Water Falling Over Things 2011: Part III (In Broad Daylight!)

There is one basic, fundamental rule of waterfall photography: Always shoot waterfalls, if at all possible, on cloudy days. There are two reasons for this rule. First, it's a lot easier to get that slow-shutter-speed "silken" effect when the light is softer and lower. Second, direct sunlight ratchets up the contrast, which is usually enough to destroy any forest shots. If you want the most effective waterfall shots, wait until it is overcast.

So, why was I setting out on the first 80-degree-day of the year, a day when we were guaranteed bright sunlight without a cloud in the sky, to photograph Rocky Brook Falls on the Olympic Peninsula?

Because it was my only chance to get a good image.

Rocky Brook Falls is reached by a short trail through the woods that only opens up for views of the fall at its very base. This means that any shots are going to have to be close-in, looking almost straight up, and including a good chunk of the sky in the frame. Try to shoot this waterfall on a cloudy day, and you're going to have blown-out white sky at the top, which is enough to ruin any photograph.

What's the solution? Bryan Swan, admin of the Northwest Waterfall Survey (and a fine photographer in his own right), had a counter-intuitive suggestion: Try shooting this fall in direct sunlight (at the time of the day when the sun hits it full-on, without any shadows) on a perfectly clear day, then slap a polarizer and every neutral-density filter you own (in my case, that meant stacking a Cokin 4x on top of an 8x) on the lens, stop it down as far as you can, and see if that allows you to slow the shutter speed enough. As you can see, the results seem to validate his approach.





The situation wasn't perfect -- I think better angles could be found a few feet to my right but, at the height of spring melt season, the places where I could normally put up a tripod were several inches underwater, and I hadn't brought my river sandals.

Here's a detail of the base of the fall, rendered in black-and-white.





Finally, although the sun was playing havoc with Rocky Brook itself on the way out, I did find one stretch of the creek that was still shaded. As far as I'm concerned, this image alone would be enough to justify the whole trip.





I expect to come back here at lower-flow, where I can maneuver into more angles on the fall itself...possibly in the autumn, as I understand the fall foliage compliments the scene quite well.

grateful for the accompanying comments. Though I cannot yet even contemplate doing this myself, I think of you as a master of it in our midst. Like of Maestro with the birds. (where the heck is he, anyway).

Each of these spectacular in their own way. And the blue sky in number one is startling, without your words I would not have known why. The black and white is highly unusual to me, beautiful. Could be smoke, even.
And in the third one the light green front branch gives it such wonderful dimension.
All your efforts and travels are worth it to me.
:)
Thank you.

So absolutely beautiful! You manage to somehow not fall into the trap of cliche waterfall photos (even when technically brilliant they can be a bit underwhelming) -- yours have a unique and wonderful quality that makes them truly stand out in a crowd. You teach us and thrill us at the same time! Thank you!

I love the B&W. It is so elegant, it reminds me of a silken fabric. It is beautiful.