The fall guy
Shooting waterfalls in New Zealand
When I was on a family cruise through Milford Sound, I took these photos of a fjord in the wonderful south east of New Zealand. On the occasions that it rains over there, small waterfalls can suddenly appear and disappear on the sides of the massive fjords. But the rain was temperamental and kept stopping and starting during the cruise, making it rather difficult to take consistent images from the moving boat.
Seeing so many waterfalls cascading down from so high up was truly spectacular. But what impressed me most of all was the hazy mists that surrounded them and mixed with the constant torrent of water.
I believe that my photographs capture the sheer volume of water that had fallen, while the low cloud and mist add so much to these breathtaking photos. Overall I think they show, through the combination of the land and the weather, why this part of the world is somewhere that everyone should visit.
Both the cloud and rain limited the angles I could shoot from on the boat. It also restricted what was visible as we passed through Milford Sound.
The low cloud obscured the lovely landscape, and the rain that created the waterfalls made it difficult to get the specific shots that I was after. I did not capture the wide expanse or length of the fjord, but instead I decided to focus on close-ups of the pleasing waterfalls. The low cloud also hid the origins of the waterfalls which gave them an even more mysterious quality.
Next time I’d like to be a bit better prepared for the weather… A small towel would have been very handy along with a lightweight raincoat to protect myself. I’d also want to try manual settings so I could mix up the aperture, shutter speed and ISO for creative effect. I would’ve liked to have got the blurred effect on the waterfalls using a longer shutter speed, but shooting from a moving ship I had to use a minimum of 1/100 sec to make sure that my images were sharp enough. I would also like to review the images I was taking on my tablet with a bigger screen and, hopefully, emphasize the variety in the photographs that I took.
N-Photo Says
Steve, you have created some magnificent imagery here. You’re right in saying that the mist makes the images look more mysterious, and this, combined with the waterfalls pounding down the steep cliffs, lends a real ethereal mood to these photos. We understand your
The low cloud obscured the lovely landscape, and the rain that created the waterfalls made it difficult to get the specific shots that I was after
Never underestimate the importance of a clean, dry towel
frustration at not being able to use a long shutter speed to blur the waterfalls. That being said, from the distance you shot these at, they almost appear to be blurred anyway.
The yellow tint you have on a couple of the images may have been a misinterpretation of the scene from using Auto white balance, but this layer of warmth invites us into the scene [2 & 3]. The wider shot shows us the standout beauty of the landscape of New Zealand [1]. It’s big, dramatic and wild, but the low cloud cover and simple structure of these photos makes it aesthetically very pleasing.
It seems that you’ve already realized a couple of crucial changes that would make your shooting of this thrilling location even more enjoyable. And yes, never underestimate the importance of a clean dry towel – we recommend having a few microfibre cloths to hand, just in case. Lens hoods are also helpful, in shooting situations like this, to ward off that pesky precipitation spray raining down on your expensive glass.