Simple Rules for Shooting Waterfalls

One of my favorite subjects to photograph in nature is a waterfall. There is something so dynamic yet serene about water cascading over rocks that I just can’t resist. Perhaps its several years of drought that’s make me a little obsessive about searching out waterfalls in Texas or perhaps it just the technical challenge of capturing such a dynamic scene in static photograph. Whatever the case, waterfalls continue to fascinate me.

Getting a good shot of a waterfalls is fairly simple if you follow a few simple rules:

• Shoot on cloudy or overcast days to cut down on the glare reflected from the water.

• Shoot with a low ISO speed and small aperture (f/16) to provide an exposure greater than 1 second.

• Use a polarizing filter to reduce glare and (if needed) a neutral density filter to obtain a long exposure.

• Shoot from a tripod to eliminate camera shake during the exposure.

• Focus manually and check your depth of field. Running water can fool your camera’s AF system.

Upper McKinney Falls – Austin, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 70mm, f/16 for 10 seconds at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray Vari-ND-Duo neutral density and warming polarizer filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

All New Posters Available!

I’ve just released eight new 20″ x 16″ posters ready to ship before the Christmas holidays. Each poster is printed on high quality paper and most orders will ship in 48 hours. All posters will be shipped flat in a very secure padded cardboard container to protect your image during transport. Framing, gift packaging and drop shipments are also available before Christmas for that special someone in your life.

More Long Exposure Landcape Photography

Here is another long exposure shot taken using the Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer. The water in this part of the Guadalupe river was flowing rather slowly so all I needed was about 1/2 second exposure to create the soft, flowing effect I wanted. I generally prefer to use a warming polarizer to avoid a blue cast in my polarized images. A standard CP is OK for the sky, but it makes the water look a bit strange.

BTW – I shot this image at f/22 and honestly couldn’t find any sign of softness caused by diffraction, even when pixel peeping the 100% crop.

Guadalupe River Cypress – Spring Branch, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 32mm, f/22 for 0.4 seconds at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray warming polarizer filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Hill Country Landscapes Book Coming Soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ve completed the work on my first book and sent it off to the printer. The first proof should be here by December 3rd and the first run available by December 15th. The book includes 46 of my favorite images from the Texas Hill Country along with the location where each one was taken. I’ll be selling this right here on my blog for $45.00 plus shipping & handling.

I’ve had a lot of fun putting this together and there’s a special treat for serious amateur photographers in the final pages. Taking a cue from Wyman Meinzer’s books, I’ve added a section detailing my exact settings for each image presented in the book including camera, exposure and filters used. It’s my hope that this information will help other photographers enjoy the incredible photographic opportunities available in the Texas Hill Country.

Using Singh-Ray’s New Vari-ND-Duo Filter

Back in early October I wrote a short post entitled Control the Light where I talked about using a Singh-Ray variable neutral density filter stacked with a warming polarizer to obtain a unique long exposure “look” in my images. While this technique works great, it can be a pain to setup properly and the stacked filters tend to vignette my wide angle lenses.

Singh-Ray Vari-ND-Duo Filter

Recently, Singh-Ray introduced their new Vari-ND-Duo filter which combines their variable neutral density filter with a circular polarizer filter in a single, very compact unit. The new Vari-ND-Duo is much easier to use and prevents the vignetting issues I had experienced before.

I took this shot at the McKinney Falls State Park while waiting for a group of families to clear my line of sight to the falls. Using the Vari-ND-Duo and my camera set on full manual, I was able to achieve this “motion”effect with a 6 second exposure.

Rock & Cypress – Austin, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 58mm, f/16 for 6 seconds at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray Vari-ND-Duo neutral density and warming polarizer filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Landscape Photography – The Long Trail

Last month I was hiking in the Hill Country State Natural Area near Bandera, Texas with a good friend of mine. We’d planned this little excursion to central Texas so I could scout some nice locations for my spring workshop and arrived in the early afternoon on a cool fall day. The weather was almost perfect and though I didn’t expect to capture many good shots that early in the afternoon, this vista sort of jumped out at me! I can almost hear the coyotes in the distance…

The Long Trail – Bandera, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens hand-held. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/11 for 1/40th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

More Canon G10 Landscape Photography

A few weeks ago I wrote a short post entitled Outfitting Your Canon G10 for Landscape Photography which drew a lot of interest from amateur landscape photographers interested in finding an alternative to carrying around their somewhat bulky DSLR rig.

A few folks even emailed me to ask if a camera this small could really provide results comparable to their DSLRs. I could point to the incredible G10 images shot by Bill Lockhart to answer this question but I thought I’d try to provide some direct comparisons during my waterfall shoot this weekend.

Lower McKinney Falls (G10) – Austin, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon Powershot G10 set on full manual mode and tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 25mm, f/7.1 for 2 seconds using the built-in neutral density filter at ISO 80 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Lower McKinney Falls (5D2) – Austin, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on full manual using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 105mm, f/13 for 13 seconds at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray Vari-ND-Duo neutral density and warming polarizer filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Both images were taken from the same tripod location only a few seconds apart and the differences in composition are due to the zoom range of each camera’s lens. Both images were processes using the same basic develop settings in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta and adjusted to match each other as closely as possible.

I was very impressed that the Canon G10 could provide comparable results to the 5D2 in this situation (click on each image for a larger version and compare for yourself) and would not hesitate to shoot with the G10 for my landscape work. In fact, several of the images published in my new book Hill Country Landscapes, were taken with the G10. Not too bad for a sensor the size of a dime!

The View from On High

I have to thank a friend of mine for pointing me to this wonderful location in central Texas. Its a small overlook on FM 1431 just outside Kingsland, Texas that boasts one of the best views in the state. From this vantage point you can see south to Lake Lyndon B Johnson, north to Lake Buchanan and straight west towards Packsaddle Mountain for a great sunset shot. I stop here almost every time I travel to central Texas and I’ve never come away with a bad shot.

The View from On High – Kingsland, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 32mm, f/11 for 1/6th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.