Capturing the Rush: How to Take Beautiful Waterfall Photos
When the spring and summer rains hit Kansas, our local landscapes transform. Hidden spots like Geary Lake Falls and Chase Lake Falls turn from quiet trickles into roaring spectacles. If you want to capture that raw beauty, you need more than just a quick smartphone snap.
To get those magazine-quality, silky-smooth water shots, you need to stabilize your camera and control how long light hits your sensor. Here are the core professional techniques I use to slow down time and create stunning waterfall imagery.
1. The Power of the Long Exposure
The secret behind that dreamy, velvety water look is a slow shutter speed. When you leave your shutter open for a second or two, every drop of splashing water blurs together into a smooth stream.
- Action vs. Motion: A fast shutter speed (1/500s or higher) freezes individual water droplets, highlighting the raw power and texture of the crash. A slow shutter speed (1/2s to 3s) transforms the falls into a tranquil fluid ribbon. The longer the shutter speed, the more of that misty magic you can capture. But, you’ll be fighting with blown highlights if your exposure is too slow.
- ISO & Aperture: When you use a slow shutter speed during daylight, you’ll want to use the smallest ISO setting on your camera. That is usually ISO of 50 or 100. For landscape photography, a larger aperture is needed to capture the details in the full scene. Normally, that will be around F11 to F16. But, because we are wanting to darken the scene to allow for slow shutter speeds, you might need to push that to your camera’s highest possible aperture (~F22).
- Keep It Steady: You cannot hand-hold a long exposure. Even minor hand tremors will blur the entire landscape. A sturdy tripod is absolutely non-negotiable for this style of shooting.
2. Battling the Bright Daylight (Using Filters)
If you try to slow your shutter speed down to a full second on a bright afternoon, your image will turn completely white. Too much light floods the camera. To combat this, landscape photographers use a Neutral Density (ND) filter. Think of an ND filter as sunglasses for your lens. It blocks out a fraction of the ambient light, allowing you to use long exposures even under the midday sun. You can combine your ND filter with a circular polarizing filter (CPL). In addition to darkening the scene even more, the CPL filter will cut down glare and reflections on wet surfaces, making colors pop.
When you stack these filters, the order matters. Always attach the ND filter directly to your camera lens first, and then screw the CPL filter onto the front of the ND. Putting the CPL closest to the lens can cause ghosting and other reflections between the layers of glass. Using your lens hood can also help cut down on unwanted solar flares.
3. My DIY Adapter Hack
High-quality filters are expensive, and they are sized to fit specific lens threads. I only own ND filters that fit my massive 95mm lens thread. When I am hiking out to roaring waterfalls, I want to travel light. I certainly do not want to lug that giant, heavy, expensive lens into a misty creek bed.
Instead, filter ring adapter sets can be used. They allow you to mount a larger filter onto a smaller lens barrel. On my last trek, I hadn’t yet received my new adapter set, so I used a makeshift, DIY adapter setup. With a little tape and creativity, I successfully mount my 95mm glass right onto my compact nifty fifty and 16mm lenses. This trick gives you all the creative benefits of a high-end filter system without the added physical weight or financial burden.
The Art of Slipping Away
At the end of the day, slow-exposure waterfall photography isn’t just about technical settings or having the right adapter ring gear. It is about slowing down your own pace to match the rhythm of the landscape. Changing your shutter speed allows you to paint with motion, turning a chaotic, roaring cascade into a quiet, dreamy piece of signature art. The next time the storm clouds roll over the Flint Hills, pack up your tripod, grab your makeshift filter setup, and go see what you can create. I wish you heavy rain, steady ground, excellent luck, and happy waterfall hunting out there!
It is possible to get slow exposure photos without a tripod if you have a steady hand. Both of the above photos were taken handheld. If all you have is a phone camera, you can still get some magical moments captured using a tripod and long exposure modes.
Want to see more amazing Kansas waterfall photos?
Geary Falls
Chase Lake Falls
Have you visited Geary or Chase Lake Falls yet? Tag me on social media so I can see your own slow-exposure creations! TEKimages
