Photo of the Week #206

After spending the past nine days on Hawaii’s luscious island of Maui, I’m posting a decidedly “un-New York” Photo of the Week. While hiking on the Pipiwai Trail, I spotted this scene of fallen Hibiscus flowers dotting a tranquil stream. Using a tripod, I set my camera to take a long exposure, resulting in the ultra-smooth water you see here.

Pro tip: When taking photos of moving water, don’t use your lens’s smallest apertures to slow your shutter speed. Most lenses start to lose their sharpness after f/11. Instead, use a neutral density filter to reduce the light passing through the lens, allowing you to take a long exposure with one of your lens’s middle apertures.

Photo tech specs: Canon 5D Mark III camera, 24-70 f2.8 II lens @ 24mm, f11, 4 seconds, ISO 100, Tiffen variable neutral density filter.

May 21, 2014: Fallen Hibiscus flowers dot a stream along the Pipiwai Trail on Hawaii’s island of Maui.

To view a full-screen version of this photo, visit AviGerver.com.