Playing with Shutter Speed and Waterfalls
On Tuesday I shared some pictures taken by Birder2011 of a Black-crowned Night-Heron with a waterfall in the background. Birder2011 was kind enough to share several of her pictures taken at different shutter speeds. She found that the slower shutter speeds made the cascading water behind the bird look creamy and smooth. Today I’ll share a few more similar pics; all the pictures were taken below the falls at Fullersburg Forest Preserve in Hinsdale, IL. The location affords the photographer with an opportunity to get pictures of the bird at water-level with the falls in the background.
Emil Baumbach submitted two pictures for us. The first one of a Great Blue Heron. Emil uses a tripod (whereas Birder2011 uses a monopod) and took the picture at 1/40th of a second.
Emil’s second shot was taken of the Black-crowned Night-Heron at 1/50th of a second and was a tighter shot of the bird showing less of the waterfall behind. A GreatBirdPic!
Of course I had to get into the act but tried a different approach to get a picture of the Black-crowned Night-Heron with the waterfall. I stepped onto a bridge and looked toward the dam with the Night-Heron in the foreground. I then set my shutter speed to 1/2000th of a second. So instead of capturing a creamy/cloudy view of the cascading water as above, using a slow shutter speed, the fast shutter speed captured every drop of water as it fell over the dam and bounced off the water at the bottom.
So what effect do you prefer – the creamy/cloudy look at slow shutter speeds or the sharp/detailed look at fast shutter speeds?
Go Birding. Take Pics. Share Here. Repeat.
Mike
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