The MasterClass Series #10
Shooting Flowing Water – At Dawn, Dusk, and Day
Equipment
Canon EOS 5D Mark III & Fujifilm X-T10
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM (President’s House Fountain)
Fujifilm XF18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS (Thiruvalluvar Statue)
Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II (Vagator, Goa)
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM (Pahalgam Waterfall, Pahalgam Betaab Valley)
EXIF #1
President’s House Fountain (New Delhi)
Focal length: 30mm
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter speed: 2 seconds
ISO: 100
EXIF #2
Thiruvalluvar Statue (Kanyakumari, India)
Focal length: 18mm
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter speed: 0.8 seconds
ISO: 200
EXIF #3
Vagator, Goa (India)
Focal length: 24mm
Aperture: f/13
Shutter speed: 1.6 seconds
ISO: 100
EXIF #4
Pahalgam Waterfall (Kashmir, India)
Focal length: 23mm
Aperture: f/16
Shutter speed: 2 seconds
ISO: 50
EXIF #5
Pahalgam Betaab Valley (Kashmir, India)
Focal length: 17mm
Aperture: f/16
Shutter speed: 1.3 seconds
ISO: 50
Editing
Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
After the magic of the grand ceilings, let’s now capture the charm of flowing water.
The story
As travellers, we find water bodies everywhere. While the static ones like hotel pools may add to the scene with their crystal blues, the flowing waters of rivers, seas, fountains, or waterfalls offer a photo opportunity that brings liveliness to the destination.
Shooting flowing water challenge
Any image of flowing water must bring out its dynamism and show movement for the viewer. While shooting it in low-light conditions poses a slow shutter speed challenge, during the day, it presents a converse challenge – how to slow the shutter speed!
The shots
Shot #1 is a night shot. For a foreground-to-infinity focus, I ensured the aperture was narrow enough and the foreground focus was on hyperfocal distance. Once the basics were out of the way, the next challenge was to steady the camera and find the right shutter speed to avoid any chance of burnout of illuminated parts of the frame. Few test shots with the camera mounted on a tripod and I settled for a 2 seconds shutter speed. The fountain water came through like silken strands.
For shot #2, a longer shutter speed would burn out the part where the dawn sun was hiding behind the clouds. But as the sea was rough, faster shutter speed (0.8 seconds) was enough to give a fluffy-cloud look to the turbulent waves.
The shot (Part-2)
In shot #3, sunset posed a strange challenge. The sky was too bright to slow the shutter speed while the sea was much darker, needing a slow shutter speed. Using a variable ND (Neutral Density) filter (2-400) on the lens, I slowed the shutter speed enough (1.6 seconds) to get the dark-area details and avoiding burnout in the bright-area. While many photographers may propagate the use of Half ND filter, I don’t use it as the horizon line is never straight, but is jagged. Also, it is preferable the horizon line is closer to the one-third level rather than at the exact middle of the frame.
I clicked shots #4 & #5 with a variable ND filter (2-400). This filter helps me stop-down a remarkable 8.66 stops. It was bright sunlight. With ISO at 50, I still slowed the shutter speed to 2 seconds in shot #4 and 1.3 seconds in shot #5. The results were dreamy.
Click HERE to see another usual capture of flowing water.
Look flowing water was always looks beautiful and attractive and shooting for same is more amazing for the travelers. Thanks for nice and wonderful post.
You are welcome, Vacationinn! Glad you’ve liked the post!