PAW 34 Black and White Waterfall Pic

First PAW for me guys so lets here any comments you have. Be nice but dont worry Im pretty thick skinned and can take a ribbing if need be.

Broke out the A200 after it sat for a year and went up the mountain with my daughter who is really getting into photography. We decided to hike up to the local falls and just as we arrived it was sprinkling pretty heavy and eventually turned to rain. Had to do some quick shooting first off to protect the camera and second we still had to walk back to the car...although my camera survived we got soaked lol.

This is my first attempt at a waterfall, I tried to capture the water flow to my own taste and thought the black/white added to the picture.

Dont know how many parents we have out there but it was great that my kid just recently decided to take up photography. It was a fun day. I know the rules are 1 a week but I might just slide two pics in here.



Dan.
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i am not fond of the orientation.
vertical would have been better i believe.

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Like bringing a knife to a gunfight...

Welcome to Paw Dan! It's good to see you dusted off the ol' A200 and took it out for a spin ;-)..

I think you've done a wonderful job with the B/W treatment. The exposure seems spot on with just the right amount of "flow" in the water. Normally having the main subject in the very center doesn't work too well, but in this case the diagonal rock formations on either side help lead the eye towards the falls, so it works well. Mediocrity has a good point about the orientation, but I certainly don't think it ruins the shot. I'd say it's a great shot under the circumstances..

Thanks for the short story to go with the pic. Thats half the fun of the PAW concept. I'm happy to read that your camera and daughter survived the rainfall '

As for posting more than 1 shot, there actually are no 'rules' at all about that. Only as a courtesy to dial-up users like myself(lord knows I've ranted enough!;-) please limit your OP(opening post) to no more than two shots or maybe even three if they are small enough. Gideon has started a good trend by posting a follow up to his OP that contains more shots.

Keep up the good work Dan and feel free to post your shots here regardless of what camera you used!

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Cheers! Robert..

mediocrity=death said:

i am not fond of the orientation.
vertical would have been better i believe.

--
Like bringing a knife to a gunfight...

Click to expand...

Hey thanks. Yeah with the rain I only got 3 shots off. I was actually in the stream when I shot the pic and between the rain and the mist coming off the falls it was tough to clean water off the lens and then shoot much less compose....however thats my weak point just from lack of experience.

Dan.
--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

Hi Dan and welcome to PAW. These people will help you all they can, they certainly have helped me onto the right tracks. However, looking at the first shot it is obvious that you know quite a bit about picture taking. I totally agree with everything Robert has said in the previous post.

You guys have one over me in that I have never used either an A2 or an A200, nearly always the results from these machines are stunning and I reckon I will have to get hold of one.
Richard.

Dan-

Nice Shot! I like the exposure you got of the waterfall. And the b&w treatment looks good. I'd tend to agree mediocrity on the changing the positioning of the camera.

I think it's great you & your daughter were out in the elements taking this shot. Afterall, it's easy to shoot in the sunshine. And what a nice thing to have your daughter interested in one of your hobbies. May you both have many happy shooting-outings together!

John B.
A1

Welcome to PAW, with a very good first contribution. Your B&W conversion is superb. The blur in the water is just right. The exposure is spot on. The detail in the rocks and soil is excellent. But I don't like the composition. Having the waterfall in the centre makes it too static for me. A vertical picture (as already suggested) could work. Or maybe having the waterfall to one side. To be fair I don't know how I would have done it but this is the weakest aspect of a very well taken picture.
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Greg

When you've got a moment, have a look at my newly updated site:
http://www.wrightphotos.co.uk
also http://www.wrightphotos.co.uk/FromeInFocus

Winner of the South West Rural section of the BBC's Picture of Britain Competition.

Heres the second shot I was thinking about posting. Its a little more off to the side but really not thinking out of the box yet.

Will reply to everyone once I leave work : )

Dan.
--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

ooops. Like I said Im at work and spaced off the link......



--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

On the BW pic I actually kind of like the waterfall being in the middle of the pic and having all those rocks to both sides giving the impression of ruggedness all around. If it had been taken vertical it simnply would have been another waterfall, admittedly very well taken, right exposure time asf., but less interesting.

The same goes for the second, colored shot, but to a lesser extent. There I might have cropped off a bit more on the right side, but again I like having it horizontal, showing the surrounds.

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please review my fotos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8003463@N03/

The colour picture is nice and all, but I prefer the B/W one. Spot-on exposure, very sharp, and for me the main attraction is the downpouring water - beautiful and hypnotizing, much better than in the colour one.

What was your aperture/shutter speed? It's perfect IMO. was it controlled or was this an automatic exposure?

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Gideon



PAW - Week 34

Gideon01 said:

The colour picture is nice and all, but I prefer the B/W one.
Spot-on exposure, very sharp, and for me the main attraction is the
downpouring water - beautiful and hypnotizing, much better than in
the colour one.
What was your aperture/shutter speed? It's perfect IMO. was it
controlled or was this an automatic exposure?

--
Gideon

Click to expand...

Gideon,

Thanks for the comments. To see the waterfall in person its really not that large and its pretty desolate out there. Our entire mountain burned last year so this spring/summer we have a lot of new growth but its still sparce(sp?). The tree at the top of the waterfall in the color pic is actually a stump and I cropped it down to make it appear as a tree with the roots hanging over the falls and then I enhanced the colors in the rocks to bring more life to the pic. So from a "dan shot" standpoint I liked that one as well.

I generally always shoot in manual. Thanks again to this forum and probably the Pentax forum I have way more control in more situations than in the past. On this afternoon I took about 25 pics all shoot in RAW.

Ok. The settings were. F/8 , 1/4 exp, ISO 50 and metering was on pattern.

--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

I certainly like the colour shot too. It gives a very different impression of the place.
--
Greg

When you've got a moment, have a look at my newly updated site:
http://www.wrightphotos.co.uk
also http://www.wrightphotos.co.uk/FromeInFocus

Winner of the South West Rural section of the BBC's Picture of Britain Competition.

Hello Dan!

My favourite is the colour photo. I love the way you have managed to get the water looking like that. I don't know how you did it but it looks quite magical. And I like the angle it is taken from too.
Lynne
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Purely here to learn a bit more!

Richard the picture man said:

You guys have one over me in that I have never used either an A2 or
an A200, nearly always the results from these machines are stunning
and I reckon I will have to get hold of one.
Richard.

Click to expand...

Richard,

Some people will say that its not the camera but the way a photo is captured. I think thats only a half truth, if you have a camera thats more capable than your current camera its easier to shoot a better pic then you could with your old camera. THen when you take your old camera back out you will be able to take a better quality pic.

Ive had this camera for about 2 years and its sat on a shelf for about the last year-year and a half and last night I just figured out how to use the exp lock lol. Now I have to try it out!

Dan.
--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

John_B said:

Dan-

Nice Shot! I like the exposure you got of the waterfall. And the
b&w treatment looks good. I'd tend to agree mediocrity on the
changing the positioning of the camera.

I think it's great you & your daughter were out in the elements
taking this shot. Afterall, it's easy to shoot in the sunshine.
And what a nice thing to have your daughter interested in one of
your hobbies. May you both have many happy shooting-outings
together!

Click to expand...

John,
Thanks man and yeah my still is really stiff...need to lloosen up : )

I try to keep a close relationship with my daughter (time flys to quickly) we enjoy playing music together I also have a rock band and when the rhythm guitarist or bass player doesnt show up she fills in on practice or on stage. We also do some scca/track driving together and next year she will be driiving on track solo. We also do Tae kwon do when I have the chance.

People used to tell me just wait till she is a teenager and she wont want to spend anytime with you, thats so not the case actually I think we spend more time together now. I thnk after the waterfall trip weve decided that some hiking mixed with photography would be fun.

Hope that wasnt to much info lol.

Dan.

--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

Staxis said:

Welcome to PAW, with a very good first contribution. Your B&W
conversion is superb. The blur in the water is just right. The
exposure is spot on. The detail in the rocks and soil is
excellent. But I don't like the composition. Having the waterfall
in the centre makes it too static for me. A vertical picture (as
already suggested) could work. Or maybe having the waterfall to
one side. To be fair I don't know how I would have done it but
this is the weakest aspect of a very well taken picture.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment Greg. I used the Minolta program I received with the camera on that picture. Started with a RAW shot and then changed it to black and white. I have another program that I use for most everything but the Dimage viewer worked best here.

Dan.

--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

kuuan said:

On the BW pic I actually kind of like the waterfall being in the
middle of the pic and having all those rocks to both sides giving
the impression of ruggedness all around. If it had been taken
vertical it simnply would have been another waterfall, admittedly
very well taken, right exposure time asf., but less interesting.
The same goes for the second, colored shot, but to a lesser extent.
There I might have cropped off a bit more on the right side, but
again I like having it horizontal, showing the surrounds.

Click to expand...

Thanks kuuan. THe waterfall is situated that I dont think I can get to far to one side but thats the whole point of learning. I will continue to shoot there and look for better angles and keep track of the time of day I shoot etc. I also liked the way it looks from the front but this PAW concept is great to help make us better photographers.

Dan.

--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

sheepish738 said:

Hello Dan!
My favourite is the colour photo. I love the way you have managed
to get the water looking like that. I don't know how you did it but
it looks quite magical. And I like the angle it is taken from too.
Lynne

Click to expand...

Lynne,

Thanks for the kudos. These shots were the first time Ive attempted to shoot a waterfall and I was determined to get that freeflowing look. In the past I have used long exposures to capture night scenes and water droplets etc and I just used that same thinking here.

If you ever have the oppurtunity to shoot a fall set your camera to the lowest f setting possibly F8 and go with a longer shutter speed up to 1/4 second. THe lower F number will give you correct DOF and will allow you to use the slower shutter speed in bright sunlight.

If you already knew this I apologize.
Dan.

--

Do something nice for someone today. Its the only way the world will be a better place : )

My Pics...check them out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8ko/

I love waterfall shots like this and I'd say you nailed the shutter speed absolutely spot on for a very nice effect. I also like both the B&W and colour treatments.

The issue is then selecting out the right portion and composition from what it in front of you. I tend to agree that the first might be better in portrait orientation and maybe showing a little more at the top to show the water's origin. While the second is a bit of a side on view, but I'm guessing it wasn't straightforward to get alternative angles.

Certainly they both have a lovely 'feel' and make me want to go out immediately and find a waterfall to photograph...none too near by unfortunately )-:

Cheers,

Paul