Fountains?

[leonard_evens]

Any advice on photographing a scene including one or more fountains

using a 4 x 5 camera? The fountains would be elements of the scene

but not necessarily the principal subject of interest.

 

It seems to me to be hopeless to stop motion. But I don't know if I

should give up entirely or if I should still try to use as fast a

shutter speed as I can get away with, perhaps with some loss of depth

of field.

[donald_miller1]

Leonard, If it were me, I think that I would tend to preflash the film with a peliminary exposure (expose each sheet through a diffusion panel at a Zone III value). The use of a diffusion panel creates non-image forming light. I would then use these same sheets of film (second exposure) for your photographs including the fountains. The first exposure (pre-flash) would support your low values and allow a faster shutter speed for your second exposure.

 

The impact of this addition of light can be realized when one thinks in terms of proportion of value added. By assigning a value of one to a zone one exposure, a value of two to a zone two exposure, a value of four to a zone three exposure. With each additional zone of exposure we double the value so that when we reach a zone VIII exposure the numerical value will be 128. The perflash exposure has marked impact on the low values and virtually no impact on the upper zones.

 

Hope that this helps. Good luck.

[bruce watson]

People have long held beliefs about how to photograph water. Some like the "silky" look of longer exposures. Some like to use short exposures to see every drop. Really, the only way to know what looks good to *you* is to do some tests.

 

With a fountain, of course, even a pretty low shutter speed will stop the water at the top. It's barely moving anyway. The water at the nozzle and at the splash point will be moving considerably faster, and this of course is (mostly) a function of how far up the water gets "thrown" by the fountain.

 

The only way to know is to try different shutter speeds and see what works for you. This seems to be one of those times when testing is the only way.

[ralph_barker]

Depending on the composition and lighting situation, another option that might be worth considering is to use one or more strobes (triggered by radio slave, perhaps?) to light the fountain. Depending on the ratio of flash to ambient light in the fountain exposure, you may get a mix of silky and sharp, and you may even be able to control that mix.

 

Personally, I like the time-exposure look on night shots, but crisp for daylight images. That seems more logical to me, but it's really a matter of personal taste.

[philip_sweeney]

a number of short exposures is one way. e.g. if your meter indicates 1/2s at f22, try 2 exposures at 1/4, or 4 at 1/125. You get the idea. Keep the aperature the same and divide the metered speed by the speed you want to use for the number of exposures. I do not think the total multiple exposures is the same as one longer exposure. But you will be well within the ballpark.