Day time slow shutter

I have seen on this forum a picture of a small waterfall that had a slow shutter speed and the water had an amazing soft blur. Is this something that is done in photoshop? I was just sitting out front with my camera. Watching cars go down US41 and I wanted to try to get a blur of something zipping by and couldnt get anything but a white screen. I put a circular polarizer on the lens and still nothing.

Sorry I am really new to this whole thing. I am shooting with an xsi. I had the nifty fifty on it. I tried moving my f stop as large as 1.8 and as small as 22. I set my iso to 100 and no matter what if my shutter speed wasnt at least 1/250 it was almost a complete white screen.

Maybe you might want to try a neutral density filter. I think they have them in 1 stop and 3 maybe more.

Ok. I think I have one for a different lens. hmmmm I will have to look. Thanks a lot for the advice. I read these forums daily and have learned a lot from them. I also tinker a lot. I am a hands on learner. So just playing with my camera teaches me stuff. But I couldnt figure it out.

Thanks again. I will let you know if it works.

With my nd filter I still couldnt do a 1 second shutter speed but I could go to like 1/8th. And I go the effect I wanted thanks.

Casperd360 wrote in post #9329494
With my nd filter I still couldnt do a 1 second shutter speed but I could go to like 1/8th. And I go the effect I wanted thanks.

I had the same problem up in the mountains of Utah shooting streams. The neutral density filter wasn't strong enough. I needed more. Sorry I can't recall what it is called, maybe 3x or something like that. Needs to be strong to cut the light enough that a longer shutter speed is required.

Hope this helps.
Mike

Is stacking ND filters possible? Just curious. I've never worked w/ them before.

Casper be careful you don't slow down the shutter too much or else all you'll get is a picture of the concrete and no cars.

asysin2leads wrote in post #9329585
Is stacking ND filters possible? Just curious. I've never worked w/ them before.

Absolutely. see this for more info:

http://www.cs.mtu.edu …ide/filter/filt​er-ND.html

For example, stacking two .3 ND's gives you a total of .6 for a reduction of 2 stops of light.

Basically during the day, there's too much light that even fully stopped down (f/32), it won't give you a slow enough shutter speed to give you that dreamy waterfall effect.
From the photo you saw, it was either done with a LOT of ND filters like others have mentioned, the day was very gloomy without a lot of sun, or it's actually around dusk or dawn where there isn't a lot of available light.

Casperd360 wrote in post #9329197
I tried moving my f stop as large as 1.8 and as small as 22. I set my iso to 100 and no matter what if my shutter speed wasnt at least 1/250 it was almost a complete white screen.

Time to pick up and read Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure"

Casperd360 wrote in post #9329494
With my nd filter I still couldnt do a 1 second shutter speed but I could go to like 1/8th. And I go the effect I wanted thanks.

You need a stronger ND filter.

Try to find a scene that's not lit by direct sunlight, along with the ND idea. Dusk would also be a good time for this. Another approach is a night scene illuminated by street lamps.

egordon99 wrote in post #9330039
Time to pick up and read Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure"

thats actually on my "to buy list" I am reading the art of composition right now by Bert Krages. That is a hard read. its like watching paint dry so far. Ill look into the exposure book next thanks for confirming that I should read it.

Get some welding glass and attach it to your lens held in place with elastic bands around the body.

superstes wrote in post #9330341
Get some welding glass and attach it to your lens held in place with elastic bands around the body.

By welding glass you mean from a sheild. lol That would work for a long exposures as they are almost black and hard to see out of. Ill just wait till it starts to get darker outside and do it at dusk.