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B+W

TECHNIQUE

All pictures © Lee Frost

HOW TO SHOOT WATER

From rivers to raindrops, water is a fascinating subject. But what

are the best ways to capture it in a photograph? Lee Frost

suggests 10 ways to maximise your liquid assets.

Whether it’s a river, a waterfall or the

sea washing against the shore, the most

common way to shoot moving water is with

a slow shutter speed, so it records as a

graceful blur.

With waterfalls, where the water is fast-

moving, an exposure time of 1/2 to 1sec is

usually long enough. You can expose for

longer, but if there’s a lot of water flowing,

such as a waterfall after heavy rain, you

may find that areas overexpose and record

as white (use your camera’s highlight

warning to check). If in doubt, try a range

of shutter speeds from 1/8sec to several

seconds then choose the best.

With the sea, the exposure you use

will depend on the type of scene you’re

photographing, the effect you want, and also

prevailing light levels. To record big waves

crashing against the shore, a shutter speed

of 1/2 to 1sec is again ideal as it will record

the explosion of water, whereas if you use

an exposure of several seconds that effect

will be lost. However, at dawn or dusk you

may have no choice but to use an exposure

of many seconds due to the low light level.

If that’s the case, don’t worry – the longer

the exposure, the smoother the effect will

be, turning the sea into an atmospheric mist

where waves wash against the shore.

If light levels are high and you can’t

manage a suitably slow shutter speed,

even with your lens set to its smallest

aperture (f/16 or f/22 usually), use an ND

filter to reduce the light entering the lens.

A 0.6 ND filter will increase the exposure by

two stops, so instead of using 1/8sec you

could set 1/2, for example, while a 0.9 ND

requires a three-stop exposure increase

and would allow you to use a shutter speed

of 1sec instead of 1/8sec.

To enhance the effect of blurred water,

include solid, static features in your

composition. Rocks in rivers and streams or

at the base of waterfalls are ideal because

the water flows around them and the

contrast between blurred and sharp looks

highly effective. The same applies with

coastal views – record the sea washing

around pebbles or boulders on the beach,

or partly-submerged rocks lying off-shore.

1 BLUR MOVING WATER

ISLE OF SKYE, SCOTLAND

I used a 0.6ND filter for this shot, to slow the shutter speed enough to blur the waterfall but still record texture in the water.

Canon EOS 5D MKII with 17-40mm lens, 0.6ND and 0.9ND hard grad, 1/2sec at f/16, ISO 100

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