River Braan

A couple of shots from a wander along the River Braan this afternoon.

Really like that second shot Phil and the splash of colour from the autumn Leaves is wonderful.

Wow! Amazing shots! How did you do them?! Is it SOOC?

Great shots phil.. Is this up at the hermitage ??

Love the second one Phil

Thanks Ken - that was my favourite too although I've still a fe more to check out.

Cheers

The second one is very simple. Camera on tripod. Put the camera is TV mode (where you choose the shutter speed) and select something like half a second. The camera will then choose the aperture size that is required to expose the photograph correctly during that half a second. As long as the aperture if gives you gives you enough depth of focus - shoot the shot.

The first is a bit more of a faff as I used a 10 stop Neutral Density filter. It wasn't really needed but I was just mucking about. A ten stop ND filter reduces the amount of light that enters the camera by 10 stops meaning you need to have the shutter open for much much longer to get the same exposure. What you get though is much more movement.

All you do though is set the shot up in manual mode, see what shutter speed is needed for the correct exposure and then set your focus. Because you can't see through a 10 stop filter this all has to be done before putting the filter on the lens. Switch off the auto focus, put the filter on and then work out the new shutter speed needed for the 10 stop increase.

Each 'stop' halves the light that enters the camera so it's not just a case of 10 times longer. This photo was 1/8th of a second so it bacame about a 2 min shutter speed.

1/8-1/4-1/2-1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128 seconds.

I wouldn't normally use a 10 stop filter for a scene like this as the water is moving quickly enough to capture movement with a modest shutter speed plus trees tend to move about and get blurred.

10 stop filters tend to be used for seascapes. You've probably seen shots where the water looks like mist ?

As for straight out of camera - I've tweaked the levels a bit and sharpened them.

Cheers - Yes that's right. The first is off the bridge with the falls behind me and the second is about half way between the falls and the car park.

These are great Phil - love the dreamy feel to them

Like the first because of the fast water and the gentle whirling action and the second for the lovely colour of the leaves.