but not 1/4!!!!

Makes it even better! NIce shot, but maybe try a lower angle to get more 'involved' with the 'scape.

**Dabhand16** · 01-06-2007, 12:51

I like this pretty much as is. I'd clone out the branch at the top of the frame, and might have considered a different viewpoint to try to de-centralise the falls a bit. However, it does look like they are recessed, so that may not be posssible.

Well done on capturing the mood of the scene.

nichpr · 01-06-2007, 14:04

Other than moving the falls out of the center of the shot, I have no other suggestions - perhaps the falls on the right and a bit more foreground.
well done.
- Paul

skipper954 · 01-06-2007, 15:44

Probably should call you "Sure Hand Luke". Did you steady the cam on anything?

Other than decentering the fall, it is a fine shot.

skip

Boofers · 01-06-2007, 17:28

first water fall shots for me were just water falling,,,nice soft effect for you,,,so I wouldn't worry about anything on this shot,,,take more of the same

P-E · 01-06-2007, 18:50

Cracking shot and hand held @ 1/4"

Steve400 · 01-06-2007, 19:32

thanks for the help, i see what you mean about the angle of the water flowing away from it. There is a big wooden bridge for visitors and the water goes below it so that was all i could play with but im sure it can be jumped and better angles got (not with trainers on though)!

i am not sure if i'm allowed to post anymore photos in this thread today but i have a few other angles that i got of them. As Graham rightly says, the falls are hid behind the two 'bits' of rock and forestation sticking out so straight on was what seemed the most sensible!

when i say handheld, thats handheld with my elbow on my knee! And they didnt all turn out!! although i got a few good ones shot @ 2secs!

Steve

Boofers · 02-06-2007, 10:15

Sounds like fun, I'm on my way to the land of a million water falls in a few months, I hope to catch a few as good as you do,,I hope I have learned enough to pull it off, real excited and will have to post where my mouth is...great thoughts, thanks for sharing

**Markulous** · 02-06-2007, 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve400

when i say handheld, thats handheld with my elbow on my knee! And they didnt all turn out!! although i got a few good ones shot @ 2secs!

Think I'll hang onto my tripod!

I might've angled the camera more to the left - and you need to watch the highlights (to prevent burning) but altogether an impressive shot!

Rob Barron · 03-06-2007, 18:21

This type of shot is the one we all try for when we get chance but often they are a matter of experimenting with the shutter speed. You did well here for sure but I would actually argue a faster shutter speed would have been fine.

As a general maxim, the higher the falls, the faster the shutter speed to get the same blurred effect, simply because the water is falling that much faster. Whilst a quarter of a second works great for a small waterfall (3-4m) one of this size you could easily go down to 1/8th second and get this lovely blurred effect. It would also leave just a touch of texture in parts of the fall because when the water hits rocks on the way down, it slows it down for a moment.

Using 1/8th second would have prevented the burnout at the very top of the fall. I am not sure whether you used an ND filter or a polariser (doesn't look like the latter) but that would have helped to avoid over exposing it and it allows you to go for a smaller aperture and thus greater depth of field. The sharper the static objects in the shot, the greater the contrast with the blurred water.

Just a couple of points worth considering for this kind of shot but this is a lovely image that has worked extremely well, especially for a handheld, knees or not

Cheers,
Rob

Steve400 · 08-06-2007, 23:12

i was only using a hoya uv filter. What exactly do the ND and polarisers do to the burning? will it not affect the whole image? I honestly have no idea abut filters!

I tried the shot at a lot of shutter speeds, i havent had time to check through them all yet but i will do. The lighting was pertty poor as the LHS was under shadow with overhead trees and the RHS was bang in line of the sun through one big gap in the trees. I didnt know there was anyway of stopping the burning!

Steve