Photographing Water Flow

If you've seen my previous blog on Eagle Falls you'll notice that most of the photos of the water have a smooth-rapid feel to them. Photographing flowing water can give you many different effects, from dramatic to subtle. It all depends on shutter speed as well as aperture setting. For those of you not familiar with the idea behind it, I thought I'd take this opportunity to give a short explanation / lesson on how to achieve the various effects of flowing water.

If you use a fast shutter speed you'll freeze the flow, giving it a rough, or violent effect. This photo was shot with a aperture setting of f/3.5 (wide open for maximum light and shallow focus) at a speed of 1/800 second, thus freezing the moment and giving it that violent look / feel. 

I get a dramatic difference if I shoot at a slow speed. Here's the same spot shot with a aperture setting of f/22 (the smallest opening for this lens; maximum focus) and a shutter speed of  1/6 second. This longer exposure allowed more water to pass in front of the lens, giving it the smooth, fast feel that it has.

You can get a very subtle difference if your shutter speeds are very close together. I like to shoot a series of different speeds so I have a choice in the look and feel of the photo.

The following two photos have but a slight difference in the feel of the flow. Both were shot with the aperture set at f/22.

The shutter speed of this first shot was 1/30 second 

The shutter speed of this shot was 1/10 second

The difference is slight but the "feel" and look is most definitely different. Depends on the effect you're looking for. 

And one more thing that I forgot and was reminded in a comment.... You need a good, sturdy tripod. 

Eagle Falls; Day 1

On the first day of my vacation at Lake Tahoe I hiked the Rubicon Trail along the South side of Emerald Bay. After 2 hours on the trail I rediscovered a place I hadn't seen in almost 40 years; Eagle Falls. The trail took me to a fenced area at the base of the falls, where I rested and had a snack before heading back. I made a mental note to come back the next day and explore the upper portion of the falls, which I had never done.

Getting to the upper falls was much easier than getting to the base. Instead of having to hike in, I drove around on HWY 89 to Eagle Creek, where I parked and made the 5 minute walk to the falls. I got there just after sunrise and had the place all to myself, except for a young couple who had just become engaged minutes before I arrived. We took opportunity and photographed each other with each other's cameras. Climbing around on the rugged rocks with my camera gear and tripod proved to be quite an adventure.

What follows are but a few of the photos I took that day. You can go to my MySpace page for more photos in the blogs there.

Me at the upper falls. If this was the early spring snow melt, I'd be in the middle of a raging torrent of white water

The approach to the upper falls

Getting to this spot and setting up the tripod was quite an ordeal. The ledge was narrow and the drop off straight down. But climbing back out proved to be even tougher. But it was worth the effort.

I enjoyed a few hours of solitude at this beautiful location then left before it started to get crowded with tourists, which it does each afternoon. I made another mental note to come back before sunrise (see previous blog) and to climb down and explore the area between the upper and lower falls.

Emerald Bay Sunrise

I'm new here and I'd like to thank Scott Bulger Photography for directing me to this site. I highly recommend you visit his page for his artistic and informative blogs.

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A few weeks ago I was able to get away for the first time in years and take a much needed vacation. I packed my gear and drove up to Lake Tahoe for a week, where I spent most of my time hiking and taking photographs. 

I spent a good deal of my time hiking around Emerald Bay on the Rubicon Trail. For those of you who have never been, Emerald Bay is a true wonder of Mother Nature. The shallow bay water only reflects the emerald green light rays, then as the bottom drops off the water turns a deep deep blue. But at sunrise you get a totally different perspective.

At the time I was there, there were over 1000 separate wild fires burning in the state. This made for hazy days. But ironically, as horrible and devastating as these fires were, the particulate matter in the air made for some amazing sunrises and sunsets.

This first photo was taken at 5:18 a.m., about 45 minutes before sunrise. I set up the tripod and shot at f/16 with a shutter speed of 28 seconds, and a ISO of 100.

This next photo was shot at 6:02 a.m. from the top of Eagle Falls (I'll be posting photos of the falls soon) I shot this at f/22 with a shutter speed of 1/2 second; ISO 100. I only wish I could share the sounds of the forest as it was waking.

I'll be posting more photo blogs from Lake Tahoe soon. Categories will be;

• The Rubicon Trail
• Eagle Falls