Fountain at RSPB Sandy

[Carol]

Practising slowing down water in readiness to attempt some waterfalls on holiday in Yorkshire. Should I have gone slower? This was ISO 50, f13 and 1/10sec.

Fountain at RSPB Sandy by Carol Leather, on Flickr

[tesarver]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Depends on what you are looking to do. Most of my waterfall I take at 6 to 12 seconds

Tom

[Carol]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Thanks Tom. I was trying to get the soft, silky, milky effect. I see my shutter speed was well off in this case! How would I make it slower if the sun is out?

[Birdy]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Hi Carol. You will need a filter to reduce the light. Neutral density filters would work which come in various grades depending on how much light they cut out. Not suggesting you need to spend out on Lee filters but their website explains the use of filters well. http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera

[tesarver]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Hi Carol, I used a variable ND Filter for sunny days to slow the shutter speed. Also I increase the Aperture to a f/16 to f/20 while keeping the ISO at 50.

Tom

[Carol]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Thank you Tom and Andrew. Filters on order from Amazon.

[TonyT]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Main thing Carol is remember to set the ISO when using the filter or you may find it grainy as heck, other thing you might struggle to focus through it, so possibly do a manual focus then fit the filter. if your ND filters equate to the Lee ones, Lee do a free phone app for working out the settings for the camera, see

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leefilters.admin.leestopperapp&hl=en_GB

there are others available btw

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=nd%20filter%20app&c=apps&authuser

Enjoy the Holiday:)

[Carol]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Thank you Tony. Set the ISO to 50? Great tip about focussing first, thanks.

Quick question, do you still use the lens hood with a filter?

Regards,

Carol

[TonyT]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

You can, some like your 100-400 has a window allowing you to turn a polariser in the lens hood, if you have a strong light source i would recommend putting your hand externally over the top to shield it, lee recommend that. I do not have their hood as it is near £200 for it. I would also cover the viewfinder if you do not have a built in shutter to stop stray light coming in the other end. setting the ISO to a low figure is to stop the camera setting a figure like 125000 ISO to try to correct the image, you also might find your camera has a setting for reduced noise on long exposures, my 1DX has but I have never used it.

[Carol]

Re: Fountain at RSPB Sandy

Thank you for your tips. I wouldn't have thought of covering the viewfinder!