Freezing Water?

Hi guys,

I suppose this could be covered in other sections but in this case...

I've seen many images where people have "frozen" water, whether it be the sea rushing in or waterfall shots.

I tried to re-create this the other day but got nowhere. I was assuming that all that was needed was to slower the shutter speed down at various levels but all this seemed to do was to let more light into the picture.

When I mean "frozen" I mean in the sense that the image is crisp and clear apart from the water that looks like a solid lump or a fluffy flow. I hope you know what I mean.

What am I missing here?

Thanks

Ian

I'm far from an expert, and other more experienced will surely answer, but here goes. Start with with a low ISO, like 100. Next, a small aperture, f16 maybe even f22, this should help give you the slow shutter speed you need, unless you are in very bright light. If the shutter speeds are still too high because of the bright light, then it may be time for neutral density filters of various stops, or better yet a variable ND. I think that should cover it. I have pretty good luck with just my circular polarizer ( good for about 2 stops), and fortunately the waterfalls I usually shoot are in the woods so the light is kept somewhat down from the canopy of trees. Also, shooting on a cloudy day will help.

Good luck,
Jeff

jsinon wrote in post #8416390
I'm far from an expert, and other more experienced will surely answer, but here goes. Start with with a low ISO, like 100. Next, a small aperture, f16 maybe even f22, this should help give you the slow shutter speed you need, unless you are in very bright light. If the shutter speeds are still too high because of the bright light, then it may be time for neutral density filters of various stops, or better yet a variable ND. I think that should cover it. I have pretty good luck with just my circular polarizer ( good for about 2 stops), and fortunately the waterfalls I usually shoot are in the woods so the light is kept somewhat down from the canopy of trees. Also, shooting on a cloudy day will help.

Good luck,
Jeff

Seems like an expert answer to me, I would just add a tripod to the mix.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for your responses folks. I'd never have thought about it that way as I was under the impression it would all be about the shutter speed, not aperture. I'll certainly be giving it a go.

So now that i've had these suggestions, how would you go about photographing lightning. Surely you'd need to keep the lens open ffor as long as possible to help capture it but then again, too long (like i've found) and you'd let too much light in?

Are You using auto modes (A, T, P, auto )? Or full Manual? You should look at exposure slider on Your camera LCD. During long exposures of waterfalls You propably will have overexposed reflections. In that case You should underexpose for about -1/3 to -1 fstop.

For freezing water you need a fast shutterspeed. For catching lightening go the opposite and use a slow one. When I'm shooting lighting or fireworks, I choose a slow ISO and long shutter - many seconds - and hope there was a lightening bolt in there.

There are gizmos you can buy that attach to the camera and detect the lightening and fire off the camera in time, but I have not used them.