Capture serene shots of moving water using ND filters for long exposures

Peter Travers show you how to use ND filters to lengthen your exposures

one of the great joys of DSLR photography is controlling your shutter speed – which will have a big impact on your photos when there’s something moving in shot. Using a fast split-second shutter speed of 1/1000 sec will freeze most movement, such as the waterfall in our scene. Whereas slowing the shutter speed down, any movement becomes blurred. The slower the shutter speed, the more the gushing water turns milky, helping to capture a sense of movement in the waterfall.

There are a few techniques you can use to obtain the longest possible exposure. Shoot in overcast conditions if shooting in daytime – or shoot before first or after last light. Select a narrow aperture to minimise the amount of light reaching your Canon DSLR’S sensor, such as f/16, and use the lowest possible ISO setting on your camera. But adding an ND filter will really slow down your shutter speeds…