Landscape Photography

So you want to do one of those nice long exposures where you blur out the the water so it looks silky smooth.

Here's how to do it.

First and most important is the tripod - a good sturdy sold set of legs is critical.

Second - A DSLR - primarily because you have control over the shutter speed and in this case you'll want to be able of slow the shutter down as much as possible.

There are three tricks to slowing the shutter down.

#1 - Lower the ISO as low as it will go.
#2 - Change the aperture - you will want the aperture as small as possible - in order to let the least amount of light in which gives you the longest possible shutter speeds.
#3 - Photograph early in the morning, as in sunrise or at sunset. If you try this technique during normal daylight hours there is just too much light to achieve the effect you are after.

Waterfalls, creeks, streams and rivers.

You'll want to use a shutter speed of 1-4 seconds. Using longer shutter speeds makes the water too flat and smooth - not very interesting.

Ocean/Seascapes

Unlike waterfalls, rivers etc. the ocean looks best silky smooth and in order to achieve this look you'll want to use a shutter speed of 5 or more seconds.

Shooting in aperture priority (f/22) gives the best results.

Depending on the time of the day you may need to use a darker neutral density filter, preferably the darker the better, which can help slow the shutter speeds down considerably. The darker the filter the longer you can photograph after the sun has risen or the earlier you can photograph before the sun sets.