Waterfall Photography Tips

Waterfall photography is both rewarding and challenging. If you’re’ anything like me and enjoy getting outdoors to hike and explore having a goal or a destination like a lake, waterfall or mountaintop to photograph is a must.

Waterfall photography especially has technical obstacles that always present themselves. In direct contradiction to other landscape photography you may often welcome the harsh midday sun that may filter it’s way down through the tree canopy and illuminate the falls. Access to the down stream section of a particular falls may be quite hazardous as the steep canyon walls may prevent the ideal vantage point. Particularly high falls often prevent photographing their full length even with the widest of lenses.

It may be possible to explore the technique of a vertical panarama. Exposure problems are another issue as you may be dealing with many stops of light that the camera cannot deal with. I often revert to HDR to deal with this issue.

Admittedly not all the waterfalls you see here are worthy of a frame and I will admit that looking at endless shots of waterfalls can be quite uninspiring; however I hope you will judge each photograph as a separate canvas and realize that I have photographed many falls for documentary reasons.

More waterfalls can be seen here
You may be wondering how to find obscure waterfalls and maybe wish to find a comprehensive list of Northwest Waterfalls. Well I have to give credit to Bryan Swan who authored the Northwest Waterfall Survey.

So You Want To Hike Opal Creek Huh !

Opal Creek located in the Elkhorn Valley recreation area is one of the most beautiful river hikes you will ever experience. Opal creek feeds the Little North Santiam River that is equally clear and pristine however opal creeks color is unmatched and truly lives up to its namesake. I suppose you could use emerald to describe the watercolor as well.

If you want to experience the hike for yourself here is a link for great driving directions. I guess the only downside of this hike is the 2.2-mile hike down a gravel-logging road to reach the actual trailhead. This hike is suitable for small children and is classified as easy with an elevation gain of only 200 feet. I would caution parents to be very watchful on a couple of bridge crossings and on section of trail where there is no rail to protect from a substantial fall.

The area attracts extreme kayakers as well as backpackers. There are several wonderful campsites along the river although campfires a prohibited. If you have come for merely a day hike you may opt for the 7.5 mile loop that will take you through Merten mill and Jawbone Flats an old gold and iron mill that operated from 1929-1932. This loop will also take you to Opal Pool, another attraction that will take you’re breath away. If your feeling energetic you can continue past Opal Pool another 1.5 miles which will take you past Cedar flats (ancient Red Cedars) and several small water features. Happy Hiking !!

Clackamas Whitewater Festival

Anyone that had the opportunity to witness first hand the 2009 annual Clackamas Whitewater Festival experienced great weather and some fantastic race events, and of course a few spills. For those of you who missed it I took some photos of the race that you can see here.The annual festival is run strictly by volunteers with the help of a few sponsors. They have a dedicated Website if you wish to learn more or even enter the race next year.

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens

Many of you local Oregonians living near Portland may be unaware of the beautiful park that we have right in our midst.
I'm talking about the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens located across from Reed College and adjacent to East Moreland Golf course. For you photographers there are many prospects here. This is a romantic park with many trails and water features. Free admission awaits those that can visit any Tuesday or Wednesday. For more information here is the
website

Photographing Zoo Animals

     Going on a photographic safari in Zaire or maybe the Okavango Delta is probably on the short list of many amateur photographers. But lets be real; an extravagant safari across the globe probably won’t happen for most of us. There is something special about photographing animals in their natural environment that words can’t really convey.
    If you’re’ like me and enjoy capturing images of animals regardless of the venue then a local zoo may have to suffice. Zoo photography can really be quite rewarding in that you never really know what you will bring home on that media card, as every outing will undoubtedly find animals in different states of lethargy or lack thereof.
    First and foremost I would suggest several visits a year to you’re local zoo as the experience and results will be different every time, also it’s a great way to support the animals. Try to visit on weekdays to avoid crowds. I generally just use one lens and bring a backup. The lens of choice for me is the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
There are times that more focal length would be helpful but more importantly the F2.8 speed is a huge asset in the very dimly lit exhibits and give a very shallow depth of field for blurring out obvious zoo backgrounds.
    To make you’re photographs stand out from the rest it is important to isolate an animal and not try to encompass an entire scene. By doing this you can come up with very unique perspectives of animals not usually seen. If possible take an unconventional route through the zoo based solely on the suns trajectory. By doing this you can use the natural spotlight effect the sun provides in able to highlight an animal’s face.

    In regards to indoor exhibits and dealing with glass enclosures this creates another set of obstacles. Depending on your particular camera and it’s ability to control noise will determine a ISO setting that will suite the noise threshold that you can personally accept in you’re photography. Photography of reptiles and the like will require shooting through thick glass. I look for the cleanest spot and then remove my lens hood; this enables me to virtually press the lens against the glass and avoid angle glare. Here is an example
of a gator I shot through thick glass and I found it looks as though I had an unobstructed view.
    Have fun exploring you’re local zoo and best of luck capturing unique images of the animals. To see a few more of the animals in the Oregon Zoo, go here.

Backlink Builder

Quality Backlinks are extremely important in improving your search ranking and placement within Google and other search engines. Here is a great tool that You can place on a web page or blog that will allow you're visitors or you to create great back links that are keyword generated and are within the same genre of you're website. Here it is:

Backlink Builder Enter Keyword (Theme)

Heres what it looks like on my website. If you would like the snippet of code for your'e own site here is the
link

Picasa Features

Being an amateur photographer I definitely have a need for a good photo management program to sort through all my images. I chose the totally free program called
Picasa from a little company called Google. I have tried several programs including the adobe products but just seem to love how Picasa will search you're hard drives for every image and catalog them. Later you have a chance to input keywords so that you may find photos using Googles powerful search technology.

Picasa also has some other cool features like image adjustments, red eye removal, B&W conversions and filter effects. Lastly I like the ability to make a contact sheet or collage as you can see in this example I used in my other Website Nwlandscapes.com. Give it a try you have nothing to lose.

Free Website

Want to Build a free website ?

For those of you who do not have a web presence whether you have a product to sell or just want to share thought images and ideas. I recently stumbled upon a great site called Yola formerly Synthasite.

There is no catch with this site absolutely zero hidden fees. However they will put a small ad at the footer of you're index page. This Is what I put together in just a few hours. What I like about it is the fact that you can use your Google Ads here to generate income without a web hosting expenditure. You can also sell products here using Paypal

Sure there are drawbacks like a slow server lack of scripting choices and the use of widgets gives the sites a somewhat unprofessional appearance.

I recommend this site if you truly want to build a free Website for yourself or small business.

Oregon Photo Ops

I have found another opportunity for Photo Ops on the Upper Clackamas River photographing the onslaught of rafters and whitewater kayakers that come down. This is a great opportunity to get great action shots from the bank and to practice and hone you’re skills for action sports. If you check various sites like the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival They have an annual whitewater event that brings many photographers out.

Widgets

I stumbled upon this pretty cool site that allows the user to choose from several different widgets ( a portable chunk of code) to display photographs in a fun clean artful way. All widgets are free but allow only limited photos. You may purchase the Widget for a nominal fee in order to display many more images. The site is called goodwidgets.com and you can also customize size, duration, and accent or background colors to blend with and post to your website or blog. Give it a try it's pretty fun.