Waterfalls

[Swim]

I have seen lots of shots with waterfalls using slow shutter speeds, it
always makes the water looks nice creating a beautiful effect.
Everytime i take a picture of a waterfall using a slow shutter, the
image always comes out over exposed. how do you stop this from
happening?

[Peren]

Reduce the aperture, use a slower film speed, and/or take the pictures at a
darker time of day.

[Tim]

This is a common effect in landscape/nature photography, as you say.
If you cannot reduce the aperture enough to get a slow enough shutter
speed, and you are at your lowest ISO setting (digital), or using very
slow film, you need a neutral density filter to allow you to use a
slow shutter speed (usually in the range of 1 second to 1/15th). But
when using a slow shutter speed, be careful of perhaps unwanted blur
in other objects in the picture, such as leaves or flowers moving in
the wind.

In my opinion, and this is *strictly my opinion*, the blurred water
effect has become something of a cliche. I've experimented with it,
but don't use it anymore. There are times when it might enhance an
image, I suppose, but to me it's unnatural and a little hoky. Just my
opinion, others will differ.

[Warren]

As others have said, you have to get the shutter speed slower than about
1/10th, (or slower) depending on your perspective and the nature of the
water feature. If your camera will do shutter priority, it's a reasonable
thing to do but make sure you don't wind up overexposed because the camera
won't stop down the lens opening small enough. Most cameras with shutter
priority will give you an indication of whether or not this is happening.
If you have trouble, here are your options, and you have several of them:

Darker scene -- don't try this in full sun, pick a cloudy day, twilight,
heavy shade, etc.
Slower film. If you shoot Velvia at 40 or 50, most cameras will go slow
enough. Don't try it with 400 speed film or digital!
Neutral density filters -- if the scene isn't dark enough, use a filter to
darken it.