Tips for Photographing Waterfalls

By Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence

Waterfalls are popular landscape photography subjects. Flowing water seems to add to a landscape, and the sense of power and of motion of water flowing over a set of falls can be fascinating to watch and to photograph. Waterfalls can be difficult subjects for getting great photographs, however, so we thought we would give you some tips (many of which we learned the hard way!).

1) Shutter speed is important in waterfall photography! Tastes vary in how people like to see the water flowing over waterfalls presented in a photograph, but we prefer using a slower shutter speed for a motion effect to the water. A fast shutter speed will show individual waves and droplets in the water, but a slower shutter speed actually shows the path that the water travels – the slope of the water off the fall, the arcs of the water as it splashes off a rock on the way down the falls. For us, this makes a more interesting picture. Typically, we’ll try for a shutter speed of ½ to 1 second if we can, but will try to at least keep the shutter slower than 1/15 of a second.

2) To keep the shutter speed this slow, we use a low ASA film (we often use 50 ASA) or set the ASA on the digital camera as low as it will go (usually 100). Even so, if the light is bright enough, we may not be able set the aperture small enough to have as slow a shutter speed as we would like. At times like these, a neutral density filter (essentially this filter blocks some of the light, but doesn’t change the color balance) can be used to get a slower shutter speed. If you don’t have a neutral density filter, a polarizing filter can be used to drop the shutter speed by about 2 stops (i.e. setting the shutter to one-fourth the speed that it would have been without the shutter).

3) With shutter speeds this slow, you will need a tripod to steady the camera. Also, remember that with a shutter speed this low, anything moving in the picture other than the water (e.g. people, foliage blowing in the wind) will also be blurred.

4) While this is not an absolute rule, photographs of water tend to look better if it is flowing towards the viewer or across the photograph than it does if it is flowing away from the viewer. Also, remember to check that your camera is level – a photograph of water that appears to be flowing uphill is very disturbing.

5) Remember to check the direction of the falls, to determine the best time of day for light hitting the falls to give the most dramatic photograph.

6) Also, check out the falls in different seasons, e.g. does it look best with new spring foliage? Best in the fall with the leaves turning? Some other time? Since spring and fall tend to be the wettest times of the year, these are usually good times to catch falls at their peak levels.

7) Learn what you can about the falls, and what you’ll need photographically, before you get there. The web can be a great resource for this. Visit the Eastern Waterfall Guide http://www.aria-database.com/waterfall/ for information on over 150 waterfalls in the eastern US.

8) Most of the waterfalls we have been to involve some hiking in hilly terrain (it is tough to have a waterfall over perfectly flat land) – don’t forget comfortable hiking shoes for the trail, a water bottle (especially in hot weather), and bug spray and sunscreen in the appropriate seasons.

We have some sample waterfall photos below to demonstrate the effects of different shutter speeds.

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The following series was taken of a waterfall at the end of Scott's Run as it joins the Potomac River in Virginia.  Patty took the series from the same position (it might vary a bit due to cropping), varying the shutter speed to give an idea of the impact of speed on the look of the water.

copyright © 2005, Patricia Hankins	Shutter speed 1/50 sec.  The water is a bit blurred, but choppy and individual drops are still visible.  Faster shutter speeds would freeze the action even further.
copyright © 2005, Patricia Hankins	Shutter speed 1/10 sec.  The water has a much smoother appearance, although some indication of individual drops are still hinted at, especially on the smaller set of falls on the right.  rough water is still visible at the base of the falls.
copyright © 2005, Patricia Hankins	Shutter speed 1/2 sec.  The water has almost completely smoothed out.  Arcs of water can be clearly seen where the falls bounce off of individual rocks.  Water in the pool at the base of the pool appears smoother.
copyright © 2005, Patricia Hankins	Shutter speed 1 sec.  Not much change in the falls from 1/2 sec, although a little smoother, particularly at the pool on the bottom.  At this shutter speed and the smallest aperture available, parts of the photo were starting to blow out.

Below is a black and white photo showing closer detail of the main falls.  This was a 6 second exposure, using a polarizing filter to allow a slower shutter speed.

copyright © 2005, William Lawrence

Below are a pair of waterfalls we have in our gallery pages:

Blackwater Falls, Davis, WV:

copyright © 2005, William Lawrence

And Great Falls, taken from Great Falls National Park, VA:

copyright © 2005, William Lawrence

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