The first time I stumbled upon this phenomenon of light scribbles in falling water, I was hooked. The key is finding spots on the water that are getting direct sunlight. A polarizing filter and slow shutter speed do the trick to capture some fanciful scribbles…
Nikon D600, Nikon 24-120mm lens @ 120mm, circular polarizing filter, ISO 400, f/18, 1/8″ exposure.
John Hadden Photography 
August 14, 2014 at 9:53 am
Beautiful John! I agree – this effect is amazing. I’ve seldom been able to recreate it – it’s happened just a few times. Maybe I need to be more scientific about it…
August 14, 2014 at 10:00 am
Thanks Rich. My first capture of scribbles was totally accidental. Usually I would shy away from direct sunlight on moving water as it tends to blow out the highlights. I’ve found that a polarizer helps tame the broader reflections and allows for the dancing scribble to come through. In this image I’m shooting at about 90 degrees to the sun angle (right shoulder to the sun). A shutter speed between 1/8″ and 1/10″ works well. The VR on my Nikon lens lets me hand-hold down to that range if I’m really stable, but I used a monopod for this image. Good luck!
J