The Papua waterfall on Rarotonga is normally only a trickle, luckily it had been raining heavily for 3 days before I took this photograph
Dec, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken on the South Pacific tropical island of Rarotonga, the largest island in the Cook Islands group. My family and I were on a much needed holiday at the time and decided to venture up to this waterfall during a break in the weather.Time
This image was taken around 2 pm on Friday the 3rd of November 2017. The road leading up to the waterfall goes past the abandoned Sheraton Hotel and heads into the islands hinterland, past pawpaw plantations and coconut trees and follows the stream created by the waterfall.Lighting
Because the waterfall is located in lush rainforest on the southern side of Rarotonga the optimal time to photograph it is a couple of hours either side of midday, that way the sun is at it's highest point in the sky and provides as much light as possible. As Rarotonga is in the tropics the days are shorter than I am used to,so making the most of the daylight is paramount.Equipment
I set up my Canon 6D on my Manfrotto tripod with my 24-105mm lens attached (making sure that the image stabiliser on the lens was turned off) I set the camera drive to a 2 second delay to avoid any shake after pressing the shutter button. I set the camera to f22, ISO 100, 1.6 second exposure at 73mm, this allowed the camera to capture the water in flow and give it that beautiful milky white effect.Inspiration
This was my third visit to this island paradise and the last two times I had been there was either very little or no water flowing. However this time the rain had been falling for around a week,resulting in a great flow of cool fresh water, and I finally got the image I was after.Editing
I ran the image through Photoshop to lighten it up a bit, as the RAW image was quite dark, and it needed straightening as well. Other than that, the image is like it was in the camera.In my camera bag
In my Crumpler bag I always carry my trusty Canon 6D, along with a Canon 24-10mm f4 lens, a Canon 70-300mm f4 telephoto lens, a Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens, a remote cable for controlled shutter release, a selection of polarising, UV & neutral density filters, spare battery (fully charged), cleaning cloths, a lens cleaning kit, a notebook with my notes and tips I've made over the years.Feedback
If you're going to try and capture this waterfall I'd advise you to go between 10am and 2pm, that way the light will be at it's best, but if it's a hot day you may need to wait a while as the pool below the waterfall will most probably be full of swimmers enjoying a cold dip. Rarotonga is such a beautiful place that even if waterfalls aren't for you, there are plenty more amazing places to photograph around the island. And then there are the sunsets.....
