I had been practicing how to blur moving water in my photography attempts. My serious effort started in 2014. I continued to hone my skill of taking silky/blurry moving water by chasing waterfalls and through my trips.
When I visited my friend in Oregon in Fall 2014, I forced my friends to go to Silver Falls State Park, which boasts ten waterfalls. I got to see and photograph most of those waterfalls, where I continued to hone my skills. Apparently, waterfalls are a dime a dozen in Oregon (seriously, the state has A LOT of waterfalls).
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| Lower South Falls, Silver Falls State Park, Oregon. Taken August 30, 2014 |
Of course, I wanted to use the same concepts of photographing waterfalls on other types of moving water. So, when I was in Puerto Rico, I attempted to photograph the ocean and tried to blur the waves. (MN lacks in waterfalls and oceans, so why not.)
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| San Juan , Puerto Rico. Taken July 2015. |
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| San Juan, Puerto Rico. Taken July 2015, |
As you can see in the two pictures above, my attempts are okay. The ocean looks smooth and glassy, although in reality, the waves were coming fast and pounding hard against the rocks.
Similar to taking waterfalls, I recommend having a tripod and a neutral density filter. The best time to attempt are early in the morning or in the evening (even on a cloudy day) because you'll be shooting with a slower shutter speed and need to minimize as much light as possible because the longer shutter speed exposes the photograph for a longer time period. I also recommend focusing on an object that is not the water. (In the pictures above, I kept the camera focused on the rocks.) Lastly, try to envision the scene and have fun with it. (In the pictures above, I was photographing the ocean from other rocks, so I was limited in where I could stand and place my tripod.) Overall, it was a fun experiment and I'd love to do it again if I'm near a large body of water. This would also be used to photograph clouds and the sky.
If you'd like to read some more about photographing moving water (or look at pictures for inspiration), check out these websites;
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/how-to-photograph-water-to-get-that-soft-misty-effect
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/10-tips-on-adding-blur-to-water-for-beginners-13209
https://photofocus.com/2014/08/19/getting-started-with-long-exposure-photography-and-nd-filters/
What have you been photographing lately?
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing... these are very beautiful shots.
Thank you, Anonymous. I hope you're challenging yourself and learning new photography techniques.
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