Long exposure on a Nikon D50?

I have just bought a Nikon D50 and wanted to try out the long exposure with water. How ever I set the settings on:
Manual
ISO 200 (the lowest)
Aperture on F 22 (the highest)
Shutter speed about 5 seconds.

Every time the photos come out bright white on these settings. It really puzzles me and even my A Level photography teacher. The weather is usually bright and sunny (I believe this could be a contributing factor) It is fine with light trials in the dark. Could anyone shed any light on this for me as I can't find anything to help me.

You have to match the exposure to the amount of light. Your "photography teacher" should know this. You can't switch to M mode and set the exposure you would like to use without regard to the light levels and expect a well exposed photograph - it just isn't going to happen!

Set your camera to Av
Set ISO to 100
Set f stop to f/22
What shutter speed does the camera want to use? That is the one that gives the correct exposure. If it isn't long enough then go back when it is darker or fit a neutral density filter to your lens.

That's because it's too bright during the day to do long exposures without a neutral density filter. It's overexposed.

If your A level photography teacher doesn't know this, then they shouldnt be teaching photography! Perhaps you should show them the 'whole stops' chart I outline below for shutter speeds!

The sunny 16 rule says that in bright light, at ISO 200, your shutter speed will be 1/250 sec at f16. If you are at f22 (1 stop less light) your shutter speed would still be 1/125 to get the correct exposure!

1/125 > 1/60 > 1/30 > 1/15 > 1/8 > 1/4 > 1/2 > 1 > 2 > 4 > 8 secs

You are exposing for 5 secs, you are therefore just over 9 stops overexposed.

Neutral density filters come in different strengths (stops) - you want 8-10 stop filters for daytime work. They basically reduce the light (a 10 stop filter is virtually black) so that you can use long exposures.

If your "teacher" doesn't know the answer then you have a very poor excuse for a teacher.

Read:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/...ilters.htm

http://digital-photography-school.com/learning-exposure-in-digital-photography/

If I were teaching your photography class you would never have experienced this problem.