Silky Waterfalls or the Art of Long Exposure Daylight Photography

Landscape photography is so rewarding. Very often, all I want to do is to capture an incredible vista that is sharp from a couple of feet in front of me to the horizon. However, there are times when sharpness is not your friend.

We have all stood near a waterfall and snapped off some images, somewhat like this one I captured recently from the lookout at Zillie Falls, Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland, Australia. Quick aside – this is a truly beautiful part of the world, in the tropical rainforest zone of my home state, Queensland.

Zillie Falls (sharp) - © Red Rose Digital Art - Rosanne E. Casu

It’s an OK image but it’s lacking a certain something. The water is frozen in mid-air which really affects its long-term appeal. But what if it could look like this?

Zillie Falls, Atherton Tableland, Far North Queensland, Australia - © Red Rose Digital Art - Rosanne E. Casu

Same spot, three minutes later – super-silky water, everything else pretty much the same. So, how did I do it?

Step 1: Capture the first image that I showed. Yes, it does seem counter-intuitive to capture an image you know is not going to be great but it’s quite instructive and helps a lot at the next step. My Canon 7D DSLR (with a Canon EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens) was placed firmly on my tripod. I set the Exposure Program to Aperture Priority and the aperture to f/5. This resulted in a shutter speed of 1/125 seconds. I also used Auto-focus for this image as well as Mirror Lockup and a two second delay on the shutter.

Step 2: Without moving the camera (very important), I changed the Exposure Program to Manual, the aperture to f/10 and switched the lens to manual focus since I didn’t want the lens to try to refocus. I also set the shutter speed to 30 seconds. At this point, you’re probably wondering why my second image isn’t completely white! The last thing I did was very carefully screw on to the lens a Solid Neutral Density ND10 Filter. This effectively cut the amount of light reaching the camera sensor down to 1/1000 of what had been coming in before. It allowed for a very long exposure in the early afternoon which resulted in the beautiful silky waterfall. This filter is effectively black so you have to set up the shot first, including focus, and only then attach the filter.

I also used this filter very effectively at Josephine Falls, also in Far North Queensland:

Before:

Josephine Falls (sharp) - © Red Rose Digital Art - Rosanne E. Casu

After:

Josephine Falls, Far North Queensland, Australia - © Red Rose Digital Art - Rosanne E. Casu

However, this filter can be just too much at times. Then, you can whip out your trusty ND2 and/or ND4 filters. These are grey filters so they can be fixed in place prior to focusing. For this image I captured at Elinjaa Falls, just up the road from Zillie Falls, I layered my ND2 and ND4 filters, which allowed for a shutter speed of 0.3 seconds when combined with an aperture of f/18. This worked a treat, allowing for a little of structure in the water which really suited this waterfall on this day.

Waterfall Lace - Elinjaa Falls, Far North Queensland - © Red Rose Digital Art - Rosanne E. Casu

As you can see, with just a couple of extra lens accessories, you can change your waterfall shots from Ho-hum to Wow. So, the next time you’re near some fast-paced water, give it a try!

NB: Some of what I have discussed in this post is quite possible to do using a premium compact camera. Check with a reputable camera dealer on your best filter choices.

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