angel hair effect
I just bought a canon sx 30 is and want to shoot waterfalls using slow shutter speed which gives me the angel hair effect but the camera keeps telling me that its over exposed, i dont want to get a polierizer lens but just set my camera accordinly, and can help me would be great. Thank you.
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Slow shutter speeds
Hello naturephoto26
To get the angel hair effect in waterfalls you must use a slow shutter speed. How slow is up to you. In order to maintain a proper exposure you must adjust your aperture to bring your exposure back to centre. Deciding from there to use +- exposure compensation is your judgement call once you view your histogram on the back of your DSLR.
You can achieve this by:
1 shooting in manual and choosing the shutter speed/aperture combo that give you a proper exposure and your slow shutter speed
2 shoot in shutter priority mode: You select the shutter speed and the camera chooses the aperture for you
3 shoot in aperture priority mode: you select the aperture and the camera will select the shutter speed.
Any of these modes will work for you, but just watch the shutter speed is slow enough to give you the effect you need.
As for a polarizer? Just get one. The polarizer is a filter that screws on the front element of your lens and will vastly improve your images by saturating colours and removing glare, and they are not too expensive.
Hope this helps
Roy
Roy Ramsay Editor-in-Chief
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Slow shutter speeds
Hi Naturephoto26
And further to Roy's comments above about achieving a slow shutter speed...adding a polarizer to your lens is one of the best ways of helping you achieve a slow shutter speed. This is especially true if you are trying to shoot your waterfall subjects under bright sunny conditions. Adding a polarizer will reduce the amount of light entering your lens by two stops. So, for any given aperture you have selected you will need two stops more exposure time (i.e. the slower shutter speed you are hoping to get). And as an added bonus the polarizer, as Roy mentions, will reduce glare (especially on wet rocks and leaves).
You could also use a neutral density filter, instead of a polarizer, on your lens to reduce the amount of light (and thereby produce a slower shutter speed). But for my money I find a polarizer to be a more versatile tool.
Also, in order to lengthen your shutter speeds when shooting waterfalls remember to adjust your camera's ISO to the lowest possible setting (probably ISO 100) as this is the least light sensitive setting.
I love shooting waterfalls and streams. Can't you tell? Have fun.
Ian