Problem with Long Exposure Waterfall shot!

[hunk143]

Hey guys i'm new to DSLR club.
i was trying to click a pic of a waterfall at manual settings:
f/22 ISO: 100 Shutter 1/4 metering mode tried all.
The comes out as overexposed? Whitish?

 

[pixmedic]

could be too long of an exposure. letting in too much light, thus overexposing. did you try adjusting the shutterspeed?

 

[DorkSterr]

Get this https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=679&IID=8219

 

[BlkdOutGsxr]

What is the question that you are asking? And what are you trying to achieve? If you want to keep the waterfall still in motion you can bump up the shutter speed. If you are trying to get a soft longer exposure you can use a ND filter to keep the shutter speed down, or wait till earlier or later in the day when the light is not so bright. When the sun is rising or setting usually can be a pretty cool setting for taking pictures of water.

 

[Steve5D]

Any chance you can post a sample shot?

 

[Superfitz]

Get this https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=679&IID=8219

Don't buy that. It is much to expensive. Reduce your shutter speed or take the photo later in the day.

 

[CowgirlMama]

Or buy a cheaper ND filter. I really need to get myself one...

 

[TCampbell]

Learn the Sunny 16 rule -- it's a great baseline.

While I don't know what the light was like at your particular waterfall, I can make some assumptions that wont be far wrong.

The Sunny 16 rule says that the exposure for anything shot in the middle of a sunny day is f/16 with the shutter speed set to the inverse of the ISO sensitivity. That means ISO 100, f/16, and 1/100th sec would work. But that's not the exposure you use... that's a baseline. All "equivalent" exposures are also valid. If I open up the aperture by 1 stop, I can halve the shutter time... etc. The rule even goes on to say light overcast (or light shadows) eat about 1 stop of light (you'll know it's a "light" overcast because you can still quite clearly see your own shadow.) Medium eats 2 stops (your shadow fades and usually can't be seen) and heavy overcast eats 3 stops (and the clouds are dense enough that it could look like it's going to rain.)

If this waterfall was in shadow full shadow we might be losing 2 stops of light.

You want the slowest shutter speed you can manage. In bright sun, you could go to f/22 and slow the shutter to 1/50th (which is still too fast). If it's in medium shadow (2 stops) you could slow your shutter speed to one quarter of that (1/13th). That's still a _bit_ faster than we'd like... but we're getting close to slow enough speeds. You could wait until evening (or early morning) and take the image with a dusky sky or sun very low in the sky. You could wait for a cloudy day.

Or you could get a 3 stop ND AND stack your circular polarizer (CPL) with it (everyone should own a circular polarizer -- so if you don't have one of those, go get one.) A 3 stop ND (a "0.9" filter because a "density" level of .1 = 1/3rd of a stop. so .3 is actually 3 "thirds" or 1 "full" stop and a .9 is three full stops. A circular polarizer blocks a variable amount of light because it's selective about the polarity of light which is allowed to pass. BUT... it generally is able to block about 2 stops. That means a 3 stop ND stacked with a CPL is about 5 full stops. That would let you take your f/22 exposure at about 1/2 second... even if it's in full sun at mid-day. If it's not in full sun you could be at 1 full second... maybe even 2 full seconds.

You will want a tripod and either a remote release or use the delay timer so that the camera doesn't shake when you activate the shutter.

 

[lesliemorris85]

Even if it’s the smallest aperture opening your lens has, f22 with a ¼ shutter works really only at times near to dusk or twilight. If done in broad daylight, even with overcast skies, it will indeed be overexposed. Like everyone said, get an ND filter or wait for a darker time of the day.

 

[tirediron]

Get this https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=679&IID=8219

Don't buy that. It is much to expensive. Reduce your shutter speed or take the photo later in the day.

This is spectacularily bad advice!

Or buy a cheaper ND filter. I really need to get myself one...

But buy the best quality one you can afford.

There's a reason that equipment costs what it does. Schneider makes excellent glass, and while that it is an [relatively] expensive filter, it's not overly so, and it's worth the price. That said, if it's not in the budget, it's not in the budget, but do buy the best gear you can afford.

 

[spacefuzz]

Digital is great for allowing you to take a test shot in auto or a program mode and then use that information to adjust your exposure and get the shot you want.