City - Cairns State - QUEENSLAND Country - Australia
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Another shot from Crystal Cascades (similar angle to previous but framed on the more picturesque cascade of the two), I'm stepping away from the beginner trap of oversaturating (am I colour blind?). This is pretty much as shot, very mild levels tweak is all that was done to it. This really is a beautiful place, about 500 metres walk to the waterfall, the whole time you have sets of watering holes on the right of the path, possibly the most popular swimming spot in the Cairns region. And only 30 mins drive from the centre of town.
Thanks for the tips Winston. I've been told about these neutral density filters before and am going to look into them. I did get this shot (hope you don't mind me attaching it here on your thread.) This was a 5 second shutter speed as is straight out of the camera. No Photoshop except for resize. It was nice even light in the dense forest so no bright sky and there was so much water flowing over the falls at the time it was actually this white. Also the strange thing is that I also took this same shot at 1, 2, 3 and 4 seconds and every one came out the same in the water. The only variation in the shutter speeds was the surrounding vegetation colours and exposure. I'm still nutting out the numbers side of things. Thank you again for your tips and advice.
Ann, thanks for your comment, very nicely worded. I did swim at Crystal Cascades, though not here, where the photo was taken. Beautifully refreshing water - not too cold - with tropical warmth and humidity permiating the air.
If you are having trouble with your not being able to set your shutter speed long enough to capture the beautiful motion of a waterfall, go and buy some neutral density filters. I would suggest either an ND4 or ND8. They neutrally reduce the amount of light that passes through to your sensor/film. ND4 is the equivalent of shutting down by 2 stops, ND8 = 3 stops.
Try playing with your levels rather than contrast. I noticed in one of your photos the water is a little grey rather than white - you may be able to increase the visual clarity via levels without dulling the whites.
Again, thanks for your comment - much appreciated! Happy shooting!
Yes we do share a love of waterfalls Winston. I just can't get enough of waterfall images and yours are really spectacular. This is gorgeous with the ever so sheer ribboning veils of water beside the main body flow. Nice splashes of green in the ferns and surrounding vegetation and sweet sparkles of light catching on the rocks. Do you take the time to swim in these places when you photograph the falls or do you shoot and go? I can't swim in the falls I photograph here in the states cause they are all freezing....and some are really frozen (haha). I like the composition used here showing a nice balance of the top and pool sections. Beautiful and very enticing.
Thank you for your lovely ocmment on my waterfall image also. I can't often get exposure much longer than 1 second due to sky overexposing but with practice I'm getting better. I use very little P/S now apart from resizing and sharpening. Sometimes a slight bump in contrast but I try to get my photos as best as I can in camera. If my whites are too bright I use P/S to tone down any burnt patches but the more I shoot the less P/Shop I need to use.
Next time I visit OZ I'll have to make a point of going to some waterfalls. They've been so dry for so long it's wonderful to see so many flowing again.
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