Shooting Waterfalls
1) A tripod is a must.
2) Your distance to the waterfall can determine the shutter speed to use. A greater distance requires a much slower shutter speed to create the nice milky effect. If close, start with 1/15th of a second….if far, start with 1 second. Adjust until you get the effect you are looking for.
3)Overcast skies are the best time to shoot waterfalls. However, dark clouds or deep shade will render a bluish tinge to your image. You can use a warming filter to counteract or adjust white balance in post processing.
4)If possible, avoid sunlit portions of the falls to avoid over exposure and omit the sky for the same reason.
5)Meter the frothiest part of the falls (usually the brightest) and set your exposure to over-expose that part of the falls by 1/2 stop.
6)Composition works well if you try to include contrasting background to accentuate the falls.
7)Include a “subject” or point of interest in the foreground and use the falls as the background.
Shoot the scene at different shutter speeds to yield different effects.
A little info….the human eye and brain perceives motion at somewhere around 1/60 second. If you were to photograph a waterfall in 35mm format with a 50mm lens at 1/60 second, the degree of implied motion would be the same as seen with the naked eye. Every speed slower than 1/60 second, with the same equipment, would imply great motion. At 1/15 second, a vertical falls shot a few feet away from the lens will veil nicely. At 1/4 second, it will appear cotton-like and at 1 second or slower, it will be “smokin”!
Now….grab that camera and have some fun! A local place to practice….Cargill Falls in Putnam, or Cat Hollow in Dayville.
Cargill Falls is on Route 44 in the center of Putnam. Cat Hollow is a short distance off Route 12 in Dayville. Going South on Route 12 from the center of Dayville, take the 1st left after the Dayville Post Office. The parking area for Cat Hollow Park is a very short distance on the right. Walk the paved walkway for about 100 yeards, you can walk across the dam and photograph the waterfall from the banks of the river.
If you know of other local places, please share by commenting on this tip!
