Waterfall Silky enough?

[jasony8]

Do you guys think that the water effect here is 'silky' enough or is it a still too hard/harsh?
Do you guys think that the overall composition is including enough in the frame? What tips/suggestions can you guys give me on shooting water flowing objects in the future?



Exif data:
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

Thanks for looking!

[LeeR]

Nope, I really wouldn't call that silky if that was the look you were going for. You need to be at ten seconds or more for that effect. I see you were stopped down to f22 which is probably as small as that lens goes, could you have reduced the ISO any? Do you have an ND filter? I polarizing filter? A slower zoom lens? Any and all of those things would have helped you get a longer exposure.

[jasony8]

Originally Posted by LeeR

Nope, I really wouldn't call that silky if that was the look you were going for. You need to be at ten seconds or more for that effect. I see you were stopped down to f22 which is probably as small as that lens goes, could you have reduced the ISO any? Do you have an ND filter? I polarizing filter? A slower zoom lens? Any and all of those things would have helped you get a longer exposure.

What aperature would you recommend for shooting a water-flowing photo? Would reducing the ISO make the effect look better? How? I don't have any filters, I will do some research on them and see how they can help me

Thanks for your tips!

[Sterling]

Would reducing the ISO make the effect look better? How?

Reducing the ISO will allow a longer shutter speed which is what you need to turn the water silky. However, being at 1/20 already with ISO 125 there is no way to drop the ISO enough to get the 10 second exposure that LeeR suggests (you would need about ISO 1.0). You need Neutral Density filter(s) to block out enough light to allow that 10 second exposure.

[Cam Monroe]

Originally Posted by jasony8

What aperature would you recommend for shooting a water-flowing photo? Would reducing the ISO make the effect look better? How? I don't have any filters, I will do some research on them and see how they can help me

Thanks for your tips!

Smallest aperture possible on your lens.
Lowest ISO as well.

Shooting in the evening/morning when there is low light helps too.
Waterfall on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I took this tonight...only 4 second exposure...still pretty smooth.
ISO 100, f36, and the evening sun was blocked by trees.

[thomasfolkeandersen]

Hi Jason, you can definitely achieve a more smooth and silky look at speeds faster than 10 seconds. It also depends on how quick the water flows, but you can try with 1/2 second, 1 second and two seconds and see which effect you like the best. You may also try to shoot early or late in the day when the light-levels are lower and you will have slower shutter speeds without the need for ND filters. But otherwise even a polarizer filter will slow you down 1.5-2 stops.

As for composition I think you can crop/zoom in even tighter and simplify the shot more.

Cheers

[outamyway]

Originally Posted by thomasfolkeandersen

Hi Jason, you can definitely achieve a more smooth and silky look at speeds faster than 10 seconds. It also depends on how quick the water flows, but you can try with 1/2 second, 1 second and two seconds and see which effect you like the best. You may also try to shoot early or late in the day when the light-levels are lower and you will have slower shutter speeds without the need for ND filters. But otherwise even a polarizer filter will slow you down 1.5-2 stops.

As for composition I think you can crop/zoom in even tighter and simplify the shot more.

Cheers

Excellent suggestion. I've shot plenty of waterfalls and have never had to expose for 10 seconds.

[Maggie_M]

Here is a good article on shooting waterfalls.
Waterfall Digital Photography

I always use a polarizing filter when I shoot falls. When I get a ND filter I will use that.

[navcom]

I agree...10 seconds seems a bit long. I've always used 1 second as the start of good silky flow. And using a neutral density filter is the best way to go. I have a variable ND filter which takes all the guesswork out of it. Simply set your aperture to what you need for DOF, select your lowest ISO for image quality, and adjust the ND filter until you get 1 second or a little slower.

Before the variable ND, I had a set of three different powered ND's that did the same thing...just had to figure out which one to use that will put you at least at 1 second exposure.

[LeeR]

I like really long exposures, so maybe my ten seconds is a bit longer than is absolutely necessary. I like for the water at the bottom of the falls to go white as well as the falls, but that's just me. Here is a shot I took at more than 20 seconds.