The tree at Devil's Punchbowl, NZ
The tree at Devil's Punchbowl, NZ
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Awards
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 21
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in Tree Silhouettes Photo Contest
Winner in Featured Trees Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Black And White Trees Photo Contest
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
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yvonnechristinebannister
July 24, 2017
I love this picture very much, it is one of my favourite black and whites that I have seen, well done, awesome, Yvonne
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is Devil's Punchbowl, near Arthur's Pass in New Zealand's South Island. It is a frequently visited and photographed fall. The walk to the viewing platform is steep though it is eased by steps in many places. Being so high in the Southern Alps the water flow changes quickly dependent on recent weather. This photo was taken just after a spell of heavy rain so the water was flowing well.Time
It was mid afternoon during the southern Hemisphere Autumn so light had reached the side of the mountain.Lighting
There are few options with lighting in this situation ( a cleft through a mountain). Timing your visit is best so a coffee in Arthur's Park village until the sun reaches the mountain is a good strategy. I wanted to capture some of the texture of the water and a fast shutter speed in low light conditions was called for so I went for 640 ISO to allow a shutter speed of 1/200 sec.Equipment
Canon EOS 5DSR, EF24-105 at 99mm.Inspiration
Living on the West Coast of the South Island I travel through Arthur's Pass regularly and often caught a glimpse from the road of a large waterfall high in the mountains. I promised myself that one day I would make the trek up with my camera. I have had a passion for water and waterfalls all my life and having taken up photography 6 years ago that has naturally translated into a desire to photograph them to try and capture the emotions I feel in their presence.Editing
I did do a fair bit of post processing for this image using Lightroom. I shoot colour raw images so first I had to convert to black and white. The original image was almost a silhouette due to the lighting so I played around with the filters, finally settling on a green filter for the conversion to black and white. I then cropped the image to a portrait aspect, brightened the shadows and applied a little dehaze to cut through the mist from the water and add definition to the tree. a final boost to the whites and I was fairly happy. I took a lot of shots at this location using different settings (and lenses which was quite scary amid all the water vapour) and can spend many hours post processing to create very different images.In my camera bag
I carry an EOS 5DSR and a EOS 6D as a backup. Spare batteries. EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM, EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. Black glass filter. Cleaning cloths & fluid. An old face flannel for drying the camera should there be rain. Remote release. I also carry a Gitzo tripod with a ball head.Feedback
Consider what the lighting conditions may be, but even if they are not optimal use your camera settings to give you the best chance of a decent picture. ISO is your friend in lower light and does not always get the same attention that aperture and shutter speed do. With waterfalls decide how you want the water to look in your final image and adjust your settings accordingly. Milky long exposures are very popular but for this image I went for the opposite with a shutter speed of 1/200 sec to freeze the water as it fell, this was only possible by increasing the ISO. ( I have returned since and used even faster shutter speeds for more texture). Experiment with post processing. It may just be some tweaks to your shot or a few hours being creative - Photography is art after all.