Wending Ways of Water

[Arlen]

I spent a few hours recently at a winsome spot on my home water, Oregon's McKenzie River. The light was ideal for the my intended mission, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I thought this image did a fair job of capturing the experience.

Commentary and observations always welcome.

[stamper]

This is very nice. No blown highlights and just the correct amount of blur. Well done.

[Paulo Bizarro]

Very nice. Two comments:

1. Would it have been possible to shoot without including the shrub in the foreground? To me it is a bit intruding and distracting.

2. I would boost the greens just a tad.

[Bob_B]

Nice. I like your choice of slow shutter blur on the water. It's nearly perfect IMHO.

[maddogmurph]

I would cube crop this, including the shore, just a little bit of the grass in the middle on the right, and making sure to include the grass shoots in the middle.

[Arlen]

Thanks for your comments guys, much appreciated.

While shooting I considered whether to include the shrub at bottom right, and on balance decided that it contributed to the scene. However I'm aware that it has a bit of a messy structure and is near the edge of the frame, so not everyone would agree with that conclusion; and I can see that point of view. I also agree with Paul's suggestion to boost the greens a bit. So I've made a couple of modifications in the two versions attached below. In the first, the only changes are boosting the greens a bit plus a small change to the shrub. The second version incorporates the green boost but also completely removes the shrub. Any thoughts about how these two, compared to the first image?

[LesPalenik]

I like the original version better, but if I haven't seen it, I would find also the second version pretty.

However, at the risk of going against the grain, I think that such a nice fall brook scene would look much appealing with bubbling and spraying water rather than the milky looking substance. There are new cameras out that can shoot at faster shutter speed.

[Arlen]

Thanks for your thoughts, Les. Concerning the look of the water, I understand what you're saying, and at times that's what I want to see, too. In this case though the effect is intentional, not a limitation of the camera. So if there is a fault, it lies with the photographer's vision, not with the equipment.


Olympus EM-1
Olympus 12-40 f/2.8 lens
Circular polarizer plus Hoya ND400 9-stop ND filter
f/8, 60"
Overcast lighting

[stamper]

I take it the EM-1 in common with the EM-5 has a 60 second bulb mode? I have the ND400 9-stop ND filter and used it on the E-M5 with an added 6 stop making 15 stops which I can auto focus through on a bright day.

[Arlen]

Stamper, the EM-1 goes up to 60" in A,S or M mode; longer than that and you have to use Bulb or what they call Live Time mode. Live Time mode was new to me, but it's pretty cool. With strong ND filters the image on the screen starts off essentially black, but as the exposure progresses it updates at (settable) intervals so that you see the image gradually forming; and more importantly, you see the histogram progressing to the right, too. So you can end the exposure either by evaluating the histogram, the image, or when you reach the time you want (a timer is also displayed). And like you, I also found that in bright light this camera auto focuses through very strong combinations of ND filters.