Tag Archives: waterfall

Small Cascade

Posted by Mike on

Robert H. Treman State Park

This is the week of my plant’s shutdown. Every year they schedule one but it has been quite a few years since they actually followed through and gave all but the maintenance crew the week off. Luckily Monday and Friday are holidays so I only have to consume three vacation days.

I decided to take this mid-year vacation as a sign for me to explore more of New York’s state parks. After the success of my state park trips last year I went ahead and purchased the New York Empire Passport which allows me entry into just about every state park until March 31st next year. With three visits already under my belt, I am a third of the way to paying back the cost of the passport. This was a great investment for me… 🙂

On Monday I journeyed down to Ithaca to visit Robert H. Treman State Park which is just a few miles south of the city. From what I had read on the park site there would be some opportunities for waterfall images along the 4 mile round trip hike. What I didn’t get from the site was the fact that even the gorge trail ventured up into the top of the gorge in the steep narrow sections. I got quite the workout. I arrived right at 9am which was a good thing as the temps reached 85+ by midday. I was in the park for a little over three hours as stopping with the camera to capture images does tend to slow me down.

I’ll sprinkle in the pictures as I process some of my favorites but will try not to overload everyone… 😉

Small Cascade Nikon D5100, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, 0.5s, 24mm, f/18, ISO 100

Small Cascade
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, 0.5s, 24mm, f/18, ISO 100

Through the Mist & Trees

Posted by Mike on

Pixley Falls State Park

With the unusually long winter and cold spring it has been a slow start to my state park excursions. Pixley Falls is just 20 minutes up the road from me and Sunday was my first visit since it opened. I generally enjoy photographing the small tributary streams as they have a lot more character and interesting compositions for long exposures and silky smooth running water.

Yesterday though I was able to get a nice composition of the main falls through the trees and billowing mist. I had waited just long enough to allow the sun to pass far enough through the sky to not create the usual ‘hot’ spots when trying to photograph this waterfall. I have learned to better expose these scenes so I can get the image I want without having to bracket my exposures.

I’ll be sprinkling the other images into my blog posts as I work on them… 😉

Through the Mist & Trees Nikon D5100, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, 1/8s, 24mm, f/16, ISO 100

Through the Mist & Trees
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, 1/8s, 24mm, f/16, ISO 100

Autumn at Pratt’s Falls

Posted by Mike on
Autumn at Pratt's Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 0.8s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Autumn at Pratt’s Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 0.8s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Water Colors Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 70mm, f/16, ISO 100

Water Colors
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 70mm, f/16, ISO 100

Autumn Falls

Posted by Mike on

I believe the car has a mind of its own. It seems like every time I am driving north on route 81 from Binghamton, the darn car ends up exiting at LaFayette and finding its way to Chittenango Falls State Park. It must know when the weather is favorable that I need to stop and stretch my legs.

Sunday turned out to be a nice day to do some exploring so I really didn’t complain when the car ventured off on its detour. The colors were at their peak this past weekend and added a nice change from my normal images at this state park. I was hoping there had been enough rain to provide water in the side alcove I had found early this year but it was not to be. I guess this view isn’t a bad second place… 😉

Autumn Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/3, 1/6, 1/13 & 1/25s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Autumn Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/3, 1/6, 1/13 & 1/25s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Taughannock Falls

Posted by Mike on

On Saturday I wandered off on another early morning adventure. I made my way to Taughannock Falls State Park on the lower west side of Cayuga Lake. This park has been on my list of must see state parks and I was happy to finally make my way there. I parked the car at the lake end of the park which nestled between route 96 and Cayuga lake along the Taughannock Creek. The 3/4 mile gorge trail takes you right to the signature waterfall. It was a happy coincidence that I didn’t make it to this park until autumn. The colors in the gorge are incredible and only enhanced my images.

The Lower Falls are visible from route 89 along the lake and were a great way to start my exploration. There were numerous locations for different views of the small cascade and true to my water fascination I used them all. There was a way to get down onto the creek bed but I wasn’t positive how frowned upon that would be so I stayed on the path.

The Lower Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 22mm, f/16, ISO 100

The Lower Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 22mm, f/16, ISO 100

Crisscross Cascade Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 35mm, f/22, ISO 100

Crisscross Cascade
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 35mm, f/22, ISO 100

Many Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 62mm, f/22, ISO 100

Many Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 62mm, f/22, ISO 100

The end of the gorge trail did not disappoint. The 215′ Taughannock Falls was impressive, especially since you can get so close to it. The difficulty in capturing this waterfall, at least in the early morning, was the angle of the sunlight and the amount of shadows. I ended up using a two exposure blend to balance the light.

Taughannock Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1 & 1/4s blend), 21mm, f/18, ISO 100

Taughannock Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1 & 1/4s blend), 21mm, f/18, ISO 100

Not to distract from the beauty of the waterfalls but I truly enjoyed to creek which created the gorge. It took me about 1.5 hours to walk the 3/4 mile trail because there were so many opportunities for me to capture my beloved water images. I’ll have more on those later…

Cavern Cascade

Posted by Mike on

Fading light and too much work have kept me from exploring with the camera so here is another image from my exploration of Watkins Glen State Park.

Cavern Cascade Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (0.8, 3, 13s bracket), 26mm f/13, ISO 100

Cavern Cascade
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (0.8, 3, 13s bracket), 26mm f/13, ISO 100