Waterfall Photography

I have fallen in love with waterfalls! Their power and beauty makes the long early hikes worth the effort but capturing that beauty on camera can be tricky! Here are my tips to Waterfall Photography!

• NO SUN! It is best for all photography to be done during the “Blue or Golden Hours” but for waterfall photography, you will also want to shoot on a cloudy, heavy overcast rainy day! As long as there is no sun, you can capture a great image!
  • Water reflects light! If the sun is hitting the water, the light will be reflected and cause severe over exposure on your image. You will loose detail in the highlights usually to the point where your have no detail at all in the water.

Falls Creek Falls was an impressive waterfall for its small size! The hike was beautiful, the recent rain made the falls full, and the area was nearly deserted of tourists! The only problem, it was 1pm on a sunny bright day! Though this image is still beautiful, the contrast between the shadows and overexposed highlights and loss of detail in the water is not ideal.

• Use a Neutral Density (ND) Filter! ND filters allow the photographer to slow down the shutter speed without having to raise the aperture. By slowing the shutter speed, you are able to achieve the smooth texture of the water that is desirable for waterfall photography.

Cherokee Falls was capture in the early morning hours on an overcast day making it great for capturing this beautiful waterfall!

• Don’t forget to include an interesting foreground! All images need dimension and waterfalls are no different. To help give depth and height to your image, utilize your surroundings and include them in your image!

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Abrams Falls in Cade’s Cove, Tennessee was one waterfall that gave me a new angle to the classic scene! This beautiful purple flower came up out of the water between the rocks and provided the perfect foreground. Using a different focal point on each image brought two great captures from one waterfall! These are two of my favorite waterfall images!

• Use the three basic rules for Composition with every capture! Leading lines, Rule of Thirds, Framing!

This is an extension of using your foreground! The stairway to get to Looking Glass Falls brought all three components of composition to life in this spectacular image. It is very easy once you take a step back to find those interesting features that make the image pop! Being the closest to the subject is usually never the best location to shoot from!