Adding Drama with Motion
Once we have a good exposure established with a chosen and fixed aperture, we want to explore if there is any creative use of shutter to add drama to either moving water, moving clouds, or any other moving elements in the composition.
At Moraine Lake, the turquoise waters often have small ripples from wind. A long exposure can transform choppy water into a mirror-smooth surface, or turn a waterfall into silky streams.
Shutter Speed Reference Guide
To get creative results from varying subjects, here are general shutter speeds to start with:
Starting Points by Subject:
- Waterfall: 1/8 second to 1 second
- River/Stream: 1/8 second to 4 seconds
- Lake with ripples: 1 minute+
- Fast moving clouds: 1 minute+
- Very slow moving clouds: 4 minutes+
- Removing unwanted people: Try 8 minutes for a start!
The People-Removal Trick
With an extremely long exposure (8+ minutes), people walking through your frame become invisible because they don't stay in any one spot long enough to register. Perfect for crowded locations!
Four Ways to Slow Your Shutter
There are four main ways to increase the shutter time without changing the overall exposure value of the image:
Method 1: Reduce Your ISO
- If you reduce your ISO by 1 stop, you will double the shutter time
- Reducing ISO is not often a good solution when shooting landscapes
- You might already be at the lowest possible ISO for quality reasons
Method 2: Increase Aperture (Smaller Opening)
- If you increase your aperture by 1 stop (e.g., f/11 to f/16), you double shutter time
- Going from f/11 at 1/8s to f/16 gives you 1/4s, to f/22 gives you 1/2s
- Limitation: Diffraction at small apertures (f/22+) reduces sharpness
- Often won't get you to 1+ minute exposures
Method 3: Solid Neutral Density Filter
- Much like the Graduated ND, but uniformly dark across the entire filter
- The filter reduces overall light entering your lens by a set number of stops
- Common strengths: 6-stop and 10-stop
- This is the most practical way to achieve very long exposures
Method 4: Wait for Lower Light
- Shoot before sunrise or after sunset
- Natural low light allows longer exposures
- Best for blue hour photography
ND Filter Exposure Chart
Below is a chart to help calculate your new shutter speed when using ND filters. Find your starting shutter speed in the left column, then read across for the exposure with different filter strengths:
| Base Shutter | 6-Stop ND | 10-Stop ND | 16-Stop ND |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/500s | 1/8s | 2s | 2m |
| 1/250s | 1/4s | 4s | 4m |
| 1/125s | 1/2s | 8s | 8m |
| 1/60s | 1s | 16s | 16m |
| 1/30s | 2s | 32s | 32m |
| 1/15s | 4s | 1m | 1h |
| 1/8s | 8s | 2m | 2h |
| 1/4s | 16s | 4m | 4h |
Pro Tip
Download an ND filter calculator app on your phone. It's much easier than doing the math in your head at 5am in the cold! Apps like "ND Filter Calculator" or "PhotoPills" make this trivial.
Putting It All Together
Congratulations - you've now learned the complete seven-step framework for landscape photography! Let's recap the workflow:
The Complete Workflow:
- Step 1: Find your composition (subject, foreground, background, balance)
- Step 2: Add polarizing filter if needed (reduce glare, enhance colors)
- Step 3: Place tripod to camera (not camera to tripod!)
- Step 4: Set focus and depth of field (start at f/11, adjust as needed)
- Step 5: Take base exposure and check histogram
- Step 6: Optimize exposure with compensation, filters, or bracketing
- Step 7: Explore creative shutter speeds for artistic effects
Practice this workflow until it becomes second nature. At Moraine Lake, with the light changing rapidly at sunrise, you need to work efficiently. Having a systematic approach lets you focus on creativity rather than fumbling with settings.