Photographing waterfalls

By Neil Protheroe, Professional landscape photographer and workshop tutor

Picture This Photography Weekends

Like the pristine purity of snow-capped mountains and the aqua-blue colour of a glacial lake, waterfalls have a fascinating allure for most of us. The thunderous noise of a huge waterfall is an awesome demonstration of nature’s raw power, while a smaller, more gentle cascade tumbling over rocks in a forest can be an expression of beauty, delicacy and serenity. Perhaps we see the movement of water as giving life to the stillness of a landscape: a sense of being, of never standing still, but ever-present. There is something magical about waterfalls, and it is perhaps for that reason that we find them so compelling to photograph ̶ though doing so successfully is not as easy as it looks!

How then, to best capture a waterfall on camera?

First, we must consider the “look” of the image we are going to make. Our own eyes function more like a video camera than a single-image stills camera and, with this in mind, were we to take a single still image from a video film of a waterfall, the freezing of the movement of water may look unnatural to us. It is generally preferable and more pleasing to the eye to convey the movement of the water by creating a silky, ribbon-like effect, using a long exposure ̶ though, like any rule, there will be exceptions, more of which later

Equipment Needed

Tripod - A sturdy tripod is essential for waterfalls. Needless to say, it will keep your camera stable and still during the exposure, but the additional benefit is to slow you down and allow you to concentrate on your composition and camera settings with the camera in place.

Remote Release - It’s always a good idea to use one of these to eliminate any vibration or shake when releasing the shutter, though the camera’s self-timer is just as effective. Some newer cameras have an exposure delay timer which does the same job, pausing the release of the shutter for a brief moment once your finger has pressed the button.

Polarising Filter - This is very useful for waterfalls since it can reduce glare and reflections from water and wet rocks, as well as remove reflected light from shallow water, giving us a clearer view beneath the surface. A polariser also reduces the amount of light entering the lens, facilitating a longer exposure.

Neutral Density Filter - This is used to reduce the amount of light entering the lens and thereby force a longer exposure. The strength of the filter will of course depend on the level of ambient light. A 2 or 3-stop filter may suffice to give the exposure time needed. In very bright conditions, a 6-stop may be needed.

Lens Cloth - Waterfalls can often cause spray, and you’ll want to dry that off your lens!

Lens Choice and Composition

Floret of Queen Ann Lace Astrantia

For most waterfalls we come across, a standard zoom lens – 16-80mm or 18-55mm on an APSC camera, and 24-70 or 24-105 on a full frame camera – will be sufficient. Occasionally a wider angle may be needed, for example when photographing up close or when facing a particularly tall waterfall at close quarters. For abstract images, or when isolating a small part of the falls, then a telephoto lens will probably be needed, perhaps a 70-200mm or 100-400mm on a full frame camera. Telephoto lenses also have the effect of compressing the near and far elements of the subject, which can be particularly pleasing for an abstract composition.

Waterfalls frequently lend themselves to multiple compositions. They are often to be found in bush, surrounded by trees and foliage, so time of year is a factor to consider when seeking them out. Spring and autumn are probably the best seasons, since in summer the flow of the falls may be reduced to a mere trickle and in winter the surrounding trees may be bare.

Time of day is also an important consideration. Water is highly reflective and in bright sunlight there is every chance that the white tones of the scene ̶ the water ̶ will be unacceptably blown out. In low light the surrounding elements of the scene may be in deep shadow and the contrast range may exceed the dynamic range capability of the camera, in which case, multiple exposures may be required, for blending together in post-processing.

... Photographing Waterfalls

The best conditions to photograph waterfalls are under cloudy skies with little direct sunlight on the falls themselves. Including the sky in a composition might be desirable if it adds interest but again, the contrast range between sky and foliage may be too great for the camera, in which case an exposure blend or graduated neutral density filter might be called for. As a rule, if the sky does not add anything to the composition, there is no real need to include it.

Foreground interest may include rocks in the water, smaller cascades or perhaps some tree ferns which you may wish to include, using a wide-angle lens to get low and close. Some falls are best photographed face-on, whilst others may work better from an angle or even side-on. There are also endless possibilities for abstract images, using a telephoto lens to hone in on just a small part of the waterfall, perhaps where its water hits rocks and bounces off them. The halfway house might be a composition of just part of the falls; for example the lower reaches of the cascade, and the pool of water into which the falls flow.

It’s usually a good idea to avoid photographing smaller waterfalls after heavy rain, since the water might be dirty and too voluminous to reflect the natural beauty of the cascade. On the other hand, more dramatic cliff-face falls such as those found in Fiordland usually benefit from heavy rain to fill them. More on this later.

...Photographing Waterfalls

Camera Settings

This is the tricky part. There are no hard and fast rules around camera settings because they will always be dependent on several factors: the level of ambient light, the source direction of the light, the volume of water in the falls, the effect we want to create, and the depth of field required.

Manual exposure mode is best selected for waterfalls. Since we are probably wishing to achieve a relatively long exposure in daylight, we would first select the lowest ISO possible, say 100. Our choice of lens aperture will be governed first by the depth of field we need, according to the depth of the scene components, and second by our need to control the amount of light entering the lens to manage the shutter speed.

Evaluative/matrix metering should be fine for most waterfall scenes. However, if the falls are face-on and the water is bright white, perhaps with sunlight on it as well, spot metering may yield more accurate exposure results.

Using this abstract image of Purakaunui Falls as an example, an aperture of f/8 or even f/5.6 would have been perfectly suitable to achieve the desired depth of field, but I used f/16 in order to control the light entering the lens and thus apply the correct shutter speed for the motion blur effect I wanted to create.

Here, some trial and error is normally called for. We may be able to capture the movement of a fast-flowing waterfall with a shutter speed as great as 1/20 or 1/30 seconds, but in situations where the water volume is less, we may need a much longer exposure of several seconds to create the same effect. Every situation is different.

Having chosen an aperture, for example f/16, to both maximise depth of field and restrict the light entering the lens, if the resultant shutter speed is too slow, the water flow may resemble a bright white mass, with little or no definition or detail and a high possibility of blown highlights. Too fast and the water may appear “stringy” as the motion is frozen, or worse, as frozen droplets. The optimum values will lie somewhere in between, and a little experimentation and practice are needed to gauge where they lie.

If the ambient lighting is too bright to enable a suitably long exposure to be achieved, then a neutral density filter will be required, and again some trial and error will be needed to determine the appropriate choice of strength. Attaching an ND filter to the lens will reduce the light hitting the camera sensor and a slower shutter speed will be needed to achieve a correct exposure. If the resulting image is not how we want it to look, we may need to change the aperture, say from f/16 to f/11, or even change the ISO by an increment. Remember that the “look” of the image will be determined primarily by the shutter speed ̶ nothing else.

...Photographing Waterfalls

Complications

Wind - Having put in a lot of thought and preparation to create that perfect silky look for the waterfall in front of us, we suddenly realise that the breeze in the air is causing the foliage of the trees to move. With a long exposure, that movement results in blur, which potentially spoils the photograph. In this situation, the only real solution is to create two images, one exposed for the movement of the water and one exposed to freeze the movement of the trees, and to blend the two in Photoshop.

Sun - In bright sunlight the “white” of the flowing water will almost certainly blow out, resulting in a total loss of detail and irrecoverable highlights. Correcting the exposure value to compensate for this may result in blacks/shadows being clipped. The answer is simply to avoid shooting in bright sunlight.

Spray - Wind can often blow water towards you, or you may just be standing too close to the falls to avoid it. Spray on the front element of your lens will obviously ruin the photograph. It may be that you have to return to the scene on a windless day to best capture the scene.

Rain - Heavy rain can fill a small waterfall with so much water that it is almost impossible to create the desired ribbon effect, and the water invariably resembles a thick white mass. In these circumstances, it is best to avoid shooting soon after rainfall, though as ever there are exceptions. Some waterfalls only reveal themselves after heavy rain, for example on mountainsides in Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Park; other large falls such as Devil’s Punchbowl in Arthur’s Pass and many in Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound look their best when full of water.

Break the Rules!

It is not always the case that the silky, ribbon-like effect is best for a waterfall shot. The power and force of a big waterfall can often be more effectively conveyed by “breaking the rules” and capturing the movement of water by freezing it, using a faster shutter speed. Take a look at these two images of Salt Creek Falls in Oregon, USA. The first was exposed for 1/25 seconds at f/16. The second exposure was 0.5 seconds at the same aperture.

The effect on the flow of water is obvious, but which one best conveys the size, power and presence of these falls best? Does the “silky” look still work, or is the freezing of the motion more expressive of the power of the waterfall? This, of course, is a question of personal preference.

Conclusion

We have many beautiful, easily-accessible waterfalls in New Zealand, and probably hundreds of others hidden away, seen only by a few humans. They enjoy a special place in landscape photography and can be among the most pleasing of all subjects. Like everything, practice makes perfect, and don’t be afraid of experimenting!

Neil Protheroe is a professional landscape photographer and workshop tutor, with Picture This Photography Weekends.

Visit www.picturethis.kiwi