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Question re D3s exposure with waterfall

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NedGrace

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Question: I was shooting a waterfall with my new D3s, trying to smooth the water with a slow 1/3 shutter speed on tripod, and lowest ISO, but was still getting overexposure in the rest of the shot. I went up to 1/6 but still was overexposed.





Any thoughts on how to better handle this situation would be appreciated?
--
Ned Grace

http://www.nedgrace.com
 
Ned,

I'm just guessing but if the light was too bright to allow you to use a shutter speed that slow even with the aperture of the lens closed right down then you need a neutral density filter. The last time I photographed a waterfall I used a 6 stop nd filter - it's just a dark piece of glass that you screw on over the front of the lens to reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor.

Ian
http://ianbramham.com/
http://ianbramham.aminus3.com/ (Photoblog)



Exposure 0.3 seconds
Aperture f/8.0
ISO Speed 200
 
I was shooting the fall back in 2008 with my D300 and 24-70 lens. As other people already said, you need a neutral density filter to reduce the light, or stack 2 polarizer filters in front of the lens.
--
Austin

Photography is one of the ways to get myself relaxed from occupation stress.
 
If you want to shoot during the day, you can use a neutral density filter (these were taken with a 10-stop):









or...you can get up at the crack of dawn:





Morning or evening light can give you different types of colors. Note: the filter won't make the bird stand still for 4 seconds!
 
A neutral density filter is often necessary for waterfalls to get a longer exposure to blur the water motion. But, a neutral density filter does not alter the exposure if the camera is not on a manual setting. It will just give you a longer shutter speed. Sometimes with waterfalls you need to adjust the exposure, either by using a manual setting, or by using exposure compensation. Often, the most susceptible point for overexposure on waterfalls is right at the top, as the water begins to flow from horizontal to vertical.
 
Another way to simulate getting a longer exposure is to use the multiple exposure feature of the D3S. By setting the auto gain on and using a 10 shot multiple exposure, you can simulate a shutter speed 10 times longer than one used for a single frame. If the proper exposure for the scene had been 1/25 sec, a 10 shot multiple exposure of the scene would get you an effective 1/2.5 second image.

I use this in any situation where I forgot to bring my ND filter and I'd still like to slow the water.

--
Tony

http://www.pbase.com/a5m/ http://AnthonyMedici.naturescapes.net/
 
blow out the sky behind the river/trees at the top of your exposure, it is much brighter than the rest of your shot.

To combat this: (1) shoot into the river and hide the sky. If you look at some of the suggestions on this thread, they have omitted the bright sky. This makes it easier.

2), if you want to keep the sky for your composition, you would need a flat GRAD-ND filter. This is like an ND filter, except only part of it is dark, gradually going from dark to clear. A grad ND4, would allow you to lower the exposure of your sky by 4 stops, and would balance your shot.

I usually use a circ-pol, it lowers the scene by a stop or so, AND you get the added bonus of removing glare from water. Then an ND2 if I need an even slower shutter.

Finally, if necessary, a grad ND-4 to move the sky to the same exposure as the water.

Hopes that helps. The streams I shoot are small western-US bodies of water, I don't need anything more than 1s to get a silky smooth result, so I currently don't have a use for an ND10.

Happy shooting!
 
xjassa said:
blow out the sky behind the river/trees at the top of your exposure, it is much brighter than the rest of your shot.

To combat this: (1) shoot into the river and hide the sky. If you look at some of the suggestions on this thread, they have omitted the bright sky. This makes it easier.

2), if you want to keep the sky for your composition, you would need a flat GRAD-ND filter. This is like an ND filter, except only part of it is dark, gradually going from dark to clear. A grad ND4, would allow you to lower the exposure of your sky by 4 stops, and would balance your shot.

I usually use a circ-pol, it lowers the scene by a stop or so, AND you get the added bonus of removing glare from water. Then an ND2 if I need an even slower shutter.

Finally, if necessary, a grad ND-4 to move the sky to the same exposure as the water.

Hopes that helps. The streams I shoot are small western-US bodies of water, I don't need anything more than 1s to get a silky smooth result, so I currently don't have a use for an ND10.

Happy shooting!
Click to expand...
Exactly. I'm surprised it took 15 responses for this to be pointed out.

The other option to deal with the big difference in light levels of the sky and forground is to shoot 2 frames, one exposed for the sky and the other a longer exposure to blur the stream, and then combine into one image afterwards.
--
Michael Sherman
http://www.msphoto.ca
 
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