Photo Tutorial: Catching The Movement Of Water

The sun was casting rainbows today!

The sun was reflecting so much light off of all the snow today.  It was so bright and beautiful!

After church Bruce and I went up to my parents house to help them eat through some of their leftovers.

I made an open-faced barbecue chicken sandwich on a croissant (from Costco - leftover from yesterday's workshop on being an extravagant welcome).  I cut the chicken into thin slices, put them on the croissant and then shredded sharp cheddar cheese on the top.

Then I popped it into the toaster oven on 350 degrees until the cheese was melted!

It was delicious.  Open-faced hot sandwiches always remind me of cute cafes!  I heated up some rice on the side.

After lunch I took a little walk through Kent Falls, a state park near my parent's house.  The falls are so gorgeous right now!  The big blocks of ice are nowhere near melting yet (I walked out onto some of them!) but it isn't so cold that there isn't any movement at all.

In order to capture the movement of the water, I used a tripod to steady my hand and a slow shutter speed.  I thought I would use these photos as an opportunity for a quick photo tutorial!  My camera settings are below ...

Setting: Manual

ISO: 100

F/Stop: 29.0

Shutter Speed: 1/6

Setting: Manual

ISO: 100

F/Stop: 32

Shutter Speed: 1/8

 Setting: Manual

ISO: 100

F/Stop: 32.0

Shutter Speed: 1/5

 

Setting: Manual

ISO: 100

F/Stop: 29.0

Shutter Speed: 1/10

Setting: Manual

ISO: 100

F/Stop: 29.0

Shutter Speed: 1/10

When I am getting ready to shoot something I always try to think about what I want the photo to look like - and then go from there.  So when I arrived at the falls and decided that I wanted to capture the movement of the water, I knew that my starting point would be a slow shutter speed.  I adjusted my settings from there.

My biggest issue today was that the sun was shining and I had TONS of light.  Ironic, right?  A photographer complaining about light?  But with a slow shutter speed, lots of light gets let in already.  So I lowered my ISO as low as it would go and cranked up my F/Stop as high as it would go.  With those two settings letting in the least light as possible I could get away with a slower shutter speed.

It sounds complicated, but I promise it's not!  Photography is all about (1) light and (2) knowing what you want your final outcome to be and thinking backwards.

Alright, I'm going to quit and hit publish before I confuse y'all even further.  Good luck!