Waterfalls: It's All A Matter Of Perspective and Speed

First of all, let me make it very clear: I absolutely love taking pictures of waterfalls. A few weeks ago in Gatlinburg, I got my chance again! But, you might ask "which falls were you shooting?" Well, I was not at a falls but I was close to one!

Spotting the Willing Subject
My wife and I were walking through the streets of Gatlinburg, Tennessee a few weeks ago and I noticed what appeared to be a somewhat large fountain up ahead in the middle of walkway. The flow of water was quite strong and it had a good slope to it... yes, so it was going to cooperate.

Setting up the Shoot
My Canon 10-D camera was already sporting a Canon 50mm/1.8 lens on it and I did not want to interrupt our casual stroll with a complete photo shoot setup. You know the routine: change to a wide angle lens, add polarizing filter, tripod, remote trigger...

Instead, I took a one quick snapshot just to verify exposure. I then positioned the camera on a flat rock just opposite the "falls" and framed the shot. I left my ASA at 400. Now, I knew that I did not want to 'stop the action' but rather, get more of a dreamy flow of water... much like a cloud.
I then switched to aperture priority mode and stopped down the lens to f/22. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/3 of a second. Just about right for what I wanted.

Taking the Shot
Since the shutter speed was so slow there was a significant risk of camera shake. So, I switched the camera to 'Timer' mode so that it would take the shot after a short count down. After double-checking the composition one last time, I pressed the trigger and gently covered the eyepiece at the back of the camera to prevent spillage of light through that opening. A few seconds later 'click!' and the deed was done!

Post Processing
I snatched up the camera and checked the results. I smiled smugly and showed the results to my wife and received her "totally unsolicited' accolades. She did not disappoint. She used the appropriate words like: "Wow!", "How did you do that?","that's amazing..." Yes, post-processing was off to a good start.
I did make a few minor lighting adjustments in Photoshop and I cropping the shot slightly to make it level and... Presto! One pretty neat waterfall!

Looking Back
I have included the picture below to provide another perspective on the "raging falls." There it is on the left of this touching image of a young child being helped by an older gentleman, probably her grand father.

Conclusion
Look to slow things down when you are shooting moving water, like a spring, fountain, falls, you name it. Get that tripod out, or the functional equivalent and start shooting.

Yes, you too can Capture the fleeting glance.

Karl.