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Thread: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

  1. #1
    Land-Scapegrace Heroique's Avatar
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    Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    When you come across a waterfall, how do you decide if it’s worth your time as a large format photographer?

    That is, which of its natural traits help you decide whether or not to set-up your gear, and begin the process of composition?

    For example, does the height or angle of its fall take priority for you? Or is it the speed or volume of the current? Does the viewpoint matter most? Maybe it’s the type of light (I often find this problematic), the transparency or reflective quality of the water, what the water is hitting, the force of the strike, or the entire fall’s relationship w/ the surrounding landscape or sky?

    And here’s what I’m most curious about – if you’ve created many images of many waterfalls, have you discovered the best ones usually share a common natural element, or call for the same LF tools, time and again?

  2. #2
    Octogenarian
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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    I'm a B&W photographer, so it's the type of lighting and the way the light it strikes the water.

    I look for the most dramatic angle I can locate to set up my camera.

    If the sky is in the picture, I use a filter to darken the sky and bring out the clouds.

  3. #3
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    I rarely do waterfalls. But the couple I have was because there was some sense of otherness. I don't know exactly how to explain that except it has nothing to do with beauty, but more to do with a sense like you have stepped back into an otherworldly mythic time.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  4. #4
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    About 98% of it is about the light - the waterfall just happens to be what the light is reflecting off of. The other 2% is about the waterfall itself. That said, I am attracted to falling water, so my attention is going in that direction, which makes me look at the light reflecting off of the fall and the surrounding landscape.

    Shutter speed is also a factor in how the waterfall and the light will appear in the image. Stop-motion, slightly blurred (with just the hint of movement) and totally soft render the light and the waterfall very differently.

    Four different approaches to waterfalls I have done:

    1) 8x10 -- From behind the falls -- Platinum print, but may do a carbon (and will pull more 'detail' in the water)
    2) 5x7 -- carbon print. The falling light is as important as the falling water
    3) 8x10 -- Classic view, platinum, the forms created by the light reflecting off the landscape around and below the falls are important (to me)
    4) 11x14 -- The shape of the light and dark areas and how they work together are far more important than the falls themselves.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Waterfall.jpg   FallsMultnomahCr_Carbon.jpg   Yosemite Falls.jpg   Dora Creek Falls1.jpg  

  5. #5

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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    Vaughn,

    I was just thinking about #2 the other day - a very memorable image for me. Thanks for posting it again.

  6. #6

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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    I used to do a lot of work with waterfalls, so many of them in my part of the world. One of the main reasons I photographed them was for the experience itself of getting out in nature for several hours, in many cases the photography was secondary.

    One of the problems I personally have with waterfalls is that I am not after a totally realistic look and this can be a difficult subject to abstract since many consider it too pictorial, or pretty, especially in color. I have a friend or two who would never just photograph a waterfall because they consider it such a prosaic subject.

    About the only commonality I have found in my own approach to photographing waterfalls is that long exposures usually work best as the creamy look of water usually has a nicer look than frozen water. Though of course some times freezing the water also works. Also, you really want to avoid the common views of well known waterfalls so it helps to look for unusual viewpoints. Attached is a view of a fairly well known, and quite large, waterfall in North Carolina, Whitewater Falls, but not many people would recognize the view. It is one of my favorite image of some several hundred negatives I have made of the subject. http://www.sandykingphotography.com/...ter-falls-nc-2

    Sandy
    For discussion and information about carbon transfer please visit the carbon group at groups.io
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  7. #7
    John Olsen
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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    Most of my waterfalls were in such intimate, back-country places that I have had to use a 20mm lens on my trusty Nikon. However, the waterfall attached here struck me as a primal force, something worthy of LF effort. I camped here for a couple of days and hope to return sometime when the afternoon sun actually comes into the canyon. (Palouse Falls, Eastern Washington, February 2013)
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	PalFall WICC.jpg 
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ID:	100076

  8. #8
    Land-Scapegrace Heroique's Avatar
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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    Quote Originally Posted by John Olsen View Post
    Palouse Falls, Eastern Washington, February 2013.
    Palouse Falls is a strange, raging scene to find in such arid, quiet land.

    When I travel from Seattle to N. Idaho, I pass by and always stop for the thrill, but you’ve captured a greater flow than I ever remember. And much more spray, a favorite part for me of any waterfall. I like how the circular rim offers a convenient way to access elevated viewpoints facing the falls. Not too common.

    I understand your remark about the light; it’s difficult here.

  9. #9

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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    Quote Originally Posted by Heroique View Post
    When you come across a waterfall, how do you decide if it’s worth your time as a large format photographer?

    That is, which of its natural traits help you decide whether or not to set-up your gear, and begin the process of composition?

    For example, does the height or angle of its fall take priority for you? Or is it the speed or volume of the current? Does the viewpoint matter most? Maybe it’s the type of light (I often find this problematic), the transparency or reflective quality of the water, what the water is hitting, the force of the strike, or the entire fall’s relationship w/ the surrounding landscape or sky?

    And here’s what I’m most curious about – if you’ve created many images of many waterfalls, have you discovered the best ones usually share a common natural element, or call for the same LF tools, time and again?
    "Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait? "

    Yes. They consist of water, falling.
    One man's Mede is another man's Persian.

  10. #10
    Resident Heretic Bruce Watson's Avatar
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    Re: Do all good waterfalls share a common natural trait?

    Quote Originally Posted by Heroique View Post
    That is, which of its natural traits help you decide whether or not to set-up your gear, and begin the process of composition?
    I work oppositely of that -- I do the composition first, and only set up my gear if I have composition that interests me.

    Typically what I look for is personality. All waterfalls have their own personalities, and I look for one that engages me on some level. Some do, some don't. I really can't explain it better than that. Then, I look for a composition that shows that personality and is aesthetically pleasing to me. If I can find that, then it's a light issue. If the light is right at the time, I'll set up on it right away. But typically I can see that the light would be better at some other time, or even some other season. Many times, the light just isn't ever going to be good on that particular scene.

    So... if I get a waterfall personality I like, and can find a composition I like, and the light is right, I'll set up on it and evaluate it. If I like what I see through the ground glass, I'll burn a sheet of film. If not, I'll tear it all down, pack it all up, and keep hiking, maybe to return at a different time of day, or a different season, and maybe not at all.

    What I've found is that if I force the issue -- make a photograph of a waterfall that doesn't meet all my criteria, I don't ever print it. So there's no point in trying to force it. If everything is right, it's worth burning a sheet of film. Else, I enjoy the waterfall and it's surroundings for a bit, then hike on.

    Bruce Watson

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