Waterfall photography is one of the most spectacular types of photos we can create. Knowing how to take photos of waterfalls not only allows us to become great professional landscape photographers but also encourages us to become better photographers. Sometimes photo enthusiasts experience a set back in their waterfall photography. They can have trouble with the lighting. Sometimes waterfalls can be too dark or overexposed. It sounds funny to say this but sometimes the correct exposure is so hard to find. Lets examine some ways we can get the right exposure for our waterfall photos.
In this waterfall photography tutorial I will be discussing the foremost challenges with exposure. Exposure is a term to explain how much complete lighting there is. This will mean that that the brightness of your falls must be just right; not overexposed and not too dark. This can be tricky when you are taking photos of your waterfall on a bright day.
One of my earlier photos of a waterfall was photographed using automatic mode over ten years ago when I knew very little about photography. It's a pretty bad photo but at least I have learned through experience.
The trouble with this shot is that the camera exposed for light off the shadow areas of the photo and missed the top section. As a result the top of the waterfall is not detected because it's overexposed.
Years later when I obtained Adobe Lightroom 4 I decided that I'd become familiar with it by trying to fix some of my previous shots, such as this waterfall photo here.
Sadly, with my waterfall photo I was not able to improve the lighting. Why? Because the image was not taken right to begin with. I tried to fix the highlights and diminish the intense brightness at the top to smooth out the lighting but it still lacked. I had to forget about this one unfortunately.
When waterfalls are taken on a bright day in the auto setting we get one of two things. The waterfall is flawlessly exposed and all the surrounding elements, like your mountain range and cliff face is not exposed enough. (Too dark.) We may also be challenged by the surrounding elements being ideal and our waterfall having too much light (too bright.) How do we get the waterfall and the surrounds both looking ideally exposed?
The first thing I can suggest is to photograph in soft light. A smooth grey light will not only bring out your green leaves and trees around the waterfall, but it will not overexpose anything too much. You will still need to meter off the white water however.
You will notice that when capturing your falls in gentle light, it's easier to get better exposure. The highlights are reduced and the shadows are not as strong. Light is refracted due to the overcast day and therefore we get a filtered look in our photos.
This photo was a 3 shot panorama. Water is tough when you shoot panoramas. You have to have your shutter speed on super fast. I'll talk about this in a different photography tutorial.
This photo was a 3 shot panorama. Water is tricky when you shoot panoramas. You have to have your shutter on extremely fast. I'll talk about that in a different photography tutorial.
Let's observe this photo a little more thoroughly. The light is coming from the top and we make out shadows in the rock face underneath. To be able to create this waterfall photo I made sure that I had the right exposure. I metered off the flowing water. You see your waterfall will be the most luminescent thing in the image so it is vital to tell the camera to meter off that. This works particularly well if you are spot metering.
This photo was taken from a distance, at the end of a very high platform, looking across a river. I wished I could have shot from a better vantage point but it was not physically achievable, so I made the most of what I had.
You may want to increase the vibrancy, or enhance one colour only. Take your time and find the right method that works for you. Soon your waterfalls will be looking like works of art you will want to hang on your wall.
In this waterfall photography tutorial I will be discussing the foremost challenges with exposure. Exposure is a term to explain how much complete lighting there is. This will mean that that the brightness of your falls must be just right; not overexposed and not too dark. This can be tricky when you are taking photos of your waterfall on a bright day.
One of my earlier photos of a waterfall was photographed using automatic mode over ten years ago when I knew very little about photography. It's a pretty bad photo but at least I have learned through experience.
The trouble with this shot is that the camera exposed for light off the shadow areas of the photo and missed the top section. As a result the top of the waterfall is not detected because it's overexposed.
Years later when I obtained Adobe Lightroom 4 I decided that I'd become familiar with it by trying to fix some of my previous shots, such as this waterfall photo here.
Sadly, with my waterfall photo I was not able to improve the lighting. Why? Because the image was not taken right to begin with. I tried to fix the highlights and diminish the intense brightness at the top to smooth out the lighting but it still lacked. I had to forget about this one unfortunately.
When waterfalls are taken on a bright day in the auto setting we get one of two things. The waterfall is flawlessly exposed and all the surrounding elements, like your mountain range and cliff face is not exposed enough. (Too dark.) We may also be challenged by the surrounding elements being ideal and our waterfall having too much light (too bright.) How do we get the waterfall and the surrounds both looking ideally exposed?
The first thing I can suggest is to photograph in soft light. A smooth grey light will not only bring out your green leaves and trees around the waterfall, but it will not overexpose anything too much. You will still need to meter off the white water however.
You will notice that when capturing your falls in gentle light, it's easier to get better exposure. The highlights are reduced and the shadows are not as strong. Light is refracted due to the overcast day and therefore we get a filtered look in our photos.
This photo was a 3 shot panorama. Water is tough when you shoot panoramas. You have to have your shutter speed on super fast. I'll talk about this in a different photography tutorial.
This photo was a 3 shot panorama. Water is tricky when you shoot panoramas. You have to have your shutter on extremely fast. I'll talk about that in a different photography tutorial.
Let's observe this photo a little more thoroughly. The light is coming from the top and we make out shadows in the rock face underneath. To be able to create this waterfall photo I made sure that I had the right exposure. I metered off the flowing water. You see your waterfall will be the most luminescent thing in the image so it is vital to tell the camera to meter off that. This works particularly well if you are spot metering.
This photo was taken from a distance, at the end of a very high platform, looking across a river. I wished I could have shot from a better vantage point but it was not physically achievable, so I made the most of what I had.
You may want to increase the vibrancy, or enhance one colour only. Take your time and find the right method that works for you. Soon your waterfalls will be looking like works of art you will want to hang on your wall.
About the Author:
Amy Renfrey is a professional photography teacher. She is the author of several photography ebooks and a monthly photography emagazine. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. Click here to learn photography the easy way.
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