Quick Morning Hike Before Work

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Easy Going
My work schedule doesn't allow me much time for photography other than on the weekends when everyone is out and about, so when I get the opportunity to go somewhere on a weekday, I will rarely pass it up.  Since I had a meeting late in the day, I got to go in later in the morning.  That meant that I had a few hours at the beginning of the day that I could play with.  With the weather calling for 75% clouds, I thought that the safest bet would be to work some waterfalls.  This was especially promising since there were some pretty heavy rains on Wednesday night.  The problem was, I didn't have long, so I couldn't spend it all traveling.  I needed something close, which has always been Hanging Rock.

I've photographed Hanging Rock so many times in the past, that I am pretty sure I could walk through the compositions in my sleep.  however, waterfalls are always different depending on the water flow.  The last couple of times that I have gone there recently, Hidden Falls has been nearly dying of thirst.  With nothing but a trickle, I chose not to do much with this waterfall on those occasions.  I had much higher hopes for it this time though.

I left the house at 6am so that I could be at the park when the gates opened.  I was actually hoping for a really good sunrise that I could shoot over the lake.  The reality of the morning was this...it was windy, and there were very little clouds in the sky.  That meant that my sunrise idea was not going to work, and I was going to have to really hustle to get to the waterfalls before the light hit them.  As I got to the park, the clouds were starting to build up, but I wasn't seeing the clues for a good sunrise.  With the time constraint on making the waterfalls, I chose to skip the sunrise and start the quick hike out to Hidden Falls.

When I got there, the water flow was quite good for a change.  I opted not to go with my wide angle lens, and chose to stick with a more restrained 24-70mm.  Of course, I fitted an intensifying polarizer to control the glare and to add some pop to the colors.  As it turned out, I was starting to shoot before the sun even was above the horizon.  This added some interesting elements to my shot.  First of all, the color temperature was very cool, with me being in the shade, and then having the early dawn sky above.  No matter what my white balance was set on, I was looking at a completely different color pallet than I was used to.  I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but I went ahead and framed the shot anyway.

I chose to get down low, which I don't normally do.  This provided an interesting perspective that I don't usually get in my photos of this waterfall.  I wanted to add a bit of size to it, and power.  I thought that with the color tones, that was the appropriate thing to do.  I was liking what I was seeing, and with the light being so dim, I was able to get a 20 second exposure without needing a ND filter.  That was pretty cool!

Elegant Layers
This waterfall works as both a landscape and portrait shot, so I decided to flip the camera and compose one in vertical fashion.  I had to change my location a bit to get things organized the way I wanted them. I also raised the camera to get a little more detail on the upper surfaces.  It lost some of the visual punch, but gained a little bit of serenity with the change in composition.  While very closely related to my opening composition, this one stands on its own with a completely different feel and flow.

While I was shooting this particular composition, the sun was starting to come up, and the lighting was changing quite a bit.  In fact, my exposures were down to only 10 seconds, but that was still plenty to get the detail that I was wanting in the cascades.  The down side to the sun coming up was it wasn't going to be long before I was going to have highlights to deal with which don't usually work well for waterfall photography.  I was also seeing some very good color in the sky.  Maybe I should have stayed up at the lake and shot the sunrise.  It was actually quite pretty from what I could see!  Unfortunately, I was just too far away to make it up there in time.

I was finished with this waterfall though, and had packed up my camera.  My initial thought was to go out to the lake and shoot some of the cloud movement in the sky over the water.  I've really started to enjoy doing long exposure clouds here recently, and this was going to be a perfect opportunity to do just that.  I got maybe 100 yards down the trail, and reconsidered.  You see, Window Falls was just a little further down the trail, and the last time I shot it, there was not much water flow at all.  Having been rather impressed with Hidden Falls, I thought that the water would be worth the continued hike to the next one.  The lighting was going to hold just long enough for me to do that one other waterfall.

The Unveiling
It didn't take but a few minutes and I was there.  The water looked almost like I was expecting.  It made for a pretty sight, but the surrounding scenery was still not all that great.  There were fallen trees at the base of the waterfall, and other general clutter.  This wasn't all that new, as most of that had been there for a long time.  This usually meant that I had to zoom in close to the waterfall to avoid the ground clutter.  Today, I decided to try something a little different.  I fitted my 16-35mm lens with the same polarizer, and stood up on the elevated embankment.  I had the tripod partially on an old stump, and using my lens almost racked out, I was able to shoot over the ground clutter, while still getting a fair amount of foreground interest in the shot.  The rocks to the lower left provided a great leading line to the waterfall, and the rocky wall gave a nice treat of texture for the eyes just to the side.  It was a variation on the usual composition of this waterfall.  What I did next was an even bigger variation on what I normally see.

Double Drop
I hiked down to the base, and then crossed the water to get to the other side.  Using the same lens, I found a position that cropped out the overlook of the waterfall, while keeping a very odd perspective on the two layers of rock that the water cascaded over.  This is the second time I've done a shot from this side, and every time I do it, I'm surprised.  It doesn't look anything like the Window Falls that I know so well.  From this angle it is hardly recognizable.  For me, that aspect alone makes the composition worthwhile.  Too many photographers have shot this waterfall from the other side, and while it is a pretty angle, the pictures lack that something special.

For me, this slightly odd view of Window Falls is my favorite.  Being different in photography is usually a good thing.  By this point, the sun was starting to get brighter which was causing me problems.  I decided that it was time to pack things up and head back to the car.  I did have enough time to try something at the lake if I chose to do so...if I hurried.

When I got to the car, the clouds were looking really nice, but it was sure windy and cold.  Since I had the time, I decided to try an few compositions at the lake.  Now...it has been some time since I have been to the lake.  From my memory, there was a really nice boathouse that I wanted to include in the composition.  It would make for a strong visual anchor beneath the moving clouds above.  I was excited about the possibility with this shot.  That was until I got there.

Somebody took my boathouse away, and replaced it with a pier in the shape of an "L"!!!  Hmmm, I guess I could still use that.  I walked out on the pier and looked for a good composition.  I found one near the end.  I set the camera up, and used my 24-70mm lens with my Lee filter mount.  I composed my photograph, and got everything dialed in before adding a 10-Stop filter, and another 2-Stop ND Grad.  I was set for about a one minute exposure.  I released the shutter and waited for the minute.

I kept getting this uneasy feeling every time the wind would blow.  I could see the spirit level moving just a little bit.  I knew that meant that there was going to be motion blur in the picture which I didn't want.  Sure enough, when I reviewed the image, I could see the blur in the distant trees.  I tried the exposure one more time when the wind lulled.  However, in the next minute, there was a gust that felt like it was going to blow the pier over.  That was all I needed.  I stopped the exposure, and saw all the blur in the image.  I moved back to solid land and composed a fair shot with the pier as my leading line.

I tripped the shutter with about a minute long exposure.  While the camera was recording, there was a big gust of wind that came along.  I found the source of my uneasy feeling on the pier.  It was fully floating, and moved about 2 feet from one side to the other.  No wonder I was getting blurry pictures!  Well, that movement meant that my all important leading line was going to be blurred as well.  That was confirmed in the image review on two different shots.  Yeah, this wasn't working in 20-30mph winds.  It was time to pack things up and head to work.

When I got home and looked at the couple of images that I thought might work, I was completely disappointed with the outcome, and they were trashed.  The waterfall shots, however, worked out pretty well.  Out of 44 frames, I was happy with a total of four of the images.  Not too bad for going out before work.

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