Running water mysting effect

<p>I have noticed a lot of photos of running water and have notice how many photographers get a mysting, almost foglike effect. I was wondering how that was achieved. Thank You</p>

<p>Slow shutter speeds often with a ND filter. The longer the exposure the more of a misting effect you will get. Here's one article I found http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?id=26 Google water motion photography for many more.</p>

<p>A search on waterfall photography in the archives will give you lots of tips too. But the basics are:</p>

<p>Tripod</p>

<p>Don't shoot in mid-day sun</p>

<p>Use a neutral density filter (as Michael points out) if the light is still too strong.</p>

<p>Try different shutter speeds.</p>

<p>To Michael's point that means setting a slow ASA speed (ASA 50 or 100) and an f-stop of f16 or even smaller.<br>

I also use a polarizer with or without the ND filter. And Rob's last point, "Try different shutter speeds" is absolutely correct. As a rule of thumb the taller the waterfall the longer the shutter speed.</p>

<p>Try to avoid having direct sun and deep shades in the same image. There's just too much difference between the shaded areas and the bright areas, especially if the sun is directly lighting the white water areas.</p>

<p>Thank You for taking the time to answer. I will practice this.</p>

<p>Sometimes the best foglike effects are achieved by the smallest volumes of water. It will be the trickles, more than the rushing torrents, that draw the finer lines. In the photo linked to below, the water on the left appeared to be rushing; the finer parts of the spray looked more like a very leaky faucet. It can sometimes be the weaker parts of the waterfall that will draw the more delicate photos.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/photo/9319708 If you are curious, I put up the field notes for that photo about halfway down this thread: http://www.photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00TeK1</p>

<p>Last September, I read in on a pretty good thread on waterfalls in the Nature forum. Here it is: http://www.photo.net/nature-photography-forum/00Qge5 Thread includes examples of some pretty good color and digital photos.</p>

<p>Each droplet of water is a moving mirror. Sometimes you will want a large, strong mirror; other times it helps to include the traces of the smaller intermittent ones.</p>

<p>A polarizer should generally be used regardless of whether you are using a ND filter or not, cutting down reflection on water is a generally a good thing, and polarizer will increase saturation.</p>

<p>Also, a polarizer can be used as a make shift ND filter because it knocks about 1-2 stops off the light reaching the film/sensor.</p>

<p>In bright light (which really isn't recommended for the mist effect you mention) a ND filter, low ISO, and small aperture will all be necessary.</p>

<p>IMO, better to shoot at early morning or late evening (around after sunrise sunset) to get the best misting effect.</p>

<p>Regardless, if you are shooting landscapes a decent tripod, a polarizer, mirror lockup, and low ISO should be part of your technique.</p>

<p>The fogging effect you speak of is nothing but motion blur. With flowing water, it's typically achieved with shutter speeds of 1/12th of a second or slower.<br>

nevilleb</p>

<p>The fogging effect you speak of is nothing but motion blur. With flowing water, it's typically achieved with shutter speeds of 1/12th of a second or slower.<br>

nevilleb</p>