3 Sep
2010

Posted in: Mt. Rainier
By Ian Plant    7 Comments

Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park

The third image from my Mt. Rainier series travels to Comet Falls, which plummets 400 feet over a series of drops, including a dizzying free-fall plunge of 320 feet at the top. This popular waterfall is on the trail to Van Trump Park, which is a beautiful high altitude alpine meadow with great views of Mt. Rainier and a carpet of wildflowers in the summer. There are a lot of compositional opportunities at Comet Falls, but as always, I try to look for a unique angle and a dynamic composition. So, instead of photographing Comet Falls from the several easily accessible viewpoints along the trail, I scrambled down a steep slope to get to the base of the falls.

Once there, I was able to use the stream as a foreground element, thus adding compositional interest and establishing a visual relationship with the falls and other elements of the scene. I choose a composition that would create “visual flow,” a concept I discuss in my eBook Chasing the Light. Visual flow is a way of leading a viewer’s eye through the scene using composition, tonal transition, and color, thus creating the illusion of three-dimensional perspective and motion over time in a two-dimensional static capture. It is a way of creating energy and a sense of visual excitement in your photographs. Visual flow helps capture the dynamic forces of nature at work, creating an illusion of movement and vitality.

Here, by staggering the main falls in the background, the lower drop in the middle-ground, and the flowing stream in the foreground, I create a sense of visual progression of elements. This encourages the eye to bounce back and forth between these elements, thus creating compositional excitement and engaging the viewer’s interest—or at least, that was my intention, whether it succeeds or not is up to each of you! The staggering of elements also creates an abstract curving shape that arcs from the lower left of the image to the top right, helping to strengthen the sense of visual flow. Shutter speed was carefully chosen to allow for motion blur in the water, while at the same time retaining some texture to increase compositional interest. My hope is that I was able to capture something of the wild beauty of Comet Falls, conveying a sense of its power and awe-inspiring presence. 

Technical data: Canon 5D Mark II camera, 17-40mm lens (@17mm), ISO 400, f/16, 1/5 second, polarizer filter to remove glare from wet surfaces.

"Comet Falls" - A freefall plunge of over 300 feet.

More From Ian Plant Dreamscapes

• Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park
• Carter Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park
• Spray Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park

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About Ian Plant  (260 Posts)

Ian Plant's photographs and instructional articles have appeared in a number of books, calendars, and magazines, including Outdoor Photographer and Popular Photography. Ian writes a regular blog column for Outdoor Photographer online, and he is the author of numerous instructional eBooks and digital processing tutorials. Ian leads several photo tours each year.