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Appalachian Waterfalls

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Minnehaha Falls, GA, USA

Minnehaha Falls, GA; 1 sec., f/16, ISO 100

Waterfalls are abundant in the southern Appalachians. It seems like you can hardly throw a stick without hitting one.

Of course I’ve spent the last 30 years in Yosemite, which might have the most spectacular collection of waterfalls in the world. But they’re different. Yosemite’s waterfalls are big and dramatic, and often leap hundreds of feet in a single drop. The waterfalls in the southern Appalachians are smaller, more intimate, and more complex, often containing multiple tiers and channels. This complexity can make them both more challenging and more rewarding to photograph – challenging because there’s rarely an immediately-obvious composition, but rewarding because once you start looking you might find a dozen or more good compositions in a single cascade.

During our last trip, one of the first places we visited was Minnehaha Falls in northern Georgia. Since this fall is on the cover of two different waterfall guidebooks it seemed worth checking out. And we weren’t disappointed. Minnehaha is graceful enough to lend itself to overall views, and intricate enough to offer many smaller-scale compositions. The day was overcast, which is often ideal for these kind of waterfalls. I spent an hour and a half there working just one side of the cascade before we had to move on.

Later during our workshop we visited several other waterfalls I hadn’t been to before. Among my favorites were Station Cove Falls (or Oconee Falls) and the Brasstown Creek cascades, both in South Carolina. The Brasstown Veil is one of the few vertical drops in the area, which means it generates lots of spray. Spray can mean rainbows in the right light, and we were lucky enough to find a rainbow there during our late-afternoon visit. (A word of warning though: the trail to this waterfall is steep and slippery, so use caution and attempt it at your own risk.)

We also returned to my favorite waterfall from my previous visit, Eastatoe Falls. And I’m glad we went back, as a log that had annoyed us the last time had disappeared, plus there was more moss along the sides of the fall, adding a touch of color.

While the big waterfalls in Yosemite often work with fast shutter speeds, which freeze the motion and show the texture of the spray, the waterfalls of the southern Appalachians often look best with slower shutter speeds, creating soft veils of water flowing over their ledges.

People often ask me what shutter speed to use to blur the motion of waterfalls and cascades, but there’s no single answer. The range is usually from around 1 second to 1/8th of a second, but sometimes even slower or faster shutter speeds can work. A shutter speed of 1 second will make the water look soft and silky, while 1/8th of a second will still convey motion, but preserve more texture in the water. In between you can get a range of effects, depending on the relative speed of the water across the frame, and the structure and flow of the cascade. For these southern-Appalachian waterfalls I often preferred slow shutter speeds to create a soft, silky look and enhance the “veil” effect, but not always. It pays to experiment with different shutter speeds, and when you find the right one, take a number of different frames with the same composition and settings, as the water is constantly changing, so you’ll get a different look with each exposure. (Of course you need to use a tripod with shutter speeds this slow; you want to blur the water, but not the rocks!)

Also, I don’t think I made a single exposure of a waterfall without a polarizing filter. The polarizer cuts the sheen on the wet rocks, darkening them, enriching colors, and enhancing the contrast between the rocks and white water. The only exception was the rainbow on Brasstown Veil, where I still used the polarizer, only I rotated it 90 degrees from its usual reflection-cutting orientation to enhance the rainbow.

Aside from these technical considerations, I really worked each waterfall, and encouraged my workshop students to do the same. There’s a saying in chess: “When you find a good move, look for a better one.” In photography, when you find a good composition, go ahead and take it – but then look for a better one.

Invariably, my first photograph of a waterfall didn’t turn out to be my best. But I kept working each scene, trying different ideas, and variations of those ideas. In several cases, my last composition of a waterfall turned out to be the best.

And, as always, I looked for patterns. Repeating patterns help unify a photograph and create rhythm and order, and patterns were abundant in the tiers and braids of these waterfalls if you looked for them.

Of course we just dented the potential here. There are literally hundreds of waterfalls in this area, and the creative possibilities are endless. I look forward to going back!

— Michael Frye

Minnehaha Falls detail, GA, USA

Minnehaha Falls detail, GA; 1/2 sec., f/16, ISO 200

Minnehaha Falls, profile view, GA, USA

Minnehaha Falls, profile view, GA; 1/2 sec., f/16, ISO 250

Station Cove Falls, SC, USA

Station Cove Falls, SC; 1/2 sec., f/11, ISO 200

Eastatoe Falls, NC, USA

Eastatoe Falls, NC; 1 sec., f/11, ISO 50

Rainbow, Brasstown Veil, SC, USA

Rainbow, Brasstown Veil, SC 1/2 sec., f/16, ISO 50

Rainbow and sunbeams, Brasstown Veil, SC, USA

Rainbow and sunbeams, Brasstown Veil, SC; 1/2 sec., f/16, ISO 80

Trahlyta Falls, Vogel SP, GA, USA

Trahlyta Falls, Vogel SP, GA; 1/6 sec., f/11, ISO 1600

Related Posts: Back From the Southern Appalachians; Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

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Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to YosemiteYosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom 5: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.

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