Winged Power Photography

Photographing Scenes At Small Apertures

When I first started shooting, and quite often at the mall, I will encounter one of those large backlit displays with the flowing waterfalls. You know the ones, the waterfall is all feathery and the light behind it makes it look like the water is flowing. I really don't like those displays... :)

But what I DO like, is the photography. Those beautiful and ethereal photographs of moving water, turned mist or made dreamy, through the use of long exposures.

This is something that anyone can do, provided they have a tripod, a camera that can be set for slightly longer exposures, and a lens or lens and filter, that can be stepped down, to reduce the light coming in through the lens to the camera. Did I mention a tripod would be helpful? ;)

The Lens Race... Stopping Down To Smell The Roses...

It seems that these days, alot of photographers, seem to be caught up on stats and specs. How fast is the lens, how long, how many frames per second can the body push out? It seems that the discussion forums are filled less and less with discussion about technique and more about what new piece of gear they should buy next, to improve their photography.

I'm no exception. :) I love getting new gear and I love shooting with fast glass. However, some photography isn't about having more speed or how many frames per second your camera can deliver. Some kinds of photography lean more heavily on technique. The how you shoot vs what you are shooting with.

Case in point, waterfall photography. That 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is great for shooting sports, wildlife, or people photography. However, the average photographer won't buy it since it is too expensive. But they want to. :) They want to because of the specs and the great shots they see others shoot with that lens.

What about their own lens? The kit lens that comes with their camera? Or how about all of the other lenses in their arsenal?

Well, thankfully, shooting waterfalls can be done with just about any lens, whether prime, zoom, wide, long, fast, or slow. In fact, this is the kind of photography where having a slower lens helps.

For those who don't know, a camera lens' aperture can be stopped down from wide open to nearly closed. This is usually f/1.x for REALLY expensive fast lenses, f/2.8 for those nice lenses, f/3.5 - f/4.0 for the typical lenses. Most can be stopped down to f/16, f/22, or f/32, depending on the make and design of the lens.

Stopping down means letting less light in, and requiring a longer exposure to generate a properly exposed image. This results in motion blur. However, if you have the camera on a tripod, only things that are moving will be blurred. Things like water, fireflies, cars, people, etc.

Why A Waterfall?

Well, put simply, because... while the water itself moves, the rest of the scenery does not. You can stick your camera on the tripod, take various shots at various settings, and find the right blend of aperture, shutter speed, and composition to get the shot you want. Your only enemy, is the light. Ie, the ever moving Sun.

The second reason is because a slow exposure of water is beautiful. It is ethereal and otherwordly. The sharp, cold, in-focus look of water is replaced with a non-descript white fountain of light, spilling forth in some areas of the photograph and looking like pooled mist in others.

Put simply: Waterfalls are VERY photogenic. :)

But in all seriousness, it doesn't have to be a waterfall. It could be a fountain at night. Perhaps one of those illuminated with multi-color lights. Or maybe even a ferris wheel at the local fair. The options are wide open.

For me, it is a combination of convenience and a long running desire to actually produce one of those shots!

Pre-Shoot: Scouting

Being that this kind of photography is essentially landscape photography, it reasons that you would want to scout out the location, before the shoot. Whether you do this days in advance or just minutes in advance, some scouting is advised. There are plenty of angles and positions to shoot from. Only so much time. Scouting out an area allows you to think about your shot, how to frame, where you need to be, and what kind of gear you will need to bring with you.

It also loads up your brain with raw material to fuel your creativity.

Plus... it helps to notice things like... hmm... there's no path over that river to that stone, where I'd like to shoot from...

Pre-Shoot: Gearing Up

Really, ANY camera that let's you set the shutter speed and perhaps your aperture or ISO settings will be fine for this shot. Whether you are using a film SLR, a digital SLR, a point and shoot, or some homebuilt contraption... or even an endearing Holga... you will be fine with the camera you have. Just something that will let you expose for a longer period of time.

The lens... really, any lens that will allow you to compose the shot you have in mind will be fine. Whether its wide, normal, zoom, or tele... it'll be fine, so long as you can compose the shot you want with it. I've shot waterfalls with my wide angle zoom ( 17-50mm) and my telephoto zoom (70-210mm). Both have produced excellent shots... and will continue to do so. I'm sure I can get great shots with my kit lens and my 50mm prime as well.

The only caveat is to be sure your lens can stop down to something slower than f/8. For those who do not know, f/2.0 is "faster" than f/4.0. f/8.0 is faster than f/16. So, a "fast" lens is something with a smaller or lesser f-stop number. A lens is "slower" or "stopped down", if it's f-stop value is set to a larger or higher number, like 16, 22, or 32.

The reason behind stopping down the lens is to reduce the amount of light that will expose your image. This forces a longer exposure, and thus anything moving will be blurred... ie. the moving water of a river or waterfall.

If your lens cannot stop down, if your camera doesn't let you control aperture, or you jut can't get your camera and lens combo to reduce the light coming in enough... then you can use either ND(neutral density) filters and/or polarizers.

ND filters are basically sheets of plastic or glass, which has been darkened to various degrees to reduce the amount of light getting through the glass. The filters range from grey to black. They are call "neutral" because they should not.. and do not, add a color cast, just reduces light coming through.

Polarizers can be used to reduce light, since they cut down light by about 1-2 stops on their own. If you take two polarizing filters and put them both on your lens, you can rotate one in relation to another to reduce the light coming through, down to zero. VERY nice. The only downside is that long exposures with polarizing filters can result in odd optical artifacts, due to how the polarizers work.

The last piece you need is the tripod. Yes, some cameras you can hand hold due to anti-shake, vibration reduction, etc... get a tripod or monopod. You will thank me for it, when you've hiked back and find that a good number of your pictures turned out, as opposed to only a fraction, due to hand shake. Seriously, handholding a camera perfectly still for longer than 1/2 a second is VERY hard to do.

If you are so inclined, a remote trigger (wired or otherwise), to trip your shutter will be helpful, to reduce camera shake during the exposure.

Shoot: Trial and Error

The funny thing about shooting longer exposures... it's hard to get the exposure right. Old timers who learned with film on non-digital gear more or less have an exposure meter in their heads.. I'm convinced of this. :) But for us digital newbies... there is something to be said for the live histogram, post-shot histogram, image review, and all those cool "chimping" habits.

Hey, there is NOTHING wrong with reviewing your image and shooting again. In an action setting, it will result in missed shots, When you are shooting landscape, take your time to review your shot and figure out what settings will work or not. The landscape isn't going anyware. You can't scare it off or anything. The worst case? You come back tomorrow if the light has faded away.

Post-Shoot: Photoshop....

Touching up, adjusting the exposure, levels, fill flash, etc... seriously... there will be areas that are too dark... over exposed... etc. It will need some touching up. You might even blend two photographs for an HDR(high dynamic range) final image.

Whatever you do, just remember, ethereal. :)

FYI, I typically, slightly under expose my images, since the water and anything that's not dim will tend towards over exposing. In PS/Gimp/etc, I will increase the exposure and perhaps do a fill flash/light to brighten up the shadows. This is followed up with an unshark mask, and maybe some tweaking of the saturation.

The final edit? Minor cropping to get the balance of the photograph to a more pleasing place.

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