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Waterfall Weekend (Part 2): Rivers of Gold
Oct 12, 2010 | by Kevin Loughlin
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River of gold – 30 second exposure. |
Reflections of the beech tree’s Autumn color creates a gold cast at slow shutter speeds. Carefully lining up the angle of the reflection and using a polarizer set just right to enhance the contrast of the scene takes some practice and patience.
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8 second exposure. |
Knowing the light, like when the sun will pass over the falls creating a spotlight, helps with waterfall photography. These falls are very difficult to photograph after 11am on a sunny day as the sun becomes to harsh and contrasty.
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1/4 second exposure. |
Waterfalls are typically best shot looking upstream, as these students are doing.
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1/3 second exposure. |
However, sometimes we can find interesting shapes while looking downstream and have a better understanding of when it is appropriate to ‘break the rules’ of composition.
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30 second exposure. |
Generally a 1 second to 3 second exposure is perfect for getting the ‘veil effect’ with waterfalls, however, now and then I like to go a bit longer to get a more ‘liquid’ effect.