Blippers at Work

Blackheath and the upper Blue Mountains got a visit from Miffy and MacsPics today. WalkingWombat, Jolang, Beckett, isbi and myself were on hand to greet them. The foggy day wasn't co-operating to provide much in the way of views, as it happened and so we visited the Leura Cascades. I think everyone had a pretty good day in spite of the conditions. I know I did.

Yesterday I blipped three alternative exposures of a different waterfall and invited discussion. I want to thank all of the people who entered so willingly into thoughtful, constructive comments. I sincerely hope that you found the exercise useful.

We were pretty much all agreed that there was no "right answer" in this matter. The best shutterspeed was heavily dependent upon the subject itself and the effect you were seeking to achieve - all interpretations being equally legitimate.

Out of interest I did do my best to interpret people's preferences - although a good many commenters didn't really express a strong preference. 1/1600 sec was preferred 13 times, 1.3 secs was liked 11 times while 8 secs was the choice on 8 occasions.

If one WAS to have wanted an LE shot, many people were surprised by the similarities in appearance between the 1.3 sec shutter speed exposure and the 8 second one. It is also true that had I shown the 25 sec version you would have found it very similar indeed to the 8 sec example. Very long exposures don't necessarily seem to contribute much extra on a waterfall subject like this. For me however the difference in close detail & form, once we come back down to 1.3 secs, is significant and I continue to find (for my particular taste) that shutterspeeds of between 1-2 secs are likely to be a good compromise in such circumstances.