Holland Vacation Sept. 2019

Ben Herrmann wrote:

To begin with - on the 1st image in which you slowed your shutter speed down to capture the blurr effect of the blades - I just don't know what to think here. You don't often see (if any) photos with these originally slow moving blades seemingly captured this way. To me it looks a bit unrealistic as when you do things like this, IMO, it is meant to show speed, or imply such. And to me (again, everything is subjective), the blurr effect with traditional Dutch windmills don't necessarily go hand in hand.

The 2nd image is nice in that you used the rules of 3rds perfectly without favoring one side of the frame over the other and to me it captures nicely the effect you had in mind. I would have done it this way also.

Just my 2 cents worth - others may disagree.

Thank you Ben :-), really great comments. Both shots were taken at 'Kinderdijk-ElshoutcI'. You're 100% correct, no photos or paintings of blades moving! Makes sense because they were built 100+ years ago.

All the Windmills at Kinderdijk-ElshoutcI' were 'restored' and at the time of the 1st shot, it was VERY windy, and those blades were rotating super fast. TOO FAST, meaning 'restoration' process either did not take this into account or it was purposely restored to spin way faster for tourism. Regardless, I never took this into account and I should have because of all my trips to Mom's birth country, all the windmills I've seen, but never these (ouch).

in summary, I totally agree: old Dutch Windmills don't spin fast, hence no painting and photos with blade motion (darn).

The picture's compositiion, specifically, the semetrical location of the blades, was also a goal, and very difficult to capture (zero crop). Spent ~40 minutes on this shot (fun!!!). The 2nd shot was simple, just had to wait for moving boats to be in correct place.