How to make a silky water - case of Costa Rica and Tel Aviv's coasts(2)

And now back to the digital age and to Tel Aviv.
One Friday rainy night I grabbed my camera bag and went to Tel Aviv's harbor. If you are going by yourself don't forget to take with you the following items:
1. IPOD - with your favorite music. It is going to be long exposure shots, and while the light has been registered on your sensor, listen to a good music.
2. Your gear –
a. Camera – cleaned sensor and charged battery. Sound rhetoric? Believe me how many times I saw people that find out in the field that their camera is not charged.
b. Lenses - I prefer to use ultra-wide lens but in some cases I used my ultra-tele lens.
c. Cover for the rain – when you, like me, prefer to go out in stormy and rainy day (the clouds and the sky create more dramatic sky), take care for camera cover. Don’t save on this item. You will be sorry when you will download the photo into your computer and see stains of rain's drop from the lens that was register on the image.
d. Cable release – since it is a very long exposure every camera shake counts. Please note that you use Bulb, and you have to have release cable that fit this status.
e. Flashlight – it is dark out there. It will help you set your camera right and in some case focusing your camera.

In that picture, I manages to capture the woman that was standing on the boardwalk. It was only for 30 seconds, but still the waves was captured good.

What do you have to put attention to?
Metering - if you shoot in bulb you can't measure from the camera. You have to search for the 18% grey and then measure with 30 seconds and see what aperture you will get. With these two numbers, you can manipulate the shutter and the aperture to 2 minutes and above, based on the silk mode of the water that you want to achieve. The formula is – longer exposure=silkier water, longer exposures=brighter sky.

Solid ground – since it is very long exposure the risk for camera shake is higher. One night I went to biet yanai beach near Netanya Israel, and put the tripod on the sand. When I got home I found out that most of the pictures were blurred. The fact is that the beach's sand is moving, especially when you are close to the water line. The solution I found is to bring with me big brick that I found in one of the building sites and put the tripod on it. This picture was one of the few that is sharp.

CU

How to make a silky water - case of Costa Rica and Tel Aviv's coasts

I was asked several times about the picture of the blog. Where was it taken? How? etc.
So, taking photos of beaches looks as a simple task but there are few factors that can impact your final image. The pictures that I will show here (and more of it can be watched at Greatphotoshop.com and in my Gallery) were taken part of it by film and the others digitally.
The first picture of the silky water was taken with my old Minolta 7, and Fujifilm Velvia 50 ASA (the best film I used ever).Data for this slide was:
• F/22 in order to have depth of field and,
• 2min shutter speed in order to make the waves to a silky dream. There are several concepts of how to capture water. Usually the common practice for making silky water in waterfall or a river is 1Min. In order to transform the sea waves into silky water it must have to be longer than 2 second.
The place is at Manuel Antonio's beach - Costa Rica. It was a rainy evening but I couldn't resist going and shooting. It was very lucky, that the fisherman on the rocks almost didn't move (photo No. 5). I scanned this slide at Shevah and played a little with Photoshop.
Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio at night

Another one from this night

Next post I will talk more about the "how to do it" based on photography session at Tel Aviv's harbor.

CU