Waterfalls and cameras

[johnridley]

Finally got around to ordering a set of neutral density filters, in time for the UP trip. I just can't get the cotton candy waterfalls without em! OK, cotton candy waterfall photos are cliche as hell but I still like it.

I love ebay and DealExtreme for random photo stuff like this; ND2,4, and 8 filters for $30 shipped. The trick is to find (A) GLASS filters instead of plastic, and (B) a US shipper, given that the trip is in just a few weeks and sometimes HK shippers take a month.

What I REALLY am going to want for waterfall photos will have to wait a year or three; a 10-22mm zoom lens. I used Mike's at the wedding and it's very nice for indoor shots of people, and I bet would be great for waterfalls too; I can NEVER go as wide as I want at a waterfall, and going pano doesn't work that well either, though it's OK. Sigma, Tamron and Canon all make decent lenses in this range.

Comments

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Huh? Stop down and if needed drop your ISO to 50. No way you need ND.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Last time I was shooting waterfalls I was stopped to f/22 and ISO 50, still couldn't get my shutter slower than about 2 seconds, and for that I had to overexpose, shoot in RAW and pull the exposure back from burn in post. I want more like 15 seconds. A second or two softens the falls a little but it doesn't make it cotton candy.

I could shoot on overcast days or in the evening, but with the family along I have to shoot when I'm there, and if I take more than about 30 seconds on a shot I start to get in trouble. I think one of these days I'm going to take a solo trip through the UP just visiting waterfalls, taking an hour to shoot a single fall.

Hopefully with the new tripod I will be able to shoot a little faster; the old hunk of junk took a couple of minutes to set up and tear down due to its wonky twist locks.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

OK, if you want that degree of fluffy you do need the ND.

And I agree you can't do real photography with others along. No matter what, you know they're bored and want to go on.

The big issue you're going to have is if DX gets the stuff here by the time you need it. It can easily take a month. I'll be in the same boat, I just made an order with them yesterday, although the only camping thing in the order was a tent light.

One other thought: I did try playing with digital pinhole. I had my best luck with a homemade hole, but bought a laser cut hole. It's pretty soft/blurry for me, but others get great results. Nothing like f/300 for long exposures.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I never got anything approaching sharp with a pinhole.

I didn't order the NDs from DX, but from a CA eBay dealer. They gave me a USPS tracking number about 10 minutes after I ordered. Doesn't mean they actually shipped, but I hope so.

I was surprised by how many of the ND filters on eBay were plastic. I didn't find any that said they were glass except Hoya and Tiffen full price models; I had to ask and some that didn't say were glass.