Author Topic: How to make waterfalls or rocky streams dreamy (Read 2749 times)

Em5 Pete · « **on:** April 22, 2011, 11:34:31 AM »

I thought that being Spring and Summer later on, I would put together a quick tutorial on how to get that "Dreamy Water" effect. I'm guessing many of you will be hiking this season, and encountering Waterfalls and Streams that you will want get a memorable and not so common photograph.

What to Bring:

Camera
Zoom lens
ND .6 Filter
Tripod

Understanding shutter speeds/For Blur or Sharpness

*Go find a place where there is moving water. Like a waterfall, or fast moving stream.
*Set up your camera on a tripod aimed at the water.
*Put you camera in “M” mode (Manual)
*Set your f/stop at f11
*Focus on the water
*Set your shutter speed at 1/125 to start and take a photo
*Change the Speed to 1/60 and take a photo
*Change the Speed to 1/30 and take a photo
*Keep changing the Speed until you get to 20-sec
*Now you have a good sampling of what effect each shutter speed will give you.

I have a fake Waterfall with a few sample photos. (Don't Laugh

)

1/50 Sec

13 Sec

Even longer times will give "Water Cloud" effects...

Try it out on a Sunny Day, and start a image thread to show your results, if you like.

voyager · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2011, 11:35:53 AM »

Great tutorial. Any idea where one can get ND filters for the 14-42mm?

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2011, 11:48:07 AM »

Any Large Online Store like B&H Photo/Video, Adorama, have them..
They are not cheap, (well Tiffin has a $15.00 one in 40.5mm).
But the BW are good and under $45.00 shipped.

A .6ND is 2 stop filter. it allows slow shutter speeds with moderate f/stops.

I guess the E-Px can do 60s or 30s without any locking device for the shutter button.

voyager · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2011, 11:49:24 AM »

Also, does the visibility of the LCD decrease because of the filter? I know this happens with IR filters.

traveler_101 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2011, 11:51:45 AM »

Quote from: M5-User on April 22, 2011, 11:34:31 AM

I thought that being Spring and Summer later on, I would put together a quick tutorial on how to get that "Dreamy Water" effect. I'm guessing many of your will be hiking this season, and encountering Waterfalls and Streams that you will want get a memorable and not so common photograph.

What to Bring:
Camera
Zoom lens
ND .6 Filter
Tripod

Understanding shutter speeds/For Blur or Sharpness

*Go find a place where there is moving water. Like a waterfall, or fast moving stream.
*Set up your camera on a tripod aimed at the water.
*Put you camera in “M” mode (Manual)
*Set your f/stop at f11
*Focus on the water
*Set your shutter speed at 1/125 to start and take a photo
*Change the Speed to 1/60 and take a photo
*Change the Speed to 1/30 and take a photo
*Keep changing the Speed until you get to 20-sec
*Now you have a good sampling of what effect each shutter speed will give you.

Hey thanks a lot M5! I live in the land of the waterfall so this is useful. Let me just get a couple of clarifications. You set at f.11 a relatively small aperture in order to . . . . handle all the light that comes from slowing down the shutter speed (?), or . . . . Shooting in steps of decreasing shutter speed is meant to show the different effects at different speeds or to see what you can away with until over exposure takes over?

traveler_101 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2011, 11:56:13 AM »

Quote from: M5-User on April 22, 2011, 11:48:07 AM

Any Large Online Store like B&H Photo/Video, Adorama, have them..
They are not cheap, (well Tiffin has a $15.00 one in 40.5mm).
But the BW are good and under $45.00 shipped.

A .6ND is 2 stop filter. it allows slow shutter speeds with moderate f/stops.

I guess the E-Px can do 60s or 30s without any locking device for the shutter button.

Ok, I understand now--the filter allows for these incredible slow shutter speeds. One caution about filters on the 14-42: I read that the lens has trouble focusing because of the additional weight of the filter.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #6 on:** April 22, 2011, 03:23:41 PM »

Quote from: voyager on April 22, 2011, 11:49:24 AM

Also, does the visibility of the LCD decrease because of the filter? I know this happens with IR filters.

On my Panasonic, the LCD/EVF has an auto-gain option, so it brightens up. I am not sure if the E-Ps have this or not.
It could be a problem maybe at the long end of zooms with f/5.6 as the tele f/stop, because it will be as dark as f/11 with the ND .6... but at f/3.5 at the wide end, it should be alight, since it will be as dark as f/5.6 with the ND .6

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #7 on:** April 22, 2011, 03:27:58 PM »

Quote from: traveler_101 on April 22, 2011, 11:56:13 AM

Quote from: M5-User on April 22, 2011, 11:48:07 AM
Any Large Online Store like B&H Photo/Video, Adorama, have them..
They are not cheap, (well Tiffin has a $15.00 one in 40.5mm).
But the BW are good and under $45.00 shipped.

A .6ND is 2 stop filter. it allows slow shutter speeds with moderate f/stops.

I guess the E-Px can do 60s or 30s without any locking device for the shutter button.

Ok, I understand now--the filter allows for these incredible slow shutter speeds. One caution about filters on the 14-42: I read that the lens has trouble focusing because of the additional weight of the filter.

No Way, really? a filter can shut down the AF

What about the Wide-Angle adapter for the Oly 14-42 MkII that Oly makes for this lens, and give the 14mm, an 11mm fov (about a 90* FOV)??

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #8 on:** April 22, 2011, 03:34:07 PM »

Quote from: traveler_101 on April 22, 2011, 11:51:45 AM

Quote from: M5-User on April 22, 2011, 11:34:31 AM
I thought that being Spring and Summer later on, I would put together a quick tutorial on how to get that "Dreamy Water" effect. I'm guessing many of your will be hiking this season, and encountering Waterfalls and Streams that you will want get a memorable and not so common photograph.

What to Bring:
Camera
Zoom lens
ND .6 Filter
Tripod

Understanding shutter speeds/For Blur or Sharpness

*Go find a place where there is moving water. Like a waterfall, or fast moving stream.
*Set up your camera on a tripod aimed at the water.
*Put you camera in “M” mode (Manual)
*Set your f/stop at f11
*Focus on the water
*Set your shutter speed at 1/125 to start and take a photo
*Change the Speed to 1/60 and take a photo
*Change the Speed to 1/30 and take a photo
*Keep changing the Speed until you get to 20-sec
*Now you have a good sampling of what effect each shutter speed will give you.

Hey thanks a lot M5! I live in the land of the waterfall so this is useful. Let me just get a couple of clarifications. You set at f.11 a relatively small aperture in order to . . . . handle all the light that comes from slowing down the shutter speed (?), or . . . . Shooting in steps of decreasing shutter speed is meant to show the different effects at different speeds or to see what you can away with until over exposure takes over?

Use any f/stop you want, but to achieve shutter speeds close to 10s or 20s, you'll need to close it down.
The stepping of shutter speeds is so you will get a variety of effects to pick from. You can start at 1s, 5s, 10s, 25, 60s if you want to. I started at 1/125s just so you can see that you can freeze the water, all the way down to a blurry flowing dreamy look.

lisandra · « **Reply #9 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:16:51 PM »

You can also pick up a variable ND filter like I did and change the intensity from 0-7 stops!

count_zero · « **Reply #10 on:** April 22, 2011, 10:23:35 PM »

I've had good success using a circular polarizer as well to cut the glare off of the water in bright sun. And it helps bring out more color from the leaves, moss, rocks, etc... surrounding the waterfall if set correctly.

Also, buy the filter that fits your widest thread lens, then get adapters to step it down to fit skinnier lenses. It's easy to figure out the thread size on Olympus lenses because they are labeled. The phi symbol number is the filter thread size. On the 14-42 that would be 40.5mm. My filters are 62mm, which matches my 35-70mm f2.8 Nikon. Then I have 52mm adapter for my 50mm Nikon. I haven't bought adapters yet for my Olympus lenses.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #11 on:** April 23, 2011, 10:31:17 AM »

Very good advice on using a polarizer and saving some big bucks by using step-down rings with the same filters..
I have yet to get a polarizer :-[

vdub_er · « **Reply #12 on:** May 16, 2011, 04:34:10 AM »

Quote from: voyager on April 22, 2011, 11:35:53 AM

Great tutorial. Any idea where one can get ND filters for the 14-42mm?

Bought a polaroid variable ND Filter from Amazon the other week for 14-42mm came with a 40.5 to 37mm adaptor.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Polaroid-Optics-Variable-Neutral-Density/dp/B004N6WKB4/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&m=A39LSTY4A9J2UG&s=electronics&qid=1305548863&sr=1-16

Have only tried a few times so far only problem is putting it on and taking it off again due to the small lense which is used for focusing.

Will put examples in to the themes and projects thread.

How to make waterfalls or rocky streams dreamy