Flying Water

[Mark_Seaver]

363mm, 0.3 s, f/22, iso 100,

500mm, 1/4 s, f/22, iso 100,

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Here are two takes where I was able to catch the flying water drops at the right angle to get them to show rainbow colors. I’ve tried this off and on for years. This time I sat down by the mountain stream, pointed my long lens at a small splashing region and bingo, there were colors in some of the drops! Obviously, there’s a lot more water flowing rapidly over the rocks, but the rare flying drops are decently separated and colorful. I’m posting two views of roughly the same spot.

Specific Feedback

Getting colors in the flying drops means finding a very specific angle between you, the splashes and the sun. To see them decently, you also need the background reasonably dark and out-of-focus. A slow shutter is needed to capture a reasonable amount of each drop’s trajectory.

Technical Details

R5, 100-500 @ 500, 1/4 s, iso 100, tripod

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[Dennis_Plank]

Pretty cool, Mark. I particularly like the one trajectory in the first with repeating rainbow bands.

[Bonnie_Lampley]

Nice! It’s interesting that you got color in some of the drops. The first frame feels more energetic and fountain-like to me.

[Shirley_Freeman]

Very nice, Mark. Both shots are really nice, but I think the first one the flying water shows up better.

[Mike_Friel]

These are really cool, Mark. I like the dotted-line effects in the first and the steep arcs in the second. I’m sure you’ll do further experiments and the results should be interesting. You’ve got me thinking: where’s my nearest stream?

[Bill_Fach]

Mark: Nice job thinking outside the box on these. I like both but prefer the first since there are more “fireworks” in the frame. That said, for me they are the real show and the relatively heavy stream flow on the right side of the image and some of the bright areas there pull my eye. A crop from the right and taming some of the remaining highlights makes this even better for me. Back to you. >=))>