Waterfall Photography Tips

So you are going on vacation this summer and waterfalls are in the mix. You probably want to shoot some great pictures of these waterfalls to show off to your friends right? We are going to provide you with a few simple but useful tips to get those photos that you want.

Use A Slow Shutter Speed

Use a slow shutter speed for shooting waterfall photos. The slower shutter speed settings will make the waterfalls look professionally shot. You also have to compensate slow shutter speed by selecting small aperture and in turn you will also get a greater depth of field.

Use A Tripod

Not an article goes by that I don’t mention a tripod. When shooting at slow shutter speeds the camera has to be very steady. The goal is to blur the movement of the water while everything else remains in sharp focus. You will get a picture where everything is blurred because of the camera shake if you are not carrying a tripod.

Use Filters

A Neutral Density (ND) filter is great to have for waterfall photography. This comes in especially handy when the scene is very bright. It darkens the image and reduces the amount of light from entering the camera without altering the color or tone of the light, thus decreasing the shutter speeds to accommodate the reduction of light.

Weather

As with most photography early, evening, and overcast days are best for shooting. These days are ideal for waterfall photography. Do not shoot waterfalls during mid-day or when the sun is at full capacity. Bright light will create high contrast and this will overexposure white water and underexposure dark shadows.

Practice

This comes with the territory. Every scene is different resulting in changing of our camera settings so practice. Take more than a few pictures, take a lot of pictures. With enough time your friends will think you pulled that photo from National Geographic.

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