| The sun is shining, there's a blue sky and a gentle | | | | speed, until you get the shot you want. To achieve the |
| breeze as you stroll leisurely through your favourite | | | | best effect you will need a shutter speed of at least 1 |
| countryside location. You perceive a faint trickle of | | | | 15 of a second, or longer. Truly smooth water should |
| moving water in the distance, and as you move closer, | | | | be captured if you leave the shutter open for over a |
| you notice a winding stream. The water is dancing | | | | second. |
| across the stones lying in the shallow stream. You | | | | Using a slow shutter speed will mean that your |
| have your camera poised, realising this is a classic | | | | camera needs to be absolutely still to avoid camera |
| opportunity to take something really wonderful. But just | | | | shake ruining the picture. The best way to establish a |
| how do you make moving water look amazing in a | | | | stable platform is to use a tripod. Another digital |
| photograph? This article explains some digital | | | | photography trick to utilise is to add a shutter release |
| photography tricks to employ to make the most of this, | | | | cable, giving you the greatest chance of eliminating |
| and similar situations. | | | | camera movement during your shot. Also, set your |
| To start with, to be truly creative you will need to | | | | ISO to about 100, with a small aperture, of around f/22 |
| move away from using your automatic camera | | | | or f/36. A small aperture results in the slowest possible |
| settings. Whilst the camera will do it's best to capture | | | | shutter speed for the ISO and light conditions. |
| what it thinks you want, it is possible that it will choose | | | | You could also try using a digital photography trick |
| a fast shutter speed, in order to 'freeze' the | | | | from this list: - |
| movement. If that's what you want to depict, then OK. | | | | * Try to get fairly close to the water you want to |
| But the more dramatic effect happens when the | | | | shoot. The blurring effect of the moving water is more |
| water motion is evident, and the rest of the picture is | | | | noticeable if you are close up * Experiment by |
| still. | | | | photographing different types of moving water scenes |
| You will need to select a slow shutter speed to | | | | (waterfalls, rivers, streams etc.) * Revisit locations at |
| capture the motion of the water. The slower your | | | | different times of year to capture how nature has |
| shutter speed the greater the motion captured. The | | | | changed the look of them * If brightly-lit conditions |
| best method to try here is experimentation. Take a | | | | affect the length of shutter speed you can use, |
| shot, and immediately check the results on your LCD | | | | consider the addition of a polarising or neutral density |
| screen. Then adjust, to a slower or faster shutter | | | | filter. |