The Waterfall/Force Conundrum

Tom_Chettoe

Tom_Chettoe

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Tom
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As a fan of water photography and taking pictures of streams when it comes to photographing Waterfalls/Forces I really find it difficult to decide between:

1) The blurry stream which looks a bit fantastical

or

2) The pin sharp droplets of water flying around the shot.

if anyone has any example where one might be the better choice for a certain situation or any advice in particular about photographing moving water/waterfalls I'd be grateful.
 
I am no expert but I usually try a shot both ways and see which looks best, I prefer drops of water but the guys in the camera club seem to prefer milky water.
 
Yeah it is a personal preference either way and I do lean toward the droplet side of the debate, I was just curious to see why people prefered one to the other.
 
Did some shots like this last week. On reviewing them in general the ones that showed motion looked better. However a couple of "dramatic" shots appeared better with the individual droplets frozen. This is why I try to shoot both. It's not easy to decide which is better on the back of the camera.
 
As already said, shoot both and see which looks best. If both shots are identical apart from the shutter speed, try overlaying one on the other, adjusting the transparency of the top layer to get a balance of milkiness and sharpness.
 
Nod said:
As already said, shoot both and see which looks best. If both shots are identical apart from the shutter speed, try overlaying one on the other, adjusting the transparency of the top layer to get a balance of milkiness and sharpness.
Click to expand...

^^^ I agree :)

The best waterfall images I have seen are created in post processing and combine both sharp and a blurry images overlaid - best of both :thumbs:
 
Fantastic idea, I don't know why I'd never thought of trying overlapping them before now =]
 
Tom_Chettoe said:
As a fan of water photography and taking pictures of streams when it comes to photographing Waterfalls/Forces I really find it difficult to decide between:

1) The blurry stream which looks a bit fantastical

or

2) The pin sharp droplets of water flying around the shot.

if anyone has any example where one might be the better choice for a certain situation or any advice in particular about photographing moving water/waterfalls I'd be grateful.
Click to expand...

use your eye
get a shot which looks like what you see...you eye doesnt see droplets nor foamy ghosty effects

err on the slower speed side for a bit of fill and effect but retain the naturalness of the shot..
 
Thanks for the comments and advice!
 
If you want to avoid messing about in PP, try a burst of flash during a longer exposure. Freezes a moment while leaving the rest of the time for the (much overdone and now getting old) milky blur. Experiment with apertures and flash power to see what works to your liking.
 
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