blur water - "soft" water effect

Now I tried my very first time to take picture of water with "soft" effect.
I took two pictures- one with and one without effect.

1st:
ISO 100, F11, Exposure time 1/200"



2nd:
ISO 100, F18, Exposure time 1,6"
this time is mounted CPL filter, camera is not on tripod (yes, I know it MUST be on tripod).




Actually I want to know why the 2nd is lighter? Is this because of filter or too much exposure time?

PS: there was no time for more test images because few seconds after testing it become heavy raining.

It looks as though you stopped your aperture down by roughly 2.7 stops but you opened up your shutter speed by about 7.7 stops. So effectively the second image is overexposed by about 5 stops. Do you have a neutral density filter - especially one that is either 6-stops or 10-stops? That will help control the exposure without having to stop down your aperture to f/18.

You could also stick that puppy on a tripod to get the exact composure and blend the 2 images together in lightroom

No, I have not none of ND filters. I need to keep practising to make better photos. But I need to find water somewhere around me.

I think the only way you can get that shot without an ND filter is wait until it's just about dusk and the light is really low, and then redo the shot you did that was over-exposed... You'll need a tripod, or somewhere you can aim the camera while it's resting on a stabile surface...

And maybe I will better shots if I change F too? I know this kind of pictures can be hard, but now I started practising them.

Many lens only go to f32, your second photo was at f18 the difference is 1 and 2/3 stops this would not have been enough to bring the image to the correct exposure. Even at f32 you still would have need to increase the shutter speed to darken the photo, increased shutter speed would then lessen the smoothing effect. Remember you still need to keep your exposure meter at or near the center.

As mentioned before there a several way around this one is to shoot early or late in the day or use a neutral density filter. Think of a ND filter as dark glasses for your camera. The CPL filter is to control reflections off shinny surfaces like water can be at times.

I'd probably start with an F-8 aperture, 30 seconds, and ISO 100. Then change speed to 60, and 90 seconds for the subsequent shots. I probably wouldn't use a smaller aperture than f-11.

You are off to a good start.

I have a set of high quality Hoya HMC ND filters that go from 2x (1 stop) to 8x (3 stops). Although it is not necessarily a good practice, they can be stacked to get a cumulative effect in a pinch. This photo was taken on the D850. You can drop the ISO to 32 so combined with a 3 stop ND, I was able to get 3 seconds at f/22 of this waterfall at Hanging Rock, NC. Sometimes it just takes some ingenuity and trial and error. I have found that 3-4 sec is a good shutter speed for blurring water. Anything slower does not have much more of an effect and can leave you open to unsharpness, even on a sturdy tripod, due to camera movement. It is amazing how much unsharpness you can get from just a mild breeze blowing.

The key is to just keep experimenting until you find the combination that works for you!