How fast is water?

Which one looks the most like water?

F16! Oh My!  Was it still pinhole camera day? : - )

This one very much strikes the right chords with me.

It looks like water, and whats more, it looks like moving water.

The alternative two extremes are not pleasing to my eye, the white mushy gunge of the long exposure, or the frozen aspect of a very fast shutter speed.

This one sits between quite comfortably and strikes a more natural balance.

Cheers Jamie!

Alf

Just so you know, this one is the longest one.  The one you thought was longest is the middle.  Thanks a lot Alf.  You're a star.  best, jamie

Democracy!

Cast Your Vote!!

(There are two shorter exposures of the same scene in the folder with this

one.)

Nice nook to be there! Romantic among other!

Best

PDE

I think Alf has changed the question in the right direction.  In which picture do we buy the illusion of moving water best?  We all know that water is going to move by the laws of gravity.  It will speed up at the end of a long fall. On the other hand maybe the photographer wants to capture a certain "look" of falling water.  It is what we want the image to look like that determines the answer. In general I do like the blur of the slower shutter speed.

Jerry

Pierre - We had a wonderful time, and we're looking forward to going back again soon.  Thanks.  best, j

Jerry - Interesting idea.  I don't think Alf was alluding to people's naive ideas of physics, though, and I'm pretty sure that people acquire their concepts of naive mechanics through direct experience,  and not by abstract thought, but you have changed the question in a useful way - "Which is more pleasing, fast or slow?"  That, I believe, may be a matter of fashion, and the current fashion is definitely for motion-blurred water.  I don't think it replicates the experience of seeing water, but it gives an other-worldly impression of water, like a film from the 1960's perhaps.  Thanks for looking at all of them.  best, j

Hi Jamie,

I agree with Alf.  You got the shutter speed just right. I appreciate your adding the close up because the image as shown is pretty small.  You may want to post it your images larger.   Nice natural look.  You may also want to try cropping out the sky for an alternative look.  Nice image.  Best to you. Larry

As for posting larger images, through years of participation I have discovered that when PhotoNet downsamples images for display, it changes the colours in strange ways.  It desaturates strong reds while leaving other colours  relatively intact.  ''View Larger'' leaves all the colours intact.  I started posting images at 630-pixel size to avoid this problem.

As for the sky, that's an interesting idea, but the ground is so sloped that it would remove some of the waterfall on the right.  I'll try a more extreme perspective with a wider lens next time.  That might work.  Thanks Larry.  best, jamie