I love a waterfall image processed as monochrome. To me, it is clean, elegant and amazing. The first view I presented on Saturday was the color image, now it is time for the full gorge view in monochrome.
I could not have asked for a better day to make the trip out to Chittenango Falls State Park. Temperatures in the mid 70’s, a few puffy white clouds scattered throughout the sky and a light breeze floating through the park. I wasn’t alone in my desire to visit the beautiful waterfall. I almost was unable to find a parking space. Persistence won out eventually…
Surprisingly, the trails were not as crowded as the parking lot indicated. I believe there were a few group gatherings in the park and showing up around lunch time allowed me to explore relatively uninhibited. I was disappointed to see a family, or two, at the base of the waterfall climbing on the rocks. I guess all the signs prohibiting entrance to the falls went unseen… ???
I let the unwanted subjects for my image bother me for only a few minutes. There was nothing I could do about them and I was fairly confident I could make them disappear in Lightroom when I processed my images. Let me know if you think you know where they were in the image… 🙂
The falls face South and there is not an optimal time to grab an image as the gorge walls will be in shadow most of the day. I thought my best option would be at noon, which most photographers would say is when the light would be the harshest. But, the shadows on the walls help tame the overall appearance of the image. For each of the compositions, I captured a bracket of images in the event I would need to combine a few different exposures. This view didn’t need extra processing. The -.7EV image tamed the highlights well and I was able to pull out the shadows to show the detail in the gorge walls.
Can you hear it? The falling water. I love this park, especially in the early morning. No other hikers on the trail. My and the sounds of the gorge. I could stay here all day. Go ahead, listen, do you hear it… ?
It was a long week at work. Being on vacation the previous week didn’t help as most of my time was spent trying to catch up on everything that had accumulated in my absence. By early Friday afternoon I was done, mentally and physically, so I decided to cut out early. I didn’t have a plan other than I wanted to feel the sunshine on my face.
I ended up letting the car bring me to Chittenango Falls State Park to explore the gorge. My previous stops earlier this year were shortened due the gorge trail being closed. Although there was above average water flow in the creek the trail was open and I was able to get some images of the waterfall.
The afternoon sun does cast a shadow across the face of the waterfall but I do not believe it “ruins” the image. I was able to bring some light back into the shadows in post-processing. The key is not to destroy all of the shadows, only to enhance them. An image is only as good as the shadows, the light highlights but the shadows define…
Letchworth State Park
Lower Falls Close-up
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II, 1/6s, 75mm, f/16, ISO 100
Middle Falls Shine
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1.3s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 100
Upper Falls Drama
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 0.8s, 18mm, f/11, ISO 100
MLCreations Photography 