Photo Tip – Photographing Waterfalls.

When I mentioned to a friend recently that we were heading out to 88m high Karkloof Falls in the Kwazulu Natal Midlands to do some pix of the falls, all he said was, “what? In this @%*$ weather – it’s overcast and raining!” Well, in many instances, this is the best time to be shooting waterfalls and water. If you photograph a waterfall in sunlight, very often the whites of the falling water blow out completely and if you try to hold exposure on them then the rest of the images is really very underexposed. Best of all though, in the low light of the overcast conditions you can shoot at very long shutter speeds resulting in those soft, fluffy waterfalls.

Here’s the first Image – shot from the viewpoint as you arrive. As you can see from the exposure data the long 2 second exposure has allowed

Karkloof Falls. Exposure Data: 2 Sec at f16. Iso 100 + Polarising Filter

the falling water to blur completely and a polarising filter  cuts the reflections on the rocks, foliage and water resulting in more saturated colours.

We then moved to the area above the falls to the much smaller waterfall called Woodhouse Falls (you see them above the main falls). Here I experimented with different shutter speeds to change the effect of the blurring. The choice of shutter speed depends on your personal preferences and on what you are trying to portray but have a look at the exposure data below each image and use what you think is best.

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/4 Sec at f16. ISO 100 +Polarising Filter

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/30 Sec at f5.6. ISO 100 +Polarising Filter

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/60 Sec at f4. ISO 100 +Polarising Filter

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/250 Sec at f2.8. ISO 400 +Polarising Filt

I wasn’t quite happy with my pic of the main falls and we scouted around for another view point. Eventually we discovered and tiny, indistinct little path through the thick bush that led to a rock overhang with a stunning view of the falls. The problem was the sky. The contrast between the rather dark gorge and trees and the sky was just too much for the camera to handle. I decided to use a fairly new (well it’s actually been out for a few years now) technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. What you do is shoot a number of different images at different exposures. I used what the camera metered and then +1, -1. -2 and -3 stops. I then run these images through some software called Photomatix which, to cut a very long story short and to oversimplify it, blends all the images together and compresses that range of tones. The last image is what you get.

We are running a Photo Workshop in Howick in early January and then again in March and will be working these falls as part of the experience. Have a look here for more details: http://www.africaimagery.com/workshops_midlands.php.

Karkloof Falls. HDR image from 0, +1, -1, -2, -3 exposures.