making moving water look better

[rsanford71]

I want to capture moving water and make it look as if its moving. I tried this in program mode and my camera says the image is too bright---what do i do?I have a nikon d5000 btw.

 

[marmots]

what most people do is put multiple exposures together to create a smooth looking movement

 

[Derrel]

MANY times during daylight hours, one needs to put a filter over the camera lens to get a long shutter speed that will make the water look like it is flowing.
Most landscape photographer who shoot a lot of water that moves, like rivers, creeks and waterfalls specifically, have a set of Neutral Density filters--often simply called ND filters. These rather dark-looking gray or nearly black filters dramatically cut down on the amount of light that gets through, which allows the photographer to use lengthy exposure times, thus blurring the water.

 

[marmots]

that too

 

[rsanford71]

good info---any other ways?

 

[Dominantly]

To compensate for brightness you can stop down, or make your F/stop number larger. Also decrease your ISO to as low as you can, this will decrease your sensors sensitivity to light.

This will require allow you to use a longer shutter speed to get the same shot, BUT will increase your DOF so more of the scene will be in focus. You can set this up by shooting in A mode.

 

[skieur]

Derrel's approach is the standard one usually mentioned, but by itself it is too limited and often does not work. If the water is in mixed sun and shadow, then the part in the sun is too often washed out with no detail. If there is a lot of water in the scene moving fast, then the result just looks like a blurry image shot at the wrong shutterspeed.

So a lot of fast moving water, over a falls for example is still often best shot with a faster shutterspeed. With less and slower water, you want to get the sense of motion but you also want some detail. This is where you shoot from an angle toward the falls, using a polarizing filter and an ND filter or filters and experiment with shutterspeeds. The first shot will not necessarily be a good one. Bottom line is you also want to see some signs of surface detail on and in the water as well as the sense of motion.
It is a tricky balance to get it right.

skieur

 

[KmH]

To compensate for brightness you can stop down, or make your F/stop number larger. Also decrease your ISO to as low as you can, this will decrease your sensors sensitivity to light.

This will require allow you to use a longer shutter speed to get the same shot, BUT will increase your DOF so more of the scene will be in focus. You can set this up by shooting in A mode.

Using a circular polarizing filter will also help reduce some of the light reaching the image sensor and help by subtracting another 1 stop or so of shutter speed, while also helping to control specular highlights and reflections.

If the angle of the Sun is favorable, It can also help darken any sky in the image.

 

[Dominantly]

Sure can.
A bracket shot, then layering it, will give you a water motion, and a higher dynamic range as well.

 

[IgsEMT]

To compensate for brightness you can stop down, or make your F/stop number larger. Also decrease your ISO to as low as you can, this will decrease your sensors sensitivity to light.

This will require allow you to use a longer shutter speed to get the same shot, BUT will increase your DOF so more of the scene will be in focus. You can set this up by shooting in A mode.

In A, you might need to adjust EV in manual, you'll just do it well MANUALLY

 

[Dominantly]

They're shooting in P, so I wouldn't want to scare them by sending them into Manual mode just yet

 

[TCimages]

is this the effect you're looking for? I used a Polarizer for this one

http://www.tcproimages.com/Galleries/Landscapes/Landscape/IMG9564/600329000_RSFN8-XL.jpg

and this one
http://www.tcproimages.com/Galleries/Landscapes/Landscape/IMG9507/600328360_cU5K3-X2.jpg

 

[Sachphotography]

How to Take Pictures of Moving Water | eHow.com

Read and enjoy.

 

[rsanford71]

good photos---thanks. what mode did you shoot them in?

 

[Proteus617]

They're shooting in P, so I wouldn't want to scare them by sending them into Manual mode just yet

good photos---thanks. what mode did you shoot them in?

Turning the big dial to "M", leaving it there for a year and learning to use the spot meter is pretty good beginner advice. No better way to learn the relationship between speed, fstop, and ISO. Just because your camera can think for you doesn't mean you should let it.