15 Sep
2010

Fall is right around the corner!

A strange thing is happening near my home in northern Virginia. Fall is coming, several weeks early! We’ve had a bit of a drought this summer, which I suspect is stressing the trees, but whatever the reason, I’ve noticed about a 5-10% leaf change already, more than a month early. I doubt that the bulk of the forest will start to turn until late October, but nonetheless, the few early turners have got me in the mood for autumn. So, I’ve decided to take a break from my Mt. Rainier series to share an image I made last fall in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, while leading my Autumn Adirondack Workshop. This image is of Roaring Brook Falls, located in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks (click on the image to view it larger).

"Roaring Brook Falls" - Adirondack Mountains, New York

Roaring Brook Falls is typically—well, roaring, I guess—but after a relatively dry summer the flow had dissipated enough so that one could closely approach the falls, opening up compositional opportunities considerably. Several of my workshop clients and I carefully climbed to the top of the lowest drop of the falls, for this “looking back” view that included some colorful fall foliage in the background. For this image, I got in as close as possible to the twin falls with a wide-angle lens, in order to use the falls and rocks as a foreground feature. I used a polarizer filter to remove glare from the wet rocks and autumn foliage. The day was mostly overcast, which is normally perfect for waterfall shooting, but I waited for a slight lifting of the clouds, allowing a hint of light into the background autumn trees, giving them a slight glow relative to the rest of the scene. Too much light, and a shot like this is ruined by excessive contrast, but just a little can really help brings colors to life.

Tech data: Canon 5D Mark II camera, 17-40mm lens (@17mm), polarizer filter, ISO 100, f/16, 1 second.

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About Ian Plant (275 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.

Tags: adirondacks, roaring brook falls

3 Comments

Jimmy September 15, 2010 at 8:48 am

Same thing is happening here in Northern Michigan. I’m seeing a few trees changing and with a early frost that we had last night things will be changing quick.
mavourneen s September 15, 2010 at 2:23 pm

That’s a great shot and smooth water at 1 second. I usually go for 5-30 seconds. How do you decide how many seconds to go for? Is it the feel you want to capture or what you see in front of you?
Ian September 15, 2010 at 3:06 pm

I usually try to find a balance between getting the water to look silky smooth and keeping some texture in the water. For example, 1/60th second freezes the action of the water, making it look like ice – not good. Several seconds will make the water look misty, but it will loose all detail or texture. Somewhere in between will be that “just right” shutter speed for mixing the two looks. What that speed is depends on water volume and flow, available light, etc. My new “Five Landscapes Challenges” eBook discusses this in detail.