Waterfalls

Characteristics of this type of shot: Soft, silky, flowing water of a waterfall.

Ingredients: When you see a waterfall with smooth, silky water shot with daylight, you know an ND filter was used, probably a single 10-stop filter or they stacked multiple ND filters (see Chapter 6 for more on using filters). Right overhead in this shot, it’s a bright, sunny, cloudless day, but even if I wanted to show the sky, I would need a wider lens or I’d need to do a multi-level pano to take it all in (see Chapter 5 for more on panos). Here, I’m down low, on top of a rock, using a Platypod tripod replacement with the spikes extended to keep it anchored.

Location: Gollinger Wasserfall in Golling an der Salzach, Austria.

Camera settings: Shot in bulb mode; 24–105mm f/4 lens at 24mm; ISO 100 at f/8; shutter speed: 37 seconds (which is beyond the standard maximum number of seconds for regular modes, which is why I wound up shooting in bulb mode). I used a 10-stop ND filter to keep my shutter open for 37 seconds (which is longer than I probably needed by about 30 seconds). Once I got tired of waiting for 37 seconds for each shot, I switched to a 3-stop filter—that was much quicker, and the water looked just as silky. The length of time you wait for silky water at a waterfall or stream has diminishing returns after about 5 seconds.