What shutter speed?

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princeclan

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Matt
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Hi,

Going to a waterfall tomorrow with a view to taking some pics with a slow shutter to make the water look foamy.

What shutter speed do you recommend in normal daylight?

I thought a 1 second shutter but dont really know.

Matt
 
I dont have any nd grad filters no. See what you mean about overexpose. I could go earlier when the light is just coming in i suppose. That would help wouldnt it?
 
Just a thought. i will be shooting in raw. If i did go in the day and did 1 sec and it was massively over exposed. I could reduce that with no quality loss in photoshop couldnt i as its in raw?
 
princeclan said:
Just a thought. i will be shooting in raw. If i did go in the day and did 1 sec and it was massively over exposed. I could reduce that with no quality loss in photoshop couldnt i as its in raw?
Click to expand...

You can only really recover up to 2 stops in raw without major loss in quality. You may find that your shots will be too overexposed to recover.
 
Could i not put 3 stops negative exposure on and shoot in raw? , then if it has still overshot i could recover it then ?
 
If you have a CPL filter you can use that also to take a stop or so of light away (and get a nicer sky in your shot too) :)
 
princeclan said:
Could i not put 3 stops negative exposure on and shoot in raw? , then if it has still overshot i could recover it then ?
Click to expand...

Negative exposure compensation will not help. You want correct exposure, just with a long shutter speed.

If your normal shutter speed would be 1/1000sec in bright sun, you need to shift that by ten stops to get to 1sec. You do not have anything like that range with either aperture control or ISO, and there is not enough headroom in Raw. If you shoot at f/22 or something, you will wreck sharpness through diffraction.

You need a neutral density filter (not a grad) for this. When you use one of these, be sure to cover the eyepiece during exposure to prevent light entering and creeping past the piggy-back mirror, causing streaking.

Or shoot when the light level is very low.

Edit: if you want to be clever with it (maybe to impress people for an interview ;) ) these kind of pics look really good with a long shutter speed image overlaid with a short exposure one in post processing, so you get both the flowing water effect, but also some crisp water splashes and spray. Maybe worth a try :)
 
Set your camera to Aperture Priority mode and pick a low aperture (like F16) and let the camera choose a shutter speed for you. No point risking your exposure too much. Go back on a cloudy/less bright day if you're after super duper creamy flowing water, or get yourself ND filters and the like (though you might not need them depending on light conditions). I find too long an exposure looks ridiculous, but that might just be me.
 
HoppyUK said:
Negative exposure compensation will not help. You want correct exposure, just with a long shutter speed.

If your normal shutter speed would be 1/1000sec in bright sun, you need to shift that by ten stops to get to 1sec. You do not have anything like that range with either aperture control or ISO, and there is not enough headroom in Raw. If you shoot at f/22 or something, you will wreck sharpness through diffraction.

You need a neutral density filter (not a grad) for this. When you use one of these, be sure to cover the eyepiece during exposure to prevent light entering and creeping past the piggy-back mirror, causing streaking.

Or shoot when the light level is very low.

Edit: if you want to be clever with it (maybe to impress people for an interview ;) ) these kind of pics look really good with a long shutter speed image overlaid with a short exposure one in post processing, so you get both the flowing water effect, but also some crisp water splashes and spray. Maybe worth a try :)
Click to expand...

Yeah lol

That sounds like a good thing to do but i fear i would have to be a photoshop genius to make it look worthwhile. I will get a filter before i go (cant go today now as its throwing it down) and was taking my tripod anyway. I think i will take a 1 sec exposure, and then a shot using a really fast shutter speed.

Will process the slow shot and then have a go at the other.

Matt
 
princeclan said:
Yeah lol

That sounds like a good thing to do but i fear i would have to be a photoshop genius to make it look worthwhile. I will get a filter before i go (cant go today now as its throwing it down) and was taking my tripod anyway. I think i will take a 1 sec exposure, and then a shot using a really fast shutter speed.

Will process the slow shot and then have a go at the other.

Matt
Click to expand...

Have a look here - sample shots of merging long and short exposures in a waterfall, post #70. http://bbs.scoobynet.com/photograph...ography-calling-volunteers-3.html#post6267179

And if it's raining, the light level will be much lower. You could at least get some test shots done to see the effect, maybe without an ND filter ;)
 
princeclan said:
Hi,

Going to a waterfall tomorrow with a view to taking some pics with a slow shutter to make the water look foamy.

What shutter speed do you recommend in normal daylight?

I thought a 1 second shutter but dont really know.

Matt
Click to expand...



normal daylight you'll struggle to get anything low enough. you'll need to use ND filters or go when its not as light
 
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