First attempt at waterfalls

[ZipKicker]

also a bridge shot from across the river :D i like the turnout

Here is my gallery (http://mgregor.webpods.com/gallery/?dir=Misc%20Pics/56k%20NO%21%21%21/Nature%20Pics&page=1)

[Meerkat17]

Sorry to burst your bubble but all of the white's are blown-out - at a guess I'd say the shutter speed was been too long.
cheers

[JuZ]

Are you shooting in RAW ZipKicker? I have to agree with Meerkat17, the whites are blown-out and if you're using RAW i'm sure you could adjust the exposure and contrast to make those perfect :)

[ZipKicker]

well i didnt have too much of a bubble..im just getting into photography of any kind...all i can do now is practice some more so its no big deal :D

whatever the rebel default is...im guessing its not raw but im still learning about the camera..gonna join some classes at the community college for digital photography

[whowie]

Yep, I'd have to agree that the exposures are a little off but the compositions on some of these are OK. No bad for a first try. Are you using Photoshop ZipKicker? Maybe you could post one image and ask for some tips on how to improve it by changing your camera settings and/or using PS. Looking forward to seeing more images soon.

Wes

[ZipKicker]

i just transferred them right to my site no cropping resizing or anything...the gallery program i use automatically makes the images fit whatever the user is using for his screen settings

any how my favorite pic
http://mgregor.webpods.com/gallery/image.php?img=collections/Misc%20Pics/56k%20NO%21%21%21/Nature%20Pics/misc%20137.jpg&maxw=700&maxh=600

[ZipKicker]

i can see what they mean about the exposure being off..im gonna try to take it down a little bit at a time since its digital :D

im also still learning about photoshop, i got a book photoshop for dummies that im looking into :D

[xstrio]

its hard to take photos of waterfalls with long exposure because they always seem to end up with alot of blown out areas , i guess the camera doesn`t know your taking a photo of water and exposes as if it was just a normal scene, hopefully if you live close by you will be able to get plenty of practice in looks like a great place

[Bald Eagle]

Heres something that may help, try shortening the exposure, and shoot at ISO of 100. take several pics at different exposure settings, i Have taken several waterfall shots, and this did help me, hope this helps.

[Hellashot]

Are you shooting in RAW ZipKicker? I have to agree with Meerkat17, the whites are blown-out and if you're using RAW i'm sure you could adjust the exposure and contrast to make those perfect :)

You cannot always fix overexposure through RAW exposure. Blown out sometimes is just blown out white.

[MCB]

Heres something that may help, try shortening the exposure, and shoot at ISO of 100. take several pics at different exposure settings, i Have taken several waterfall shots, and this did help me, hope this helps.

And your 350D can do exposure bracketing. That way you can have it automatically take 3 pictures, each with a slightly different exposure (up to +/- 2 stops, i think). You just hold the button down to shoot and it'll take care of the rest. Then you can go home and see what exposures worked well and be relatively sure that at least one of them will have worked out.

And you have the added bounus of being able to merge a couple of them together to get all of the highlights/shadows exposed well. If you have PS CS2, it has something called (I think) 'merge to HDR' for high dynamic range images. You can merge as many images as you want (maybe just limited by RAM) automatically. Pretty cool stuff. Even though that function says it will automatically align the images for you, it seems best to use a tripod. If the pictures don't line up perfectly, it's a real mess. I guess that's not what you're trying to do here, but if you're experimenting with different exposures anyway, you can get two for the price one one. :)


Good luck, and happy experimenting.:lol:

[rich_yau]

This waterfall apears manmade/altered. Look at the bricks on the right.

[MTalley]

As a start, set it in Av mode. Run the aperature up as high as you can (if you have the kit lens, that will probably be f/22), set ISO to 100, and obviously use a tripod. Meter on the water (put some of the falling water in the center of the frame). That will cause the camera to choose the brightest area (the falling water) as the median exposure level and give you darker darks without blowing out too many highlights.

If you find that the exposure ends up being faster than about 1/2 second, you won't get much water blur. In that case, you could invest in a couple of neutral density filters and use them to drop the light level a few stops.

Otherwise, nice try for starting out. That's how you learn.

[badrotation]

i can see what they mean about the exposure being off..im gonna try to take it down a little bit at a time since its digital :D

im also still learning about photoshop, i got a book photoshop for dummies that im looking into :D


Dont take it down a little at a time.... Use the light meter instead, to get the exposure spot-on.

Basically, to shoot waterfalls, and get the nice smooth flowing water look, you will need to shoot when the sun is going down, and it is relatively dim out.


You can also try taking the camera down to something like ISO 100, and a very small arperture (High F-number), which will allow you to increase the eposure time a bit.


Like I said though, the light meter is your friend, dont put yourself through the hassle of trying to guess the proper exposure, especially not if you are new to photography.

[Mannytkd]

I'm no expert but has anyone mentioned advising this guy on how to use ND filters to cut down the amount of light going through the lens, maybe the 350 has a built in one like my G6. I've yet to have a go at waterfalls and i would'nt do then try and do them without an ND filter/filters, but that depends on the daylight too, if it's very bright then yes use ND filters but in poor light maybe not.

At least he's had a go, but the exposure is definitely not right, when i first got my G6 i got al sorts of wrong shots and nearly know the camera inside out and after doing this and that i get very good results, it takes time, patience and good practice, and i know that we can all look forward to seeing some better results form ZipKicker.

If RAW sees this maybe he will give better advise.

[ZipKicker]

like i said before im still getting used to this camera..the possiblities seem endless. it is one amazing piece of equipment! right now i just have the basic kit 18-55mm lens...trying to buy cheaper stuff first that i will use a lot but im still learning stuff about what different filters and stuff like that.
this forum is helping me a lot and thanks to you guys i have learned much more!

[Pb2Au]

ND filter for sure... 2-4 stops and you're golden.

[ZipKicker]

well i went on a little hike with my fiance and we were taking some pics...i shot these in RAW but i still post them on here jpeg...right? well here they are..i like them better than my first attempt
http://mgregor.webpods.com/gallery/image.php?img=collections/Misc%20Pics/56k%20NO%21%21%21/Nature%20Pics/misc%20192.JPG&maxw=700&maxh=600

http://mgregor.webpods.com/gallery/image.php?img=collections/Misc%20Pics/56k%20NO%21%21%21/Nature%20Pics/misc%20185.JPG&maxw=700&maxh=600
http://mgregor.webpods.com/gallery/image.php?img=collections/Misc%20Pics/56k%20NO%21%21%21/Nature%20Pics/misc%20191.JPG&maxw=700&maxh=600

[whowie]

Much better, ZipKicker, much better. Good job


Wes

[ZipKicker]

thanks :D

like always practice, practice, practice

light meter did the trick but i also shot like 20 shots to find the best exposure