Longer Exposure

[IonSpeedMaster]

So I like shooting small streams and waterfalls in the forests around my house. I shoot with a Canon S3IS, one of the better P&Ss from what i've been told. Im what one would be considered a noob as well. Regardless, People on here tell me to get the water to look "silkier" or appear to be "slower" that I should try a longer exposure. Does this mean increasing the shutter speed? I try to shoot on the lowest ISO setting to get higher quality, but with increasing the shutter speed to more than a 1/4 sec, all the light that goes into the lens makes the picture look so darn bright. So my question is whats the best way to shoot these longer exposures if the increased shutter speed allows excessive light into the lens?

 

[zioneffect564]

graduated neutral density filter

 

[doenoe]

cant you use a faster shutter speed, like 1/60 or something. I know it works for waterfalls and it depends on the speed with which the water flows offcourse. Think you can also underexpose a bit. I usually underexpose my pics.

 

[JeremyHopper]

Well first you meter the scene to find what the right exposure is. Then you adjust the shutter speed to however many stops you want slower, and then adjust the apeture the exact same amount of stops smaller (like smaller aperture) so that less light comes in. I mean, I'm still learning about exposure, but I think this much is true.

If you lower the shutter speed then you need to make the aperture smaller to let less light in. I sometimes use a shutter speed as long as 2 seconds for streams which I'm sure is un-needed. What would be best is if you had a "shutter priority" setting on your camera. Then you would just adjust the shutter speed and it will compensate by making the aperture smaller.

If you're already doing this, and the exposure still isn't right, then you do need to pick a slightly faster shutter speed.