How to Shoot Long Exposure for Great Waterfall Photos

Have you ever been on a hike or a drive and heard the rumbling sounds of a waterfall? How the water tumbles over the edge and crashes to the rocks below. The strength and endurance a waterfall has as it continues to ebb and flow year after year. Have you thought to yourself, how can I take a picture of that? Well, it is easy really, but just hard. Let me share with you an interesting story of a waterfall picture I took.

I am the type of person that likes to plan things. Not perfectly, but I like to research places to go. A hike we went to is located in Telluride, Colorado. It was cloudy and warm. Despite the weather, we went hiking, along with 10,000 of our closest fly friends. After some time of walking and swatting at the flies, we heard a distant sound. Not the waterfall sounds, mind you. The distant sound of thunder was coming. We hurried our pace as I wanted a picture of a waterfall. It was nearly a 5 mile hike and we were almost there!

The rain came shortly afterwards. We brought an umbrella, which came in real handy. Pitter patter, the rain came slowly at first. I had time to take a few nature shots and practice long exposure shots as we hiked. Then, we finally saw what we came for, a waterfall. By this time, it was raining, and still thundering. I have such a sweet and patient husband. We got to a large rock to set up for the long exposure shot, in which he did it. Before I go any further, here are the things you will need for that beautiful long exposure shot:

Camera, preferably a DSLR.
A tripod. This is a must!
A neutral density filter. This is good for those soft, silky pictures, but not required.
Patience. A lot of it!
Place the tripod at a diagonal from the waterfall. You don’t want to look straight at it.

As you are close to the waterfall, it can take your breath away, literally. Don’t get too close if you have breathing problems. Also, watch for water splashes on your lens. Unfortunately, it can really ruin your photo, unless you can crop it out. Let’s take a look at the settings:

Watch for water splashes on your lens. Don’t get too close to the waterfall.
The first setting to adjust is your ISO. For most waterfall shots, it should be around 100 ISO. If it is a little dark out, raise it up to 200 ISO. You are capturing light through the ISO and a waterfall photo can be too bright if the ISO is too high.
The second setting is the shutter speed. This is very important! This is where you slow down the waterfall in your photo. I would start around 1/4. Look at your LCD screen to see if you can see the waterfall. If it is too dark, raise your shutter speed little by little, like 1/5, 1/6. For me, if I go below 1/4, the waterfall photo is too dark. If it is too high, you are risking overexposure. This is where patience is crucial for that beautiful long exposure shot.
The aperture is next. The light can be overexposed here too, so let’s adjust for that. This is the f stop area. The smaller your f stop, the brighter your picture. The larger your f stop, the darker your picture. I would try f 16 at first. Look at your LCD screen to see if the waterfall is visible in your photo. If not, make the adjustments as necessary, by either going to f 18 or f 14. A little adjustment at a time.
In order to do all of this, you must be in manual mode. I love this mode because it gives me the flexibility to capture the colors I want in my photos.
A very important part of long exposure is a timer. You should have a timer on your DSLR. I have a choice between 2 seconds and 10 seconds. Pick your time and select it. It doesn’t matter which one. The photo will be beautiful.

Now, it is time to take those fabulous long exposure photo shoots of waterfalls! Don’t take just one photo. Take many photos at different shutter speed settings. The shutter speed will effect the flow, so you will see the results in your photos.

I didn’t have the time to do all of these previous mentioned settings. Since it was raining and thundering, we were in a bit of a hurry. As my husband was holding the umbrella over me, I quickly, and I mean QUICKLY took pictures. I may have adjusted it once and only took a few pictures. Our safety was important, so we got out there as quickly as we could. When I uploaded the pictures on my computer, I was a little disappointed with the photos. Water splashed and a little dark. I will talk about editing in a future blog, but I changed it to a black and white picture and cropped it.

There you have it. I will tell you to practice, practice, practice. It is rewarding and yet challenging. Just to let you know, I used a 18-55 mm lens, no filter and lots of luck. Others will say to use different lenses, or filters, and yes, I do agree. For me, if I don’t have it on hand, just use what you got. Now, go out and take those fantastic long exposure photo shoots of waterfalls and enjoy yourself!