silky waterfalls :-) fz20 Check'em out

[Andy.ro]

Figure i should share them on this forum too. I'm kinnda proud of them :D

http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall1.jpg



http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall2.jpg



http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall3.jpg

[Andy.ro]

http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall4.jpg

http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall5.jpg

http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall6.jpg

http://www.fotofan.ro/andy/samples/waterfall7.jpg

[pwiles1968]

What settings do you generally use for thease shots.

[Andy.ro]

well ... f8 , 8 seconds with a polarizer preferably

[Nytmair]

Love the last one! I gotta get out and try that kind of shot before winter gets here :)

-Dan

[Andy.ro]

in winter these shots would be even better i'd say :)

[Nytmair]

in winter these shots would be even better i'd say :)

not when my hands are freezing off trying to take the pictures
:p


-Dan

[b.j.c]

Pardon my ingnorance, but what is the advantage of a polarizing filter in these shots? :)

[msam]

WOW. Great shots. Love 'em.

[pwiles1968]

Did you use ND filters or was it already dark enough for an 8 second exposure. Are they straight from the camera (except resizing) or are they touched up? Have you kept the saturation setting the same on the camera?

Sorry I should have said on the last post excellent photographs :D I have tried these sort of shots years ago with an SLR camera with mixed results i.e. not his good :confused: And was just thinking about giving it a go with my new FZ20 when your post appeared, spooky :( .

I ask about the saturation setting or touching up because the photographs are so vibrant, how many shots did you have to take before you got these.

I picked my camera up on Friday but have been Ill since Saturday no chance to experiment so have to make do with asking lots of questions.

[Andy.ro]

Hey there! :)

I haven't got an ND filter yet. I used a polarizer instead.

Pardon my ingnorance, but what is the advantage of a polarizing filter in these shots?

Well i needed something to keep the exposure as long as possible so this helped quite a bit. ALSO, when you'll take some pictures of water (flowing or still) you'll notice quite a lot of light reflecting from the water drops. The polarizer minimizes this effect, thus helps not overexposing the water.
Also the filter reduces the incoming light by quite a bit, just like an ND filter.

I think it's all about the time of the day. These shots were taken around 3-4PM (uk) and it was dark over the waterfall (helped a lot).

Ofcourse post processing was done on all of them but not drastic. In the last shot for instance i just changed the levels and the contrast. I think i changed a bit the saturation aswell. In the camera i keep everything to standard. I find it gives the best results.

I think its pointless to post all kinds of crappy photos that you take and it spoils your reputation :) Stick instead to the great ones only.

(You might check my www to see what i mean. i snapped around 6000pics in the last 2 years and i have around 60 that i am really proud off. 2000 of those are personal so don't really count. Ofcourse i have a lot more better ones but in my oppinion they are not worth posting on a forum. So stick to your best, post processed if possible [ i read this tip from a pro :) ])

I ask about the saturation setting or touching up because the photographs are so vibrant

Indeed! All this is achieved with standard from the camera and then levels and contrast + Unsharp mask.

Good luck :D

[pwiles1968]

Had a look at the site some nice stuff there, Nice site also.

Most of my Pics I feel would be decent enough to display are on Print, and there are not that many, Have not done much in a couple of years having young kids with you means you can not lug a ton of SLR kit about with you. Hopefully the FZ20 will change that.

Suppose I will have to scan some of the older stuff in and try to put together an organised site, have one that is a mess and the photos on there are not up to scratch really.

[johners]

Absolutely stunning. :) Nuff said.

[Hykaz]

wow, what fantastic shots - i dream of taking photos like that. i know you said you used f8 and 8 secs with polorizer but it that all the settings you used ? sorry but i am an amateur who's just bought a FZ20 with no idea how to use it. any tips in lay terms would be appreciated and yes i need to do a digital photography course :)

[Hykaz]

for the novice FZ20 user, can you tell me how you got those amazing photos ? f8 and 8 secs ?

[Andy.ro]

Hey there.

I believe you should go to a waterfall ..big or small and try different settings.

Keep in mind that you want a shutter speed as slow as possbile ( 8 sec) BUT try not to overexpose the shot.Keep the iso as small as possible (80). It's digital :) Try the settings look for locations!

Look for dark areas during the day ... the best time to photograph waterfalls is just before sunset on a cloudy day :) You don't want light. The usage of a filter would help increase the exposure from say ..3seconds to 4 seconds @ f8.

Practice :)

Don't know what other settings to share with you...that's about it.

Ah, use a tripod :D

I'd say save the money for the photography course and go read tutorials on the web. There's enough information already for free.

[Jim Last]

What tripod do you use? I'm looking for suggestions :)

Don't want to break my back lugging it about. Like the compact versions but worried about good stability.

[Andy.ro]

i used a cheapo jessops one ...20£

Atlantic Alfa 3 Q/R. It is OK for a tripod but when using 12zoom a bulkier one will help. I looked for a cheap one so i got this one.
Max height 1055mm
Closed 385mm
Weight 559g.

Nice and portable. it almost fits in my fz20 bag ( lowepro D-res 50 AW-> 30£)

[Jim Last]

Have you tried / seen any of the new Velbon Maxi and Luxi ranges? go pretty small too.

Also do you find the working height of 105 ok for most things, or do you get a sore back :)

[Andy.ro]

hehe :) good question ... i'm 21 so my back has no problems but 20cm higher would be very welcome :)

Manfrotto is the best if you want a sturdy tripod ..but they go around 60£.

Haven't heard of Velbon, sorry.

[John_Reed]

http://john-reed.smugmug.com/photos/5798526-L.jpg
This was shot with my FZ10 at f2.8, 1/100 of a second. Kind of hard to handle the gamut of light, the shot goes from black to over-blown white, but at least you can see that the water has started to blur at that shutter speed. (No tripod) Like Andy says, shoot & try again - this is digital!

[Andy.ro]

it does blur ...but it's not the same effect. Great shot btw. difficult one too.

Try going to the same location before sunset with a tripod and try 2-3 sec exposure@ f8. You'll see milk all over the place. Great location for long exposure :)

[John_Reed]

it does blur ...but it's not the same effect. Great shot btw. difficult one too.

Try going to the same location before sunset with a tripod and try 2-3 sec exposure@ f8. You'll see milk all over the place. Great location for long exposure :)Well, I'm 3,000 miles from that location now, which is near Watkins Glen, NY; I'm out near San Francisco. But your suggestion would improve the shot, especially to get the extreme contrast out of the scene so you could see the rock details and still get the "milky" waterfalls. I was just trying to show the other extreme, when the "milk" is just starting to curdle! :o