I have always appreciated the pictures that photographers take of waterfalls that give the impression of slowing time rather than stopping it. You know the ones that I'm speaking of, in fact they are usually the only ones that are worth looking at. An image where everything is still, in perfect focus but the water keeps its fluidity resembling a viscous fog rolling over the edge. There is a magical quality to the image, as though you might walk into the scene and be able to exist in that moment.
In anticipation of a trip next week to Hanging Garden lake near Vail I purchased a 9 stop neutral density filter. What these filters do is limit the amount of light that is allowed through the lens, think sunglasses for your camera. 1 to 10 stops; that is the range that you can chose from and all along that scale you use the filters for different situations. The lower numbers you would use so that you may take pictures with a shallow depth of field on a bright, sunny day. The higher numbers are more for special effects rather than the more practical uses that the lower numbers. With a 9 or 10 stop ND filter you can keep your shutter open for thirty seconds or more in daylight allowing you to catch the movement of water, or negate an object that moves through the scene.
I took these images at the Denver Botanic Gardens because they are the closest waterfalls to me. My next city project is to go someplace that is always alive with people and use the filter to "remove" everything that is moving from the image. This hopefully means that I can capture the scene without all of the people.
