Several individuals have asked me how I got a shot like this so I’m going to explain the process I went through.  I apologize for the length of this post and the amount of technical detail as I’m sure it will seem a bit to much for some.

I’ve seen this stretch of the Willow River (located just outside Hudson, WI) on many occasions but never really took the time and effort to fully explore it’s potential.  Most photographers pass this stretch by and go a bit further up river to the main falls which can be viewed from the bridge at the top of the image.  I planned in advance to shoot this stretch having taken the time to climb down the steep hill on a previous trip to see what kind of shot I might be able to get.  I knew the best time to get the shot would be in the last hour before sunset on a sunny day so when the right conditions were present that’s when I took the trip to the river.  So basically pre-scouting for a shot is the best way to go.  Planning ahead allows you to be prepared when the conditions are just right.

Now I had to plan my gear accordingly.  Select the appropriate lens, and since I was planning long exposures a tripod is a must.  Long exposures may require a Neutral Density Filter to hold back some light unless the shot is taken at night or heavy overcast. A cable release will also be necessary to trigger the exposure.

When I arrived I thought I could get the shot from shore but soon realized I was going to have to get in the water.  I set up in the river making sure the tripod was solid and camera firmly mounted.  I wanted to get the look of the smooth flowing water and natural saturated colors.   I was shooting this shot with a Canon 5D MarkII camera body and I attached a Singh-ray Neutral Density Filter to the end of my Canon 24-105 zoom lens.  I set the camera in manual mode with the mirror lock enabled.   This achieves the sharpest image possible because it eliminates any vibration caused by the mirror opening just before the shutter is tripped exposing the shot.   I plugged in a cable shutter release so I wouldn’t have to touch the camera to trip the exposure.    After framing the scene the way I wanted it I dialed in the amount of polarization I wanted which cuts glare and helps with more saturated color.  The Singh-ray neutral density filter I was using also has a built in polarizer ring.  I set my aperture to F22 so I could get the maximum amount of depth of field in the shot and long exposure.  ISO set to 100 for the least amount of grain and also helps achieve longer exposure.  Turn off the image stabilization on your lens, if you don’t you will get blurry images on long exposures.  I picked a spot to focus on about 1/3 of the way into the scene so I could get the maximum depth of field in the image.  I won’t get into the reasoning behind this as it’s another long subject known as hyperfocal distance.   Next I set the exposure time I was after which was about 25 seconds.  I still had too much light for a long exposure like this so I then dialed in the amount of density required on the Singh-ray Neutral Density Filter until I reached the proper exposure on my meter in camera.  With everything framed the way I wanted, exposure set, I tripped the mirror, waited 5-10 sec and tripped the shutter and waited while the exposure took place (25 sec).  Then I reviewed the image (the histogram mainly) to make sure I had the proper exposure.  I re-focused did the shot again after making any adjustments and reviewed the histogram again to make sure all the values in the scene were recorded properly.   The histogram is a graph which displays the density values recorded, complete black to complete white and everything in between.  You want to make sure no highlight detail is lost and no shadow areas are unnecessarily lost when possible, highlights being priority.  The histogram is the most important tool to get to know on your camera for achieving proper exposures.   In the shot above I slightly underexposed the shot (1/3 stop) so the smooth water highlights would not be completely blown out white and lose detail.  The reason I re-focused between shots to make sure if I was not focused properly on the first shot then all shots would not be bad.  After a handful of shots I was confident I had at least one shot I would be happy with and I moved on to my next location.  It sounds like all of this may have taken a long time but I was probably in the water no more than 10-15 minutes to get the shot I really wanted.