Figuring out how to capture that slow water look was my goal during last week's tour to Hilton Falls. Thanks to Fiore and Doug for their tips, I've figured it out. My polarizer helped some with the sunlight issue. A cloudy day would certainly have made it easier.

I happened to take a few images a week before this post. It was a cold cloudy (rainy) day which helped reduce the shutter speed.  I also used a polarizer to help slow the shutter speed even more.

Hi Sue

There is another way to do what you did with alot less work. There is a program out there called Photomatix Pro which can be used as a standalone program or a photoshop plugin. It cost around $70 but brings together two or three images of the same scene to maximize the dynamic range which is what you were accomplishing by exposing for the highlights and the shadows and then putting them together. Photo shop also has an HDR (high dynamic range ) function which works the same way and is included with CS3. I haven't used it since I have the Photomatix program but from what I hear it does a reasonable job at maximizing the dynamic range.

Its always difficult in sunny conditions to get the exposure right so making two shots to expose for the highlights and the shadows is the only way to insure maintaining full dynamic range. 

I do like the shot and it is well composed and seen. 

Bob 

Image by Sean Allott

In the spring, there is usually lots of water flowing over waterfalls and through the streams and brooks, and by slowing down your shutter speed you can make for some interesting images. First of all thanks Sean for the image of Hilton falls shot on our Spring Photo Tour this past Sunday.  

It's a very easy shot to to create, all you have to do is slow your shutter speed down and as the water flows this makes for a dreamy look to the water.  Make sure you have your camera mounted on a tripod, then change your camera to "Aperture Priority Mode", select an aperture of f11 or f16, this should slow your shutter speed below 20th of a second.  Now compose and take the shot.

Neutral Density and Polarizing filters are also handy tools for this kind of shot.  My favourite two ND filters are a ND8 which equals three stops and a ND4 which is two stops. 

You make have to bracket your exposure, but the slower the shutter speed, the milkier your waterfall will become.  This is a fun shot to experiment with, give it a try and we would love to see your results posted.  Doug - Stan C. Reade Photo. 

 Thanks Suzanne for quick Photoshop training - much appriciated.

Here's mine slow / dreamy - Thames River:

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 Kris

Following along with Doug's tip of the week, I did slow down the shutter at Hilton Falls but then had some exposure issues with areas that were in the sun. All images were taken using a tripod, and I did not change composition in order to do this.

In the above image I exposed for the waterfalls with F22 at 0.6sec with an ISO of 100. The sunny areas are overexposed. 

In the above image, I underexposed the falls, in order to get a better exposure of the surrounding area using F22 at 1/10sec and -1/3 exposure compensation and ISO of 100.

I brought both images into Photoshop. Then I moved the darker image onto the lighter image by selecting the move tool, then pressing the shift key first and holding it while  moving the darker image on top of the lighter one. By pressing and holding the shift key first, the image you are moving will align properly with the one underneath. 

Then, using the eraser tool, I erased the underexposed parts of the falls. Also, you can adjust the opacity of the eraser tool, to get the look that you want. I chose a brush with no hardness and adjusted the size of the brush as needed.  Below is a combination of the two images.