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Soft Water: There are a lot of handy photography techniques out there to have up your sleeve and making water soft is one that is always good to have in your bag of tricks. Perhaps you have been walking along in your local Hallmark store and saw some cheesy word of pointless truth slapped across a poster like a Kraft cheese singlet on a good burger. So you stop and wonder first why on earth someone would deface God's creation with kitsch and second of all you wonder, "How did they get that water so downy soft?" 

The simple answer is a long exposure, which most people would think is quite obvious, but the real trick is not in the concept, but the application. Ya see, when taking a half to one second exposures you run into several problems. First being: motion blur. At a one second exposure, even your heartbeat will make things a bit fuzzy so you need something to rest your camera on to prevent that from happening. Also, use the delay on your camera for taking the shot instead of pushing the shutter button. This will prevent blur from you moving your hand off the button. The second problem is positioning. The rock or log that you set your camera on will, by default, not make for a very good composition. The easiest solution to this issue is just to find a small rock or stick to set under your camera lens to adjust the angle. In a pinch you can use your hand, but it will not be quite as steady. If you really want to make life easy, you could just buy a tripod to solve these problems, but since those cost money and such, I generally avoid such options. Well, that is all I got for now. Let me know if you try it and if it works!