People sometimes say to me, "Boy you sure were lucky to get that shot!" Sometimes that is true. But they don't see the dozens of photos that were discarded until I found..."the shot." I have learned that one of the most important characteristics a photographer can have is patience. My best photos are usually a result of luck or much more often...patience. In wildlife photography, patience is essential since you can't pose your subject and the animals don't follow a script. In landscape photography, I think it's all about patience for the right light and working a location to see all the possible angles and perspectives. I took roughly 150 photos at Goforth Creek last weekend. Those photos were taken at 4 different spots. Those spots were all within 100 yards of the trail head and my car. They were taken from about 20 different locations. I would have taken more, but a terrible storm blew through and cut things short.
We tend to look to take "the shot" when we see a scene we like. The "cliché" shot. The postcard. Those are important and we should take them. But we should dive deeper.
I used to not care about how the light was affecting the shots or how looking at different perspectives could dramatically increase the quality of the pictures I was taking. In short, I learned to be patient. Walk around. Put the camera down and really see the scene. And then...to "unsee" it. That is… to take away my first impressions and look at what I wasn't seeing. I had to stop seeing the conventional scene and look at what was possible.
The pictures at Goforth Creek were the product of just that. There are many photographers that could produce far better images than these, but these represent some of my more...patient...shooting.
I will describe how I took these pictures, not because I am an expert, but because maybe you can reproduce the results, or even teach me something.
What you will need is a wide angle lens, a circular polarizing filter and possibly a neutral density filter. In this case, I used a 24-70mm wide angle telephoto lens. While that lens isn't a super wide angle, It does work well for these types of shots The polarizer is very helpful in reducing or eliminating glare and the neutral density filters reduce the amount of light entering the camera to allow for longer exposures if there is sunlight or reflected light. I did not use the neutral density filters because I could stop down enough to limit the light. Every filter is another lens that the light passes through that distorts and changes the light before it enters the camera. I wanted to avoid that, if possible. I use Breakthrough Photography filters because they have produce almost no color cast and produce realistic colors. that day, I used the polarizing filter, but not the neutral density.
Long exposures are necessary to achieve the satiny look to the water. Different photographers will have differing ideas about how long the exposure should be. It is a matter of personal taste. After all...it is art. I like a bit of definition in the water. So my exposure would be shorter than others potentially. But with these photos, it was more a result of the light and how long I could leave the shutter open and not overexpose the highlights. Expose for the highlights and bring out shadows in post processing unless you are shooting HDR (high dynamic range) or bracketed exposures.
This photo illustrates the concept of the Rule of Thirds. The photo is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically to find a pleasing location to place a subject.
You are going to get wet if you shoot waterfalls. You have to wade. You have to see the falls from all angles. Shoot them from all angles and see what comes out best.
Nature photography and landscape photography can be challenging both artistically and physically. Simple techniques can allow for remarkable images, though. Using high and low angles can create very dramatic images. Also, usually you can find interesting foreground objects such as the log in the first photo or the rock in the last to enhance the natural beauty of a scene and increase the interest of the photo. Subject placement in the center can work, but like most other genres of photography, landscape and nature photography can be greatly enhanced by a Rule of Thirds placement. The Rule of Thirds states that a subject is more pleasing to the eye if not centered in the image. If the photo is divided into three equal sections with vertical and horizontal lines, the Rule of Thirds would have the subject placed on or near one of the lines. However, I chose symmetry as my composition rule for the third image rather than the Rule of Thirds.
This photo uses diagonal lines and a rule of thirds placement. It was shot at 24mm with an aperture of f/22. The ISO was 100 and the shutter speed was 2.5 seconds. In post processing, the overall exposure was lowered slightly and a gradient was applied to the woods in the top right corner to emphasize the falls. I used a brush adjustment on the log adding warmth and sharpening and raising the exposure slightly.
This image also uses a rule of third placement with the top of the rock aligning roughly with the upper third. It also uses the diagonal placement of the rock to emphasize the scene. It was shot at 30mm to crop out the sky. It was shot a f/22, with an ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 1.6 seconds.
This shot places the rock in the center, which doesn't conform with the rule of thirds, but rather uses the symmetry of the falls on either side of the rock to emphasize and frame the large rock. This shot was a challenge because the white on the top of the rock was reflecting the sunlight brightly and made shooting without the neutral density filter hard. It was shot at 30mm at f/22 with an ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 1.6 seconds.
There is nothing magical about taking these photos. You can take them. Put your camera on manual mode...enter the values you see here and then adjust however you need to account for the light at your scene. You can do this, too! To see some of the other angles from these spots, check out the featured gallery. They might give you some ideas for waterfalls that you are going to shoot.
Thanks again for reading. I hope you learned something. I'm no expert, but I will share what I know. So go out there...and be patient.