Waterfall Photography Tips

Everyone it seems loves a beautiful waterfall. Any place there is a waterfall its usually a favorite place for people to be. As great as waterfalls are it’s not so easy to capture how beautiful they are with a camera. It can be difficult to get that perfect shot of a waterfall but we are going to provide a few tips we hope that will help you.

Most waterfalls are found in areas where there is a lot of overgrowth such as jungles and forests. Due to the location the best time of the day to shoot a waterfall is during an overcast day or when there is not too much natural light. Do not shoot a waterfall in bright light as this will create high contrast and overexposure. Try to shoot your photographs during early morning or late evening.

I know what you are thinking, what shutter speed should you use?  The answer is that there is no such thing as one correct shutter speed when shooting waterfalls. The bottom line is you do want to use a slow shutter speed but you need to consider the speed of the water, volume of water, and distance between camera and water. Larger waterfalls should use a slower shutter speed and smaller waterfalls you want to use an even longer shutter speed. I would advise trying different settings depending on the factors I just mentioned.

To fight off glare you will want to use a polarizer. This will cut out glare and reflections produced by the sun. Exposure can also present plenty of problems as well. The exposure is incorrect you will lose he detail of the water and you will end up with an area of just pure white. Take a test shot and then check the histogram and then set your exposure from there.

A tripod is a must as with most any type of photography. This will help when shooting waterfalls so your images are not ruined by blurriness which is due to camera shake.  You will also want to perform a manual white balance. An auto white balance can leave different tints that won’t look good on your final shot.

These few tips should allow you to get the shots you are looking for. Just remember to take plenty of shots and before you know it shooting waterfalls will be like riding a bike.

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