Shutter Speed at the Falls

I worked with shutter speed at Falling Creek Falls during our visit (see last post). Neither Karl or I brought a tripod, so each shot was done either hand held or resting the camera on a fence or post to try for better stability. Karl hand held the shot on the last blog entry.

I set my camera on shutter speed control, not manual for this, and worked with various speeds. The first did not get what I wanted, and actually just makes the water look blurry to me. I shot, checked, decreased speed, and shot again for about 10 or 12 shots. The other two I posted below really produced some interesting effects, but I never got quite the shot I had in my head. The tanin in the water added a dimension that the same photograph on a clear creek or stream would miss, and I achieved that look but not the overall shot.

Because of the lighting and wind, I needed a tripod to achieve the shot I wanted. I plan to play around with the second and third shot in Photoshop with cropping to see what abstracts I can produce.

Some days, nature photography produces great shots, other days, all you get is some fun and a nice walk in the woods. But who is complaining about that…