articles/Landscape/cascadesoftime-page2

Cascades of Time - part 2 of 1 2

by Paul Gallagher Published 01/08/2008

Another important part of this equation is the ISO of the film or its setting in our digital cameras. If we have a low ISO such as 100 then with a small aperture of f22 the resulting shutter speed (obviously depending on the available light) can become considerable. This is my preferred method of photographing waterfalls as the resulting image shows an accumulation of time, which is something that our eyes never actually see, not a small, frozen moment in time. This is also where your skills of visualisation come into their own. Visualisation is not the understanding of the literal or what is before you in the landscape, or in

this case the waterfall, but how you see it in you mind's eye. If we look at the images in this article they did not present themselves to me like this in reality. By this I don't mean they were not just black and white, but when I was standing there I could barely see the smaller falls of water within the main cascade. I had to stop and imagine what the accumulation of time would 'look' like on my film (this would not, of course, be the case with a digital camera, providing it has a monochrome conversion in its menu). If we employ this process of visualisation only then can we actually understand what our composition will become.

With all these images I visualised the entire frame to be pin-sharp where no movement was taking place, and in stark contrast to this I wanted to capture the relationship of the entire movement of the waterfall as it made its way downstream. As a general rule if you want a sharp image from front to back with silk-like water use a tripod, stop your lens down to about f22 and set your ISO low which will hopefully give you an exposure time of one second. If your shutter speed is about a 1/60th of a second, the effect on the water will become less and this will be proportionate as your shutter speed gets faster.

Without wanting to sound like a kill-joy or a person advocating a nanny-state, health and safety next to cascades is crucial both to the photographer and their gear. I find Wellington boots a dream to wear when working next to water because you often find that the exact location for the perfect composition involves putting two of you tripod legs in the water closely followed by both yours! Water environments are slippy. Sounds obvious, but having made hundreds of exposures next to rivers and lochs I have on many occasions very nearly fallen in (only 'nearly' Gallagher, you're not trying hard enough - Ed.)

Never take for granted those pebbles or rock platforms as solid because more often that not they are coated in slime or organisms that render our footwear traction null and void! The environments surrounding water, and in particular waterfalls, are also something to be aware of. It doesn't take a genius to work out where all the water is coming from in the first place (the surrounding landscape) which is often boggy, slippy and wet. If you are working next to a waterfall for a period of time my advice is to take you kit out of your bag and after this is done close it again.

I once spent an hour next to, and in (wearing my wellies!), a beautiful Scottish cascade only to find the ultra-fine spray surrounding me that had gone unnoticed amidst the excitement had accumulated and almost soaked the contents of my open kit bag! Lastly when we are considering making an image whilst standing in water and considering all of the above I certainly recommend structured approach. Walk into the water. Consider where the camera is to be positioned. Consider lenses, filters, ISO and cable release, etc, then pick out your footings for the way back. Then compile your camera gear on the safety of the bank. After this walk back to your position in the water with all your equipment and make your exposure.

This approach will do two things. It will train you to visualise what camera/lens/filter you need without trying every one in your bag, secondly it will greatly reduce your chances of falling in the river. Statistically, making ten trips to and from you kit bag to try lenses is more dangerous. Above all take the time to keep you and your Kit safe - soak up the environment without actually getting soaked yourself!

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