Mountain stream in silk

One of the countless boulder-choked streams that thread through the park, dropping through a series of small ledges on its way downhill. Fall color still clung to the banks even after most of the higher-elevation trees had gone bare.

Getting the shot

A 4-second exposure on a tripod turned the moving water into smooth ribbons while keeping the wet rock and surrounding leaves crisp. f/22 was necessary to get the shutter that slow in daylight without an ND filter — a bit softer overall from diffraction, but worth the tradeoff for the motion effect.