milky water

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Glenn
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having not tried it before and after just perchasing my first tripod i was thinking of having a go at this milky water affect, though im not intierly sure how to acomplish a good end result.
Any advice would be appretiated.
Thanks for your time :thumbs:
 
Well you've got the tripod! Great! You have'nt mentions what type of camera you have got, but if it's an SLR then the next item you need is a good cable release to plug into your camera. This will allow you to press the shutter and focus whilst standing back from the camera, eliminating the dreaded camera shake.
You can also use the self timer, but a cable release is a worthwhile investment.
To obtain the milky water effect you need to be using shutter speed of 2 seconds or more. This is easily achieved on an overcast day, as all you need to do is set your camera on AV mode (aperture priority) and shoot at around F16 or above.
 
You have a choice with the D80 - either the MC-DC1 remote cord or the ML-L3 infra red remote, either will do the job you want it to (release the shutter without touching it) although the ML-L3 works best from in front of the camera (the sensor is just above the D80 badge IIRC).

Personally, to achieve slow shutter speeds, I use S mode and let the camera chose the aperture - whichever mode you use, keep the ISO as low as possible - IIRC, the D80 goes down to ISO 100. Chose the shutter speed (for exposures of 1 second and above, you want to see 1" (or more) in the display - if you see 2 rather than 2", you'll be shooting at 1/2 a second rather than 2 seconds; you'll still get milky water but the longer the exposure, the milkier it'll look.

I would suggest that you take a few shots at a range of speeds to see which speed gives you the result that pleases you. Sometimes the water can look too milky.

If the weather is too bright and you can't get slow shutter speeds even with very small apertures, you may need a Neutral Density (ND) filter which will cut the amount of light that hits the sensor. If you have a polarising filter, that can be used to both cut the amount of reflection from the water's surface and to increase the exposure time a bit.
 
I have a nikon d80 with a 70-300mil lens and a 18-135 wide angle lens.
No cable release though
 
Or you could try manual mode,and choose your shutter speed and your aperture independently, then have a play till you get the result you want ;)
 
I have a nikon d80 with a 70-300mil lens and a 18-135 wide angle lens.
No cable release though

Don't HAVE to use a cable/remote release - use the self timer function set at 2 seconds - press shutter release and camera will have stopped wobbling before shutter opens.
 
also an ND filter is really useful... it will help prevent the water looking over-exposed. Also if you're photographing a stream, or part of a river etc... it's actually best to do it on a day where it's a bit overcast, as strong sunlight will make your image look over-exposed too.
 
1/8-1/4 sec roughly what i get some results with
i dont think the water should look too surrealistic
 
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