Waterfall Photography Tips and Techniques |  |
- Waterfall Photography Tips and Techniques
- Interesting Photo of the Day: C-17 Wingtip Vortices Through Countermeasures
- Parkour Photography: Adapting to Challenging Lighting Conditions (Video)
- Infrared Timelapse Photography of an Empty Philadelphia (Video)
| Waterfall Photography Tips and Techniques Posted: 03 Oct 2013 04:37 PM PDT Waterfalls seem to grab the hearts and minds of people. Go to any location that has one or more waterfalls and it is pretty much a guarantee that they will be a major attraction, if not the main attraction, of the area. However, as beautiful as waterfalls are, it is not so easy to capture that beauty with a camera. It is easy to produce pictures of waterfalls; it is not so easy to produce powerful images.  “Fall” captured by Tony Taffinder (Click Image to See More From Tony Taffinder) Waterfalls provide their own unique set of problems which requires a unique set of solutions. This article is about those unique problems and the solutions that allow photographers to produce images that communicate the power and beauty that is inherent in the waterfalls that stand before their lenses. WeatherWeather plays a huge part in producing great waterfall images. Quite simply, waterfalls do not photograph well in nice, sunny weather. The best time to photograph waterfalls is in overcast weather. Some waterfalls will photograph best in light overcast. Light overcast produces a light that is gentle but which still has enough power to bring out the colors in a scene. Other waterfalls photograph best in strong overcast. Strong overcast can produce a very moody image with a power to convey that sense of mood in an image. In fact, very powerful waterfall images can even be produced in rainy weather (during a break in the rain). An Old FilterOne of the major challenges in photographing waterfalls has to do with water getting on the lens (or the filter in front of the lens). Powerful waterfalls can drop huge amounts of water which produces a mist. In other cases, the weather may produce fog, drizzle, or rain that gets on the lens. All of this can be exacerbated by wind (which always seems to be pointed directly toward my lens). A partial solution is to place an old, clear filter in front of the lens while the equipment is being set up. Once the photographer is ready to go, the photographer will need to remove the filter from the lens in order to take the shot. TripodDon’t even think of photographing a waterfall without a tripod. A large part of the nature of waterfalls is the movement of the water. This movement is most often captured with shutter speeds that are slow enough that clear images can not be produced with a handheld camera.  “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground” captured by Mark Broughton (Click Image to See More From Mark Broughton) White BalanceThe lighting involved with waterfall shots can be tricky. In overcast or rainy conditions, the light will likely have a blue tint. If the waterfall is in a forest, the light may bounce off the trees and pick up a green tint. Neither the auto white balance nor the preset white balance options on a camera will guarantee accurate white balance. The best solution is to perform a manual white balance (your camera manual will explain how for your particular camera). PolarizerObjects that are wet tend to produce glare. This glare is often polarized. This is particularly an issue with waterfall shots because the rocks and vegetation near the waterfall will be wet and will almost certainly have a certain amount of glare. A polarizer will remove the glare. In addition, a polarizer has a secondary effect. By removing the glare, the color saturation will improve. Bubble LevelSadly, the human eye is not a very good judge of whether a camera is level. Luckily, a bubble level is designed specifically for leveling a camera. A bubble level is an inexpensive, small, easy to use device that fits into the hot shoe of a camera and allows a photographer to verify that the camera is level. It works in the same way as a carpenter’s bubble level. Simply center the bubble between the lines and the camera is leveled.  “Waterfall” captured by Derrick Smith (Click Image to See More From Derrick Smith) CompositionIdentifying and capturing strong composition is an extremely important part of creating powerful waterfall images. While the purpose of this article is not to carry out a thorough review of composition, a couple of aspects of composition, curves and environment, will be covered. Curves can make or break a waterfall image. With waterfalls, two types of curves are particularly important. The first type of curve is the curve formed by the water. Waterfalls that have water that flows or falls in such a way as to form curves tend to create much more interest than waterfalls where the water simply falls straight down. In essence, graceful curves add an element of elegance to a waterfall. The second type of curve is any curved object that points toward the waterfall. This type of curve will repeatedly direct the attention toward the waterfall and strengthen it as the center of interest. The second major component of waterfall composition, covered in this article, is the environment surrounding the waterfall. This is extremely important to many waterfall shots. By itself, falling water is not always that interesting. Rather, it is the surrounding environment that gives waterfalls much of their character. Therefore, why not include some of that environment in the image to bring out the waterfall character. The surrounding rocks, trees, and vegetation can make the waterfall image come alive. Shutter speedWhat shutter speed should be used to blur the falling water? That seems to be the first question that people usually ask about shooting waterfalls. However, there is no such thing as one correct shutter speed for shooting waterfalls! Rather, the proper shutter speed is a function of five factors.  “Play Misty for Me” captured by Debra Vanderlaan (Click Image to See More From Debra Vanderlaan)
In short, the best shutter speed varies from one waterfall to another. At first, that might sound a little bit daunting, “How can I ever figure out the best shutter speed; it changes from one waterfall to the next?” Actually, with a digital camera, it is easy to find the best shutter speed. You can simply take some test shots at different shutter speeds and examine the results on the camera monitor. Zooming in on the monitor will allow you to see the water detail fairly well. For large waterfalls with huge volumes of tumultuous water, where it is desired to capture the violent nature of the falling water, 1/100 second is a good shutter speed with which to start. For smaller waterfalls, waterfalls with less water, or waterfalls where it is desired to produce a dreamy look, a shutter speed of 1/2 second to 2 seconds might be used. ExposureGetting the right exposure can sometimes be a challenge when photographing waterfalls. Probably, one of the biggest problems is that it is easy to clip the highlights in the water. What this means is that the detail in the water is lost, and the water becomes just a big area of pure white. When this happens, the water just doesn’t look very real. The solution for this problem is to take a test shot of the waterfall and check the histogram on the monitor of your digital camera. If the histogram is cut off on the right side, the highlights have been clipped. If this is the case, the exposure needs to be decreased.  “Guadalupe River on Roar” captured by Rob Zabroky (Click Image to See More From Rob Zabroky) SummaryWith these tips, you should be on your way to capturing some great waterfall images. About the Author For Further Training on Long Exposure Photography:Check out Trick Photography by Evan Sharboneau; a very popular instructional eBook that explains how to do most of the trick photos that often capture attention and amazement from viewers. It also teaches the basics that are essential before moving onto advanced techniques. With 300+ pages of information and 9 hours of video tutorials, it is very detailed and includes extensive explanations of many complicated methods that are very fun to learn. Found here: Trick Photography and Special Effects 2.0 Go to full article: Waterfall Photography Tips and Techniques |
| Interesting Photo of the Day: C-17 Wingtip Vortices Through Countermeasures Posted: 03 Oct 2013 03:52 PM PDT When you look at this photo, you may think, how was this photographed? Was this just a lucky capture? What you’re seeing in this photo is actually two different phenomena. The first is the unique smoke pattern caused by a plane deploying its flares. These smoke shapes left behind are often referred to as “smoke angels.” The second phenomenon is the existence of wingtip vortices which can only be seen in the presence of smoke or a similar substance. The vortices appear as spiral patterns produced as a result of the plane creating lift:  The wingtip vortices are the spiral shapes seen in the flare smoke. (Via Wikipedia, Click to View Full Size) The combination of these two create an interesting ghost-like figure. The formation doesn’t stay for very long. The vortices quickly disappear and the smoke eventually fades. But for a moment, a unique subject is born, reminding us that there are many moments that happen suddenly and unexpectedly, and many of these things to not remain for very long. So as for this being a lucky capture, perhaps the photographer happened to be in the right place at the right time. But he or she was also prepared, camera in hand, ready to capture an unexpected moment. Go to full article: Interesting Photo of the Day: C-17 Wingtip Vortices Through Countermeasures |
| Parkour Photography: Adapting to Challenging Lighting Conditions (Video) Posted: 03 Oct 2013 02:31 PM PDT Parkour combines physical strength and artful movements to overcome obstacles, such as walls, stairs, and fences. Urban landscapes are playgrounds for parkour artists, also known as traceurs. However, photographing the graceful feats of these artists amid tall buildings presents a challenge. The lighting and constricted space in city environs don’t always offer photographers the best of working conditions. Parkour photography requires adaptability. Joe McNally shows off his versatility by going “light and fast” on the streets of Brooklyn, NY. His goal was to photograph Jonathan, a talented parkour artist, using just an unmodified Nikon SB 910 Speedlight in hard sunlight: To set up the shot, McNally first looked around the location for inspiration. He wanted the subject to “pop”, so he chose a yellow wall. He asked Jonathan run up the wall so he was about five feet off the ground and had him look back toward the light. The photographer then decided on using a low camera angle to emphasize the athletic ability of his subject.
Normally, McNally says, it’s advisable to match your artificial light source’s direction with the direction of the natural light. Lights coming from different directions cast multiple shadows at varying angles, which can often ruin a shot. But, in this case, he risked the unnatural look of added shadows in order to have his assistant, holding a flash mounted on a painter’s pole with a Kacey Pole Adapter, hide in the shadow of a utility pole. This off-axis lighting setup created an extra, faint shadow of the subject, but kept the assistant’s shadow from appearing in the shot. Attention to detail and industrious use of surroundings and equipment are crucial to parkour photography. McNally’s final shot highlighted the traceur’s impressive skills:
Go to full article: Parkour Photography: Adapting to Challenging Lighting Conditions (Video) |
| Infrared Timelapse Photography of an Empty Philadelphia (Video) Posted: 03 Oct 2013 10:50 AM PDT Infrared photography has been increasing in popularity lately as photographers continue to push the limits of their digital cameras. Of course, infrared photography is nothing new, but it is easier and more manipulative than ever. There is true IR, and then there is color IR which is what photographer Bruce W. Berry Jr. decided to capture in his latest timelapse. Inspired by the opening scene in the latest Star Trek movie and by Ross Ching’s Empty America Series, Berry has created a hybrid video of infrared photography and photography with all people removed: Berry uses a Canon 350D full spectrum camera (350D with IR filter removed) and a yellow filter to capture his infrared images. He also uses a Manfrotto 055CX tripod and 410 Jr. Gear Head. Effects of Removing Your IR Blocking Filter:
 With his full spectrum camera and yellow filter, Berry is able to capture beautiful infrared images like this Note that this timelapse is not beautiful solely for its use of infrared imaging, but also for its incredibly cinematic framing and camera movements. Without the photographer’s keen eye, it would be a short video with strange colored trees. For Further Training on Timelapse Photography:There is a COMPLETE guide (146 pages) to shooting, processing and rendering time-lapses using a dslr camera. It can be found here: The Timelapse Photography Guide Go to full article: Infrared Timelapse Photography of an Empty Philadelphia (Video) |
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