Grizzly Falls, Kings Canyon National Park

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 28 October 2009 in Landscape & Rural.

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Thanks in large part to the recent early-season California storms, rivers and creeks are running at springtime levels in much of the central-Sierra. While photographing fall color along the south fork of the Kings Canyon River late yesterday afternoon, my companions Mike Hall, Scott Schilling, and I came across a cool waterfall known as Grizzly Falls.

At first sight, I was contemplating shooting the entire length of the falls, but once I realized I was on the wrong side of the creek, I decided to try a tighter frame and play with the amazing lines and forms the cascading falls was providing as it glided over the boulders along the face of the falls. Using a shutter speed of 2 1/2 seconds, I was able to give the water a silky, smooth feel that I felt accentuated the lines that initially drew me to the scene.

I went rather tight with my composition using my 70-200 mmL lens as I positioned myself about 25 feet from the falls. Fortunately the entire face of the falls was in shadow that provided the soft even light. There was virtually no wind and it allowed me to work close without the problem of mist smearing my polarizer. I also tried to bracket horizontal and vertical compositions and ended up liking this one the best.

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Comments (20)

Ralph Jones from Detroit, United States

Beautiful long exposure.

28 Oct 2009 5:11am

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

Wow, love the long exposure... beautiful.

28 Oct 2009 8:37am

zOOm from Paris, France

A perfect shutter speed enhances light and water motion. A milky textured water in fact. Really gorgeous Don. Perfect framing.

28 Oct 2009 9:02am

@zOOm: Thanks as always Florence. It was fun playing with different compositions. We only had about 10 minutes to play with this scene as our light was fading and we had really come to photograph the fall color, but this was an unexpected and somewhat magical diversion.

Elora from Genoa, Italy

Beautiful Don!

28 Oct 2009 1:10pm

Sergei Z from Türi, Estonia

Excellent! Very well control over the shutter speed.

28 Oct 2009 5:57pm

Rand from Laie, United States

Great composition. I always enjoys detailed shots of falls (even big, scenic falls) best.

28 Oct 2009 7:53pm

@Rand: Thanks Rand, there was sun just above these falls rendering a full-length shot virtually useless. I was also on the wrong side of the creek. But as it turned out, it was a good thing as it made me think deeper about the composition.

Vitor Martins from Lisboa, Portugal

Superb photo and details.

28 Oct 2009 10:42pm

Judy from Brooksville, Florida, United States

This is truly beautiful ... well timed and composed!

28 Oct 2009 11:43pm

DarkElf from Perth, Australia

perfect exposure here! the "veil" effect is just right - not too over done... nice tight view over the rocks and the waterfall too - good detail and textures!

29 Oct 2009 1:20am

@DarkElf: I wanted the lines of the silky water to match the lines etched in the boulders. This is where having an LCD paid off handsomely as I could bracket my shutter until the water looked the way I wanted it.

Scott F. Schilling from San Martin, United States

Don this is what I would consider a perfect rendition of the feeling standing at Grizzly Falls. This is immediately relaxing and tranquil and there are so many lines and forms in this image that it draws my eyes into the image. I also like the warmth of the rocks against the cool water. Great work!!

29 Oct 2009 2:57am

Sriram from Chennai, India

Excellent shot... very well done!

29 Oct 2009 11:15am

Jen from St. George, United States

I don't know what "the wrong side of the creek" means, but I'm glad you ended up with this tight crop. This is pure magic! I love being able to see all the little details that would have gotten lost in a wide shot. :)

29 Oct 2009 4:24pm

@Jen: Hi Jen, what I meant was that my first intention was to shoot the entire length of the falls - more of a literal rendition. From m vantage point, the bottom part was blocked, so I thought of isolating, something I should be doing more of in nature.

Mirza Ahmad from Thames Ditton, United Kingdom

NIcely executed. The tight crop works well.

29 Oct 2009 9:28pm

Didier DE ZAN from somewhere, France

Fantastic

30 Oct 2009 6:04am

Eleftheria from Athens, Greece

wow!

30 Oct 2009 1:47pm

Cricket-StandingStill from United States

Beautiful! Love the crop on this.

30 Oct 2009 3:50pm

Lambspun from Madison, Maine, United States

Grizzly Falls is sure a good name for today being Valentines Day but not for how you've captured these falls.....they look incredibly soft and tame :)

31 Oct 2009 6:42pm

Tracy from La Selva Beach, United States

Wonderful! you have created such depth by your placement of rocks and water in this image! I love that this is a close up of the scene- it leaves me to wonder how big (or small!) this scene actually is!

1 Nov 2009 5:54pm