How to take Dramatic Waterfall Photos

Posted: Mar 13, 2016
By: Guy Booth
Comments: 0

WATERFALLS FLOW WITH DRAMA!
From thundering and powerful to delicate and mystical, waterfalls offer boundless opportunities for capturing the varying moods of nature.
Many people think of a photograph as a moment in time forever frozen, but that view is not quite correct. Rather than capturing a single instant, photos record a slice of time. That slice—from when a cameras shutter opens to the light of the world, until the until it closes—might be as brief as 1/4000th of a second, or more than as several minutes. Exposure time is the critical to the results when shooting subjects in motion, water included.

Stop thinking of your photos as moments in time and start thinking of them as scenes captured over a specified duration—this is key to photographing waterfalls.
A fast exposure will render individual droplets stationary, a long exposure will blur water into a smooth, milky stream.
Each waterfall has its own mood. Some are peaceful cascades, other terrifying torrents. Spend some time getting to know the personality of the falls you intent to shoot. What emotion does it conjure up in you? Knowing the mood you’re trying to capture will help guide your camera setting and compositions.

FREEZE THE FLOW
Fast shutter speeds are great for adding drama and capturing the sheer power of a torrential flow. A shutter speed of 1/500th of a second is a good starting point for suspending droplets in flight, but take a test shot and review in-camera to be sure. Zoom-in on individuals drops, if they’re not perfectly frozen, increase the shutter speed and shoot again.

The power and might of waterfalls can be captured by zooming in and using a fast shutter speed to suspend droplets in flight. Sony NEX 7, Zeiss Touit 12mm, f7.1, 1/500 sec. Yellowstone Falls, USA.

BLUR THE FLOW
A long exposure will create a peaceful, blurred water effect. To avoid overexposure, a slower shutter speed needs to be balanced with a larger F-Stop (smaller aperture) lower ISO, a darker time of day, lens filters, or a combination of these adjustments.
Because flow volume and velocity varies with every waterfall, its advisable to try different exposure times to find the duration that works best for the particular scene you’re shooting — this will normally be from 1/16th to thirty seconds. It’s essential to use a tripod to hold your camera steady during the shoot. The aim is to create a pleasing blur of water, but still retain some detail. If the exposure is too long, part or all, of the flow will turn into a boring, homogenous, white mass. You can eliminate overexposed hotspots by taking two or more photos with different shutter speeds and combining the best elements of each using Layer Masks in Photoshop. The Clone Stamp tool in Photoshop is also great for blending overexposed regions with areas of greater detail. If the expose is too short, the flowing water may not blur sufficiently. Simply narrow in on a shutter speed that produces an effect you like by reviewing your photos in-camera as you go.

Left: Sony NEX 7, Zeiss Touit 12mm, f11, 4 seconds. Seljalandsfoss, Iceland.
Right: Sony NEX 7, Zeiss Touit 12mm, f18, 25 seconds. Svartifoss, Iceland.

Beware of ghosts!
So now you have a fantastic, dreamy flow of water, but oh no! Look what has happened to the rest of the shot!
A long exposure will not only blur the water in your frame, it will blur everything that moves. Surrounding elements such as foliage in a breeze or moving people will not look sharp and crisp if you’ve used a slow shutter speed—they’ll turn into fuzzy ghosts. Here’s the solution–without moving the camera on your tripod, take a second exposure at 1/250th of a second and then when you’re back at home, use Layer Masks in Photoshop to combine the long exposure used for the water with the fast exposure used for the surrounding landscape.

Filters
On a bright day, even if you select a low ISO and small aperture, (i.e. ISO 100, f-22) it still might not be possible to use a slow shutter speed without causing overexposure. Now you’ll have two choices—either wait until the ambient light fades, or attach a filter to your lens.

Don’t leave home without a polarising filter! It will help cut-back unwanted reflections on the water and a polariser will also enable you to shoot at a slightly slower shutter speed due to the darkness of the glass.
If you need to block even more light, then opt for a Neutral Density filter.
ND filters are like sunglasses for cameras. They reduce the amount of light entering the lens, allowing long exposures in even the brightest conditions. ND filters come in various shades. I use a 3-Stop filter more than any other when shooting waterfalls, this reduces the amount of light entering a lens by a factor of 8.

Filters make all the difference! Sony NEX 7, Zeiss Touit 12mm. Left: f12, 1/1000 second, no filter. Right: f12, 1 second with a 10-stop ND filter. Iguazu, Brazil.

PROTECT YOUR GEAR
Expect to get complete drenched by spray when shooting waterfalls. In the least, make sure you have a small plastic bag to quickly accommodate your gear. Better still, use one of those clear plastic shower caps provided be most hotels. You’ll find the elastic around the opening is great for securing the cap over your camera. Don’t assume you’ll stay dry close to a thundering waterfall on a sunny day. A change of breeze may send spray drifting your way. Keep a small cloth handy to wipe the front of your lens dry. There is nothing more frustrating than small droplets ruining an otherwise fantastic photo.

COMPOSITION
How you decide to frame your photos is very much down to personal, ascetic taste. Move around the falls as much as you can, look for new angles and perspectives and various focal lengths. Look for interesting details and zoom in for close-ups of swirls of water, rocks and vegetation. Also go wide—if you can have a nice foreground, try placing the falls in the distant background. Personally, I find shooting waterfalls from the top, looking down, to be more rewarding than shooting front-on.
Have fun, and good luck!

Sony NEX 7, Sigma 19mm, f4.5, 1/400 Sec. Iguazu, Argentina.