Photographing Waterfalls: A beginner's guide.

Before you set off to photograph anything, you should get to know your camera. Read the instruction manual, learn all the functions of your camera, and find out when and how those functions should be used. Some cameras even come with waterfall or landscape modes that make taking outdoor photos easier for you. If you don't know what your camera's built in functions are capable of, you can’t take advantage of them.

Discover these built-in functions and try them out. In the digital age, it'll cost you nothing to run around your house taking pictures of random things to try out the different features of your camera. Load up those images on your PC and see what works best.

It's also good idea to get to know the capacities are your camera. How long the batteries will last. How many shots can be taken on a certain memory card. How quickly you can turn it on and take a picture. How much light is needed to get sharp results. General knowledge of the performance of your camera will greatly improve your picture taking.

If you're out in the field and have trouble with your camera, an error message, or the camera just isn't doing what you expected to, having some knowledge of the display, sounds the camera makes, or its general behavior could help you troubleshoot it and you'll be able to continue shooting. There's nothing worse than traveling to a site and coming home with little to nothing because of a technical issue.

A great way to learn about the features of your camera is to check out a professional spec sheet and review like the ones found on Steve's Digicams.

Before heading out, have at least some foreknowledge of the site you are going to. Check street maps, so you don't get lost along the way. Topo maps, so you have some idea of the structure of the terrain. And most importantly, trail maps, so when you get there, you know where to go. If you have limited time at this site it's good to know where the best locations are ahead of time, so you can hit them first.

A good idea is to check the Internet for any information about the site such as wildlife to look out for, current status of trails or access and best viewing or photographing locations. Discussion groups, such as the one found on this web site are a great place to discuss a location and get critical information before you begin your trip. An important thing to know before heading out is whether or not the location is publicly accessible. You could be arrested and/or fined for trespassing on private property. NYfalls.com tries to keep up-to date information about the accessibility of the sites listed, but it is your responsibility to avoid trespassing and breaking any laws on your expeditions.

Check the weather.
It's always a good idea of check the weather ahead of time. Since the conditions of the skies and the sunlight greatly affects the results of your photographs, you may choose not to head out to a site based on the weather in that area. Of course, heavy rain and snow is always a deterrent.

Clear blue skies and partly cloudy conditions are great for shooting wide open areas, where lighting is even. In gullies, bright overhead light doesn't necessarily hit the creek bed or the waterfall. This causes extremely bright conditions in the trees and wherever light shows through, and dark shadows deep in the gully where light doesn't quite reach. This uneven light makes it very difficult to photograph. You either have to expose for the light or the dark. If you expose in the middle, you lose a lot of detail.

Overcast skies are great to photograph in. The lighting is even and mild, and usually the temperature is more comfortable. The downside is that if you want a dramatic sky in your shot, you're not going to get it during the day; sometimes sunrise and sunset coupled overcast skies can lead to very dramatic lighting patterns.

uneven lighting

Mid-day, the uneven lighting conditions at Norton's falls causes white highlight spots where the sun breaks through the trees and lands on the scene.

For the waterfall photographer, rain is both a good and bad thing. Although photographing in the rain runs the risk of getting both you and your equipment soaked, rain feeds the streams and creeks and adds power to the waterfalls. There are even some waterfalls that don't even flow until after heavy rain (Inspiration Falls in Letchworth State Park being one of the most notable examples). A good idea is to prepare for the rain to stop and to get out as soon as it does. Since following rain there usually are overcast skies, the lighting cooperates well. High water flow and even lighting makes for great waterfall photo.

For safety reasons, avoid heavy rainstorms when in deep narrow gorges. Heavy rain piling up in a narrow channel can lead to flash flooding. A very dangerous situation. Since you may be carrying equipment, you're not going to be able to move as quickly as you should. So check the weather before hand and make sure not only will it cooperate with your photographs, but also that there's no risk of being caught in serious conditions.

Get out early (or late).
I'm not much of an early bird and I miss out on a lot of great photographs because of it.

A great way to avoid direct sun and uneven lighting is to get the jump on the sun and get out to site early. There are many benefits to getting to a site early. For one, you beat the crowds and can get photos of very popular locations (Taughannock, for example) without all the tourists in the way. You also get more even and mild lighting. Without the sun directly above, there is little glare and little to no sunspots shining through the tree canopies, creating distracting white highlights in your photographs.

The same is a true for later in the day, when the sun is getting close to setting. My favorite time to photograph is “golden hour.” That one fraction of the day where the sun is setting in the light turns mild and orange. It creates mild contrast, even lighting, and excellent golden colors. The downside is that despite its name, it barely lasts an hour, and you have to work fast.

So the general rule of thumb is that unless you have overcast skies, excellent lighting conditions can be had both in the early morning and right at sunset. It also just so happens that many of the more popular destinations are less crowded during the more optimal photographing conditions.

Tripod.
The most important advice I can give is to buy and use a tripod. A tripod is a piece of equipment that you attach a camera to that will keep it stable, allowing you to take sharp, well-composed images.

When you take a hand-held shot, no matter how still you think you are, you shake, and your resulting photo blurs slightly. When using your camera zoom that shake magnifies and cameras with very long zooms and no image stabilization can yield unsharp and soft results. By connecting your camera to a tripod, you can virtually eliminate shake. Tripods also allow you to level and pan your camera with ease. You also gain the ability to take a multiple identical shots and shots with long exposures. You can use a long exposure to create the blurred, silky appearance of water you see on many of the photos on this site.

Nowadays, you can get very light weight, inexpensive tripods with carrying cases that can attach to your backpack or strap to your shoulder. Even a cheap tripod will make an improvement over a hand-held shot. If you can't lug around a tripod, try a monopod (which is one leg instead of three). They even make walking sticks that double up as monopods- perfect for hiking.

I recommend that if you'll be hiking with your tripod, choose aluminum or graphite for both high strength and low weight. You also want to look for a quick release camera feature so you can quickly take off your camera and use of handheld as needed. Also test how easy it is to set up and collapse the tripod. A tripod that you can't easily set up or quickly pack up can be a real pain in the ass when stopping to take photos frequently. A sturdy carrying case is also recommended.

Bracket your shots.
Many cameras come with a feature called “bracketing.” Bracketing means your camera will take a series of shots, each of different exposures, from one press of the shutter. You can set the difference between each exposure from 0.3 to 1 stop, and also set the number of exposures to be taken in one shutter press. What this allows you to do is for each set of photos you take you have the chance to go back and pick the best exposure out of the bracketed set. Since cameras rarely get it right the first time you've created an opportunity to go back and pick the best in the series. If you're using a tripod and our little bit more advanced at Photoshop, you can even combine different exposures to get better results. Check your manual to see if your camera supports bracketing and if you have enough memory on your memory card to start taking advantage of it. I highly recommend using it. The best settings to use are +/- 0.3 for 3 shots (or similar).

Experiment.
As I stated before, you should you experiment with all of your camera's various settings in order to get to know your camera and what it can do. You should also get in the field and experiment with different ways of taking photographs of waterfalls. Don't just take the usual shot or “postcard shot.” Everyone who's been there, has already taken the same shot. Be different, think different and shoot different.

Don't just fill your frame with the subject. Try to include foreground and background elements; boulders or the stream bed in front of the falls, trees behind the falls. Also take close-ups of sections of the falls, not just the entire thing. Include people, which helps emphasize scale and bring realism to the photo. Waterfalls can also make a great backdrop to a portrait.

Include obscure angles. If safety allows try getting to different locations, rather than the typical lookouts. You may also be able to frame your subject with foreground elements. An outcropping in the trees with a clear view of the falls makes a great natural frame.

Try the different built-in settings on your camera to see which works better or what creates interesting effects. There are no set rules on how you should take a waterfall photograph. Many of the best photographs out there today come from experimentation. And from experimentation, you get a better understanding of your equipment and capabilities as a photographer. Read the next article in the series: An Intermediate Guide: Photographic Filters