New York Waterfalls: Photographing Water in Motion

Last weekend my family traveled to Rochester and Ithaca, New York (in the Finger Lakes region). While our primary goal was to look at a few potential colleges for our older son, I couldn't resist making some time to photograph a few of the region's beautiful waterfalls (who needs sleep, anyway!). 

While near Rochester, I enjoyed an early morning at the Corbett's Glen Nature Park (in neighboring Brighton, NY).  In Ithaca I spent about 10 minutes at the Taughannock Falls State Park (my family was in the car while I set up my tripod and camera in a drizzly, windy, cold).  I was also lucky enough to catch a beautiful sunrise at Ithaca Falls (right next to the Cornell University Campus).  Below are a few of my new waterfall photographs.  These are available at my ETSY shop (click HERE).  See below if you are interested in a few tips on photographing water in motion.

Corbett's Glen Nature Park, Brighton, New York

Sunrise at Ithaca Falls, Ithaca, New York

Paradise Falls
Corbett's Glen Nature Park, Brighton, New York

Ithaca Falls, Ithaca, New York

Taughannock Falls State Park, Ithaca, New York

Corbett's Glen Nature Park, Brighton, New York

Paradise Falls
Corbett's Glen Nature Park, Brighton, New York

There are two primary ways to capture moving water.  One is to "freeze" the action by using a very fast shutter speed (1/250th second or faster).  Alternatively, by using a very slow shutter speed you can create the soft, wispy appearance.  For all of the above images, I used the latter strategy.  As I was shooting with a very slow shutter speed (about 6 to 10 seconds for some of these images) I had a the camera on a tripod and used an external shutter release (to prevent any unwanted camera shake).