P#5 Using Different Shutter Speeds to Photograph Waterfalls

Filling the frame with the feeling of waterfalls

Rob Sheppard: The Gooseberry Falls is up in Minnesota, up in northern Minnesota.

Northern Minnesota along Lake Superior is one of my favorite locations, a lot of great places to photograph, a lot of great waterfalls, rocks, and of course, Lake Superior itself is another neat place.

This particular shot was taken after there had been about a week of rather heavy rain up there. I had gotten up there luckily just after the rain because that could be kind of uncomfortable with heavy rain. There can be really heavy rain in Minnesota.

The areas north of Lake Superior that drain into Lake Superior are very rocky and somewhat small as far as their drainage areas are concerned.

So when you get a real heavy amount of rain, the streams rise very quickly. These falls were just filled with water, and I just thought it was so cool so I got in real close to the waterfall. (click the image for a larger version)

Waterfalls are like so many things people take at standard angles or the standard distance, and I didn't want that.

I wanted to get in tight so that you really have the feeling of waterfall just filling up the image frame, and then you have a little bit of the bank on the far side that shows up, and a little bit of sky, but mainly it's just this feeling of water.

I actually tried this shot at a completely different shutter speed. At first I thought it might be interesting with a real slow shutter speed and get some blur. It ended up I didn't like that as well as having a faster shutter speed that captured a little bit more of the shape of the water.

Audri Lanford: Before you move on, this one really gets that idea of light, too. It's spotlighted on the waterfall. The back waterfall has almost no light on it.

Rob Sheppard: That's correct. This is early in the morning. A lot of times with landscapes you want to shoot earlier and late in the day because you get more of that chance of this very specific light, because as the light gets higher, it tends to light everything.

When the light is lower, you do have more of an opportunity of getting a spotlight and really lighting up one part of the landscape and contrasting that with others.

To summarize

In this photo of waterfalls, Rob Sheppard illustrates the need to see things in new ways, to try different camera techniques, and to pay attention to the light.