Snowy waterfall and bridge

[dwaugh]

I went on a walk today at the park near my house where I go every now and then to see what I can see. Rarely do I get anything new, but this time I realized an angle that I could expand on with my 10-20mm lens, which I haven't used much in that park yet. With it, I was able to get both the waterfall and bridge in the shot, which I haven't seen before, which is interesting, because it's a popular location. Also, these were all taken in RAW, being perhaps my second time trying that out, plus they are all multiple exposure shots, with two shots each. I have a question about that: is multiple exposure with different shutter speeds to balance light the same as an HDR, or are they different, and if so, what's the difference? Snow always seems to give me problems because some part of it always seems to blow out in my difficult lighting situations. On the waterfall/bridge shot I had to edit it enough to balance out the light so that the bright parts didn't stand out as much. Anyway, let me know what you think, and if I can improve I may go out tomorrow morning when the light may be on the bridge and try again. Thanks!




My focus for the post was mostly on the first photo, but here's this one too:

[Ron Kruger]

Good shot. If I understand you correctly, you "double exposed" these shots, instead of "multiple exposures." Right? That would explain the effect upon the water, which is the same as with very slow shutter speeds. I'd like to be perfectly clear as to what you did, because I like it enough that I'd like to try it.

[Ron Kruger]

I consulted my manual, and what I learned years ago to call "double exposure" is in digital called "multiple exposure," which I always called "bracketing." Anyway, I think I understand what you did, but in my camera, to set it to multiple exposure, I must also set it to "Auto EV Adjust," so I don't think I can use different shutter speeds. It also says that if I press the RAW button, it exits the multiple exposure mode, so I guess with my camera I can't shoot multiple exposures in RAW, but I don't care any more about shooting RAW.
Difference in cameras, I suppose, but I think I understand the principles of what you did and can duplicate it.
If I'm not understanding this, please straighten me out.

[dwaugh]

I shoot with a Nikon D80. I always forget the word bracketing, because on the camera it's called multiple exposure (where it allows you to take up to three shots, and they are blended together in the camera to make one image). And yes, I was also shooting at slow shutter speeds. I believe that the bridge photo was taken at speeds 2.5 (just barely overexposed) and 13 (pretty far underexposed). The camera showed me that only a tiny part in the sky was blown out in the end, but the snow on the rock right in middle of the photo, although not blown out, still appeared very bright, so I had to edit to fix it.

[Abiciriderback]

Nice shot of Whatcom Falls I was just there on Monday before the new snow. One of my favorite places to shot. I usually shot wth a 20-40 or a 11-16 in the park

Ray Still

[susaan]

I prefer the second,with its touch of golden sunlight.

[Frog]

I think the first is a nice shot. I'd like to see if you can get an angle more than straight on but still include all the elements in the original. What I'd like to see is if you could shoot from a few feet to the right and still include all the bridge and falls. I know forest don't co-operat with where they stick branches though.
You are correct that what is called multiple exposure is what used to be called double exposure. Probably multiple because you can actually do 3 instead of just two.
Its an interesting idea to use this feature on the d80 to get an hdr effect that I'd never thought of doing.
Multiple exposure gets you one picture. Bracketing gets you 3 pictures at different settings.

[Ron Kruger]

Actually, in "multiple exposure" mode with my K20D, I can choose up to 9 exposures. I'm going to have to play around with a particular scene to see the difference between 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 exposures. Hmmmmm! Toward 9, it should look like it is embossed.

[dwaugh]

I tried some from about 10 feet to the right. I just edited one and even though I can hardly tell the difference in angle, I like the colors better:



I can't go farther to the right without branches in the way. In another season without the snow I'll try another side angle that might work, but right now accessing that point is a bit sketchy in the snow.
EDIT: Ahh, that's actually the exact same angle, but a better edit at least. With RAW images I need to individually open each one to view it, so it takes time and makes them harder to compare.... I think that angle looks best, though.

[Abiciriderback]

That is so true not much room to work there what people don't realize is you are shooting just about at the edge of the falls and the river s about 6" from your feet. What a difference the seasons make at the seasons make at the park. Also don't know f you use Photomatix but you can run a single raw exposure thru all the same adjustments as if you were making a HDR out of multiple exposures.

Ray Still

[dwaugh]

I just saw photomatix mentioned in another thread and looked at it. It looks nice, but I don't want to be spending much money right now. Is there any free program that does about the same thing? Right now I just have GIMP with the RAW plugin.

Nice shot. I can't wait to do my shot again in all seasons. I love the wide angle and inclusion of the waterfall.