Surreal, naturallyNo not the sky. Skywatch is the post below. It's an abstract image of a wave crash created naturally with a camera. We've had glass reflections and crashing waves caught in frozen time moments but now for a visual feast of abstract photography. Don't be scared. Come with me on a mini journey to see how it's done.
Now you can take a photo and just play around with your digital software until you get the desired effect. Now me I'm the world's laziest photographer( you get to be good by nailing a shot first time, by being lazy) and I just want to take the image and go. For the image today I wanted to create an arty image of water. The sea was very obliging and tempestuous. Good start. Next I wanted to capture the fluidity of the water, not freeze it. Think looking at a still image but seeing movement. So it's all about shutter speeds and low light. So not a noon shot. What you want are longer shutter speeds. Think the longer the shutter speed the smoother and more silky the waves swirls will be. I wanted to retain a little choppiness so I didn't use a tripod. To get those mist silken water images a tripod, very long shutter speeds, low light and a remote are paramount. To create a slight fuzziness like artist feathery brushstrokes hand held and longish shutter speed will do just fine. One trick I did use was to photograph the water bouncing off the dark promenade wall( not in the image,but left hand side) to intensify the sea-green we get here. So the result you should get is a still image that feels like it's moving, not frozen. Only alteration to the image re sized for the blog. For examples of other shutter speeds and water images see the red words below.
Fast crashing waves
Still surreal
Taken the same place as the skywatch image in Ramsey. Fortunately I live on an island so water a plenty for me but I appreciate not everyone has access to the Irish Sea on their doorstep. Try photographing a puddle, and overflow pipe, a stream, a gushing leak if you don't have the sea. Necessity if the mother of invention.
Have fun.
Now you can take a photo and just play around with your digital software until you get the desired effect. Now me I'm the world's laziest photographer( you get to be good by nailing a shot first time, by being lazy) and I just want to take the image and go. For the image today I wanted to create an arty image of water. The sea was very obliging and tempestuous. Good start. Next I wanted to capture the fluidity of the water, not freeze it. Think looking at a still image but seeing movement. So it's all about shutter speeds and low light. So not a noon shot. What you want are longer shutter speeds. Think the longer the shutter speed the smoother and more silky the waves swirls will be. I wanted to retain a little choppiness so I didn't use a tripod. To get those mist silken water images a tripod, very long shutter speeds, low light and a remote are paramount. To create a slight fuzziness like artist feathery brushstrokes hand held and longish shutter speed will do just fine. One trick I did use was to photograph the water bouncing off the dark promenade wall( not in the image,but left hand side) to intensify the sea-green we get here. So the result you should get is a still image that feels like it's moving, not frozen. Only alteration to the image re sized for the blog. For examples of other shutter speeds and water images see the red words below.
Fast crashing waves
Frozen crashing waves
Mirror image reflectionStill surreal
Taken the same place as the skywatch image in Ramsey. Fortunately I live on an island so water a plenty for me but I appreciate not everyone has access to the Irish Sea on their doorstep. Try photographing a puddle, and overflow pipe, a stream, a gushing leak if you don't have the sea. Necessity if the mother of invention.
Have fun.
33 comments:
Nature will always win the battle of surreal abstracts that no amount of computers can match. Nice one. I could see this printed on a big canvas in office, hotel or coffee shop.
Thanks for the tips.I'll give it a go.
Incredible effect!
Since we have no coastline, I'll have to improvise. Thanks B.
V
Very effective. Your tips are quite helpful.
Stunning lesson Babooshka, this is something I'd sure like to try out... have a great restful weekend.... or maybe you'd prefer a wild one spent on the razz... :O) what ever your choice enjoy and keep safe my friend..
Tom
wow! thank you for the explanation..
Great tutorial! Lots to learn here!
The shot looks magical.
I love the technique insight. Shows there's more to shooting than just picking up a camera.
i want to dive in
i like the effect of long shutter speed ad moving water. This one is perfect! I have been messing around with longer exposures and zooming in with the lens for interesting movement shots.
Wish I had the Irish Sea at my doorstep! Thank for the lesson.
Enjoy the weekend.
Bellissimo!
A masterclass. Interesting to all (I should imagine) and useful to many.
i've always wanted to photograph splashing waves - they always come out spectacular
Great lesson. I used to do this when I used my 35mm SLR.. now I have a little point & shoot digital. Will try to figure out how to adjust speed to slow it down. Sometimes it happens when I don't want it to so there must be a way.
This is truly fantastic, I love it! Well done.
i never knew you could do stuff like that, its really interesting
Enjoyed the lesson and photo. I'm going to try it with the tap!
Bravo it is a art of work you make.
Bravo it is a art of work you make.
Superb! I'll never be able to do that with my current camera...
It is a wall hanger like an oil painting.
This color is simply astonishing. I'm taking notes on how you got it, believe me. When I get that deep blue-green like this it's usually an accident. No, I take that back... it's an accident.
"necessity is the mother of invention" -100% agree! I bet there are more, eh?
Thanks for all the useful information :) Will be trying this in the near future...
Thanks for your comment on my skywatch photographs. I really do want have a play at misty surreal water so thanks for the advice.
Oh and great Skywatch image, blue skies, it is nearly spring :-)
Lovely colors; I like experimenting with these shutter speeds and apertures and...and...and...!
Oooh. Very mood evoking picture.
Great captured and exposed!
Thank you for sharing your litlle secrets!
Most of the wellknown pro´s would just skip this!!
This is why I enjoy loosing myself in this blog!
Great effect! I tried a water shot yesterday... not great, but I'll be practicing. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the great lesson - you always give such wonderful tips and explain them so well. That photo really does look like a painting!
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