Wednesday, September 23, 2015

more water works


In those vernal seasons of the year,
when the air is calm and pleasant,
it were an injury and sullenness against Nature
not to go out and see her riches,
and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.
~ John Milton

Autumn is in the air!!
Today is the first official day of autumn!
Yay!!

To continue the 'water' theme, I give you waterfalls. These beauties are located
about 1 hour from where we live. It is a short walk to the falls in the upper image, and the
falls in the lower image were easily accessed from the side of the road.

I was lucky that there wasn't a full load of water running over, as it would
have created a sheet of white, and it would be difficult to get the correct exposure, and
it would block the beautiful rocky amphitheater visible behind the falls in the upper image.
I like the green moss on the rocks in the lower image; when there is a lot of water running over the rocks you wouldn't even know the rocks were there, let alone the beautiful moss.

I favor long exposures of moving water. I didn't have my large tripod for the top image, so did
my best to use a small, tabletop tripod. 

Lesson #1: Carry that tripod in with you. Better to have it and not use it, than to wish you had it!

Lesson #2: Bring boots! I missed my boots! I would've loved to have waded a bit into the water, 
and to follow the creek a bit. But be prudent...rocks are slippery!

Lesson #3: Carry a circular polarizer and a neutral density filter. Even though the area was "dark", I still needed both filters to allow the combination of a long shutter speed, low ISO, and small aperture I wanted. The CP allows you to cut glare, reduce light, and generate richer colors. 

Lesson #4: If you don't have a remote/wired shutter release, you can always use the 10 second timer on your camera to avoid camera shake when you deploy the shutter release.

Finally, always remember to have fun!! Whether your shots turn out or not doesn't matter.
First and foremost, enjoy your surroundings!
I get a little obsessed with capturing the shot, so I'm working hard to learn to enjoy the
place I'm at as the primary outcome of the adventure. 
Baby steps!

Happy Autumn!! Now turn off your computer, grab your camera, and go enjoy the season!

Fuji XT1 ISO 200 f/22 6 seconds (top)
Fuji XT1 ISO 200 f/18 4 seconds (bottom)



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