David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

The Silky Brook

Nothing says "professional photographer" like the classic photo of sea waves, a waterfall, or a brook, in which the water seems to have been smoothed into a milky, silky continuum.

Actually, though, getting this shot is amazingly easy—if your camera has a shutter-priority mode (Use Stabilization). Usually, that means an SLR or an advanced compact. Alas, regular, inexpensive point-and-shoot models generally don't give you manual control of the shutter speed.

In any case, the trick is simply to dial up a slow shutter speed. While the shutter sits open, the water keeps running and soon blurs into a strip of white, ribbony magic.

So how come the rest of the scene isn't blurry? Because you've put the camera on a tripod, a rock, a tree stump, a fence post, or something else steady—just as you always do when you're using a slow shutter speed.

Put the camera into shutter-priority mode. Start with a shutter speed of half of a second (expressed on an SLR's screen as "2," meaning 1/2). Set it onto your stable platform and compose the shot. Turn on the self-timer, so your finger won't jiggle the camera pushing the shutter button.

Tip

If you have an SLR and you take a lot of nighttime or slow-shutter shots, consider a shutter-release cable (about $50). It's another way to trigger the shot without physically pressing the shutter button.

Take the shot.

See how much milky-water-ribbon ...