Blurred water effect

[solohiker]

Hi everybody,

I'm relatively new here so if this topic has been beaten with the proverbial dead horse, please forgive me! Here's my problem: I'm trying to photograph a favorite stream and do the blurred water thing. I'm using a polarizing filter to be able to use a slower shutter speed (I've read that a neutral density filter will work better - true?) My bigger issue is that my photos keep looking blurred overall and it's really frustrating me. I'm also using a very small aperture to be able to use the slower shutter speed and I'm wondering if this is the problem. This morning before the sun made it into the valley, I shot with a shutter speed of from 2-8 seconds and my aperture was set between f22 and f32. I'm using a Nikon D3000 with an
18-55mm zoom. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

Clare

[bob_r]

Hi Clare,

Welcome to the Forum!!

You didn't mention it, but I'm going to assume that you are using a tripod if you are shooting with a shutter speed of 2 - 8 seconds. The problem you are experiencing is due to lens diffraction which occurs at very small aperture settings. Here's a link to a brief explanation in case you're not familiar with the term: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutor ... tion.shtml

A polarizing filter can be better than an ND filter if you are getting glare from the sun on the water. In most cases, the ND filter will work better.

Hope this helps.

[solohiker]

Sorry for the omission, Bob - yes, I was using a tripod. Thanks for the link - I'll be testing all my lenses.

Clare

[greoi]

Ensure the shape layer is selected, and click on Filter then Styx then Wind. Do not be alarmed when an error message appears, asking if you want to 'Rasterize' the shape. Simply click OK. It happen you can take benefits of effect .
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