Water

[Sonia]

How do you take pictures of fountains withouth them being blurred

[acropolite (Phil)]

Not sure what you really mean Sonia, to freeze the action of the water use a fast shutter speed, if you want the water to look like a soft cascade with the remainder of the image sharp use a very slow shutter speed and a tripod. To achieve the latter you may need to use a neutral density filter as well.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

You may even need to adjust your f ratio (aperture value) . A slower f ratio (higher number = slower f ratio = narrower aperture) will give you a greater depth of field. You would need this if for instance, you had someone close between you and the fountain and you wanted to get both person and fountain to be focused. With a fast f ratio (lower number = wider aperture) you will have one or the other sharp depending on what you focused on, but if you have a slower f ratio you will be may be able to get both into focus.

[ving (David)]

i'd have assumed just a faster shutterspeed.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

That's part of it ving, but it also depends on what else (in the distance) you want to be focused in the image. The narrower the aperture (slower f ratio) the greater the depth of field, the greater the distance that will come to focus using the same focus setting.

If it's just the fountain then shutter speed will do it. But if you have someone sitting about 2 meters in front of you and the fountain is 20 meters behind them, then to get both to come to focus in the one shot, you have to decrease the aperture/increase the depth of field, then adjust your shutter speed to "stop" the fountain.