Waterfalls are always fun to photograph especially when the weather cooperates. One fine day I came upon Webster’s Falls out in the Dundas area. The sky was blue with few clouds around. It was an ideal time for some great waterfall photography—except for all the people milling about!
Regardless, I came here with my tripod and gear in hand so I had to make due with what I was confronted with. There were so many people there was no way I could get any shot of the waterfalls by itself. Just to the right of this frame, a few dozen people just sat by the rocks admiring the view, wondering if they should risk everything by taking walk behind the waterfall.
Equipped with my 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 6-stop ND filter, and a polarizer, I climbed up the side of the hill so I had a nice vantage point of the entire falls. I stood my tripod precariously on some rocks and started taking some photos.
The only problem was if I extended the shutter for too long, the people would go blurry so I compromised and under-exposed the shot so that I could get the silky smooth waterfalls but have the people still looking sharp. This 0.6 second exposure was fast enough for these people to stay still for that period of time. And since the water was falling at a rapid speed, 0.6 sec. was slow enough to get that silky smooth water movement. I knew this photo could be lightened up in post-processing, so that’s what I relied on, in order to get this shot that I was after.
Now, I hear this place looks pretty nice in the autumn season as well. Perhaps I will have to come back in the near future.