Ten Tips on How to Photograph Waterfalls

As a photographer, I am frequently asked this question: “How do you get that ‘flowing water’ effect in waterfalls?” It’s not difficult if you have the right equipment and a little “know-how.” Here are ten basic tips to help you take waterfall photographs.

Slow Down the Shutter 

The key to good waterfall photography is to slow down the shutter speed. I shoot most waterfalls at 1/4 to 2 seconds. At these shutter speeds, you’ll get the flowing water or motion blur effect. To capture swirls or eddies, you’ll have to go slower, say 5, 10, even 60 seconds depending on the speed of the water. On the other hands, to highlight flow details and texture, I shoot at 1/8 to 1/15 second. But there’s a catch to these slow shutter speeds.

Brush Creek Falls

Get a Neutral Density Filter

In normal daylight, when you manually slow down your shutter for waterfall photography, the image will over expose no matter how much you reduce the aperture or lens opening. That’s just the way cameras are made. But there is a way around this. It’s called a Neutral Density (ND) Filter. A neutral density filter absorbs light without altering colors. I generally use an ND4 or ND8 filter. The higher the filter number the more light is absorbed. With an ND filter on, I can easily slow down the shutter speed and still get a properly exposed image. 

Campbell Falls - 30 secs

Use a Polarizing Filter

When photographing water, it’s a good practice to use a polarizing filter, too. Light will reflect off a surface of water causing glare. A polarizing filter cuts glare off of water and even off of leaves or any other surface that’s reflecting light. Reducing glare helps produce more saturated colors, which improves image quality.

Pick a Cloudy Day

To reduce severe contrasts, pick a cloudy day to shoot waterfalls. Bright white water and dark shadows occur in direct sunlight. The contrast between the two is difficult, if not impossible, to handle photographically. Reducing exposure to properly expose the bright water will result in overly dark shadows. And increasing exposure to capture detail in shadows results in over exposed and burnt out portions of the white water. A cloudy day reduces contrast and allows for proper exposure of both light and dark portions of the image.  

Set the Exposure to the Brightest Part of the Waterfall

Waterfalls are easily over exposed because they are generally the brightest portion of the image. Even within a waterfall, there are light and dark segments. With matrix (also called evaluative) metering, bright spots in the waterfall are likely to be overexposed in order to preserve detail in shaded areas. To set the exposure, it’s best to spot meter on the brightest part of a waterfall thus preventing any overexposure. 

Marr Branch - 1/4 sec

Choose the Lowest ISO Setting 

In keeping with slow shutter speeds, it’s best to choose the lowest ISO setting available. High ISO settings (high sensitivity to light) promote faster shutter speeds, which are not desirable for the motion blur effects in waterfall images. Conversely, the lower ISO settings (less sensitivity to light) promote the slow shutter speeds that are desirable for waterfall photography.

Use a Tripod

To remove camera shake at slow shutter speeds, always use a tripod. Below 1/60 of a second, some degree of movement is difficult to prevent if a camera is hand-held. This movement causes the whole image to be blurry, not just the water. A sturdy tripod will keep the camera stationary when shooting and produce clear, sharp images.

Shutter Trip

Even if a camera is mounted on a tripod, it’s still possible to induce movement if the shutter is tripped manually. To prevent this, always trip the shutter by a self-timer or remote device. 

Peters Creek on a Sunny Day 

Sunny Day Strategy

Shooting waterfalls on a cloudy day is not always possible. Sometimes the sun persists. If so, there is a way to shoot a waterfall on a sunny day. The key is to shoot the entire frame in full sun. An ND8 filter is necessary to cut down the bright sunlight. And as much as possible exclude shaded areas from the image. 

Foreground Interest

Include Foreground Detail

This tip deals with the esthetics, not the mechanics, of waterfall photography. In my experience a waterfall shot will be more pleasing to the eye if it has some depth. Prominent foreground helps create depth. Autumn leaves on rocks make good foreground as do channels of water downstream of the waterfall. A “bear paw,” an image of water rushing over a foreground rock (see example), is almost always a winner. So experiment when framing up an image of a waterfall and look for interesting foreground subjects. 

Sandstone Falls - Bear Paw

I hope these tips are helpful to you. They aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but should at least point you in the right direction.