This was my first long exposure waterfall with a telephoto zoom lens I wanted to try to make it bigger than what it appeared because it was just a little trickle coming down the side of some rocks at the wildlife refuge in Lawton Oklahoma. The first 2 on top are the originals and then the bottom 2 are what I did playing around with the lightn and color. Please anyone feeling free to tell me what you think, let me know! Thanks.....
nice starting point you did what i did the first time out ...under exposed....start getting in the habit of taking multiple shots at different stops it helps immensely i just went out this morning and if i had relied on 1 shot i would have screwed myself i took 5 at different stops combined them and now i have a decent image ...funny thing is i tend to like underexposed because i like the feel of them I'm a fan of dark imagery ...also start playing around with cropping it can also enhance an image you definitely don't need to stick to standard sizes unless your trying to cram it into a pre made picture frame
Well the sun was setting I didn't have a neutral density filter,all I had was the darkness of being behind the side of a creek bed with the sun setting on the other side plus I only had a diffuser which I think helps when you don't have the other filter and I've always tried to have my exposure just right because you have to measure you know your triangle of exposure aperture and f-stop and that's what I try to do and it told me I was just right now sometimes I do move it either up a little bit or down a little bit to either make it brighter or darker but the Rocks were already dark colored anyway but yeah you're right Joseph III love underexpose pictures I don't know why either but yeah they could have been just a little bit brighter but with a light I was trying to focus on the waterfall itself with the stick in the background thanks for your input man I really love communicating with you and learning everything I can. It doesn't help when all I have is a rebel xti with a Sigma lens 18 to 200 mm anyway I would love to have a rebel T2i which I borrow every now and then it would be my dream just to have something newer that would show a little bit more high definition so one day hopefully I can get one but when you're unemployed from an injury I can only do what I can but I love your input man I learned a lot just in the past 3 years of doing photography
yeah i got the base model nikon not really thinking i would enjoy the deeper aspects of photography so much now I'm looking at pro equipment and my wallet just turns to dust at the sight of these prices ...we'll get there one day
Hi Bobby,
I love the movement and cleanliness of the spray in these images. Looks like the exposure time is perfect for my taste. its a little dark on my screen. The second image is the one I prefer more.
the stream has a nice curve going through it, maybe try cropping to portrait or, if you get the chance to go back try a portrait aspect to elongate and give the eye more direction.
Thanks Ian please read my reply to Joseph and you'll know what happened and why I did what I did...
Your first image upon entering the page tells the whole story, unedited. However, I was wanting to see more light on the surrounding area. If this is a true long exposure, next time carry a small flash light and shine the light on peaks of the rocks as the image is being taken.
Edit:
One other thing to consider, if your camera has been set to Black & White mode, Carry along a red filter as this would accentuate the dark areas. Then using the small light, accentuate the light areas as I suggested above.
I have two other pics that I'll conversation to jpg and that's all so you can see all the surrounding areas and yes they are true longs!
You're misunderstanding my meaning Bobby, merely suggesting that when one is out and about, carry the small flashlight, have the camera set to black & white mode, use a tripod or steady cam set up and don't convert color images into black & white images.
Sorry I had three more I'm posting so please check them out! What caught my eyes was the stick that was stuck with the water running under it. I didn't edit these at all except for converting to jpg. That's it!!
These look rather decent, what shutter speed did you pick? Try something like 1/2-1sec.
There's lots of detail here, the texture of the rocks looks promising, you may want to check on this location at different times of the day and be on the lookout for the perfect light - you really want the texture of the rocks to pop. Make sure you got everything in focus, you probably will have to focus stack, because you can't cherry pick your f-stop for the water itself (since you are locked on a particular shutter time).
This might work as a B&W, too, but you really need the texture and lots of contrast for that.