Tumwater Falls Field Trip

As most often happens, I learned more by looking at the results on my computer after the event than I did while I was shooting. I had originally wanted to go for the crisp stopped-in-action look of water, but I think because it was a cloudy day it was hard to capture that look in an appealing way. I found, looking through the pictures, that I preferred the milky blurred look of the water as an element of composition. The pictures that showed more water texture were too "busy" looking, and the ones with the milky blurry water made the water into almost a background element with more attention available to focus on the textures of rocks and moss. Or maybe the viewer can split the perception into two categories of water vs land textures and it is easier to take in. So my current theory is that, at least on cloudy days, when there is a waterfall with a lot of other interesting things going on in it, the blurred look is a great choice. Now I am motivated to go back when the sun is out and see what that is like.

The first picture was the only one where I thought that the fast shutter speed worked well. The water in the back (top left) could almost be a huge textured rock instead of water, so different does it appear from the splashing water in the middle. I like the stillness of the mossy rocks with the little sputter of grass to give some contrast to the splashing water.

Aperture Priority Mode
f 5.6
exposure time 1/500
ISO 160
focal length 135 mm


In the second picture I like the look of the calm still pool with the textures of the tree and the grass and the still-water reflections contrasted with the motion of the waterfall. I chose this picture out of the full range that I took because this one showed the tree and calm pool off the best and clearest. Again, it would be interesting to go on a sunnier day and see if the moss might look greener and the shadows on the tree trunk might be clearer. It looks like a clear case when spot metering might be necessary--or care needs to be taken to get the tree to show up well.

Aperture Priority Mode
f 32 (?!)
exposure time 1/3 sec
ISO 100
focal length 55mm

One thing that I wish I had done better was to have had the landscape (non-water) elements in sharper focus. Maybe it is a trade-off, but I'm thinking that there has to be a way to ensure that I can have my cake (enough light) and eat it, too (greater depth of field). I could have bumped up the ISO a lot, yes? But of course I did not think of this at the time.

Third image

Aperture Priority Mode
f 8
exposure time 1/5 sec
ISO 100
focal length 37 mm

Fourth image

Aperture Priority Mode
f 8
exposure time 1/5 sec
ISO 100
focal length 35mm


Fifth image
f 14
exposure time 1/3 sec
ISO 100
focal length 38 mm


Sixth image
f 22
exposure time 1 sec
ISO 100
focal length 45 mm