Overflowing Waters: Shooting Super Slow Shutter Speeds Handheld Or How To Cheat The Same Result In Lightroom 3

Good Morning Everybody,

We are off and running today with my Sedona Experience class and I'm stoked!  We kicked things off last night by inviting all six attendees over to our condo for a relaxing evening of hors d'œuvres and refreshments.  Everyone got a chance to get to know each other and I think we are off to a good start and a great couple of days of inspiration and creativity.

Our friend, Vickie, a local resident has arranged for us to shoot at some of the most picturesque areas around the Sedona area a few of which are inaccessible to the general public.  One such location is Rachel's Knoll, an unbelievable location that offers a full 360 degree view of the Sedona surrounds!  That's actually our first stop today after lunch at the fabulous Seven Canyons Resort.

We got a lot planned today and I can't wait to get on sight for some of the amazing locations we've got selected for the class.  I'll give you another update tomorrow. Ad for today, why don't we get on with his week's episode of Technique Tuesday.  Here we go...

Overflowing Waters: Shooting Super Slow Shutter Speeds Handheld Or How To Cheat The Same Result In Lightroom 3

A few weeks ago I was shooting another series of videos for Kelby Training.  During that shoot we found ourselves at Kapok Gardens, a very popular wedding venue in Clearwater, Florida.  The gardens were of the Greco-Roman style with columns, fountains, and statuary just about everywhere you looked.

I really wanted to shoot around the flowing waters of one section of the gardens but the time of day, as so very often happens on a wedding day as well, was not optimum for the results I was looking for.  I wanted the water to take on that super slow motion look you see with super long exposures.  How was I going to pull it off in the early afternoon in Clearwater, Florida?

Here was the problem.  In the middle of the day even with the camera set to the smallest aperture, the shutter speed is still to fast to really capture the soft flow of the water.  The problem was further ameliorated by the fact that I was using flash to create a nice direction of light on the subject.  With the very small apertures I was going to be capturing my images, I would need mega-watts of power to illuminate my subject.

With the use of a neutral density filter I was able to cut the light even more and I was able to get my shutter speed down to 1/4 second at F36!  Bringing my strobe in just a few feet away from my subject at full power gave me the light I needed on Hope.  The problem was that it needed to removed in Photoshop in post-production. Not a big problem – I captured the photograph I wanted.

Next question; Could I have gotten the same result using Lightroom 3?  You’ll have to hit the PLAY button below and find out ;~)

___________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We've got the Sedona Experience students coming over to our condo for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and we will be kicking it into high gear first thing this morning.  After the instructional class time this morning, we head out for lunch at the exclusive Seven Canyons Golf Resort and then a full day of shooting.  The class is fired up, the models are ready, and I can't wait to get started!

I'll see everyone right here tomorrow morning, same time, same place, for a recap of the images and a few of the techniques explored in class today.

Hope to see you then,  David