Waterfalls

Neidong Falls, Taiwan

A well exposed photograph of a waterfall is something that captures the viewers imagination almost every time. It’s eye candy for those looking at the photograph. It’s also quite a challenge to shoot well, as can be seen at almost any waterfall that is easily accessible to tourists – I guarantee that most people there will be holding a small digicam or cell phone and the inbuilt flash will be firing as they attempt to replicate the waterfall photos they’ve seen elsewhere. So how does one go about photographing a waterfall?

Before we go any further, let me remind you that my eBook Tips, Tricks and Pics is available to purchase for $5.

The basics are pretty simple. Starting with some elementary gear, you’ll need

• A camera that allows control over the shutter speed at minimum. Full manual is preferable.

• A sturdy tripod.

• Some kind of remote release or the camera’s self-timer.

• Polarizing or graduated neutral density filters (optional).

Set your camera securely on the tripod and take a test shot. Choose a low ISO (100 or 200) and an aperture that will give you a good depth of field (eg f16). You might want to try this in aperture priority (Av) the first time so that you get an understanding of the difference between the camera’s settings and your own vision. Chances are, the camera will set a shutter speed that freezes the water. That may be all you desire so if that’s the case, pack up and head home.

It’s pretty unlikely though that the resulting shot matches what you can see in your minds eye. The classic waterfall image shows blurred, milky looking water. To get that, it’s simply a matter of adjusting the shutter speed to give that silky blurred effect. Choose a shutter speed of 2.5 seconds and you’ll get the water looking right. However, now that the water looks good, it’s quite likely that that image is overexposed. So how do we fix that?

Neidong Falls, Taiwan

Ultimately, the need less actual light coming in during the same exposure time. There are a couple of things you can try to achieve this.

• Time of day – Sunrise, sunset and overcast days will generally mean less light reaching the scene. Bright noon overhead sunlight is not when you want to be there, so plan accordingly.

• Filters – polarizing or neutral density filters can lessen the amount of light coming into the camera. A polarizer also cuts down on reflections, something a waterfall has an abundance of.
• Aperture – I mentioned f16 above for a good depth of field, but you might want to stop down even further to f22 or f32.
• Bracket exposures – You could take a series of bracketed exposures and blend them together in an HDR fashion to ensure that everything is correctly exposed.

Experimenting is the name of the game. Each waterfall will be different just as each photographer’s vision is different. Use the tips above as starting points to get you in the ballpark and then try a few different settings from then.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 06:00. It is filed under Natural World, PhotoTip and tagged with PhotoTip, waterfall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.