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Before you jump in your car and run off to the first waterfall you Googled in your area, take some time to plan out your shoot first. This is essential to both get the shot you want and to stay safe out on the trail. Waterfalls look best under a diffuse light, so you’ll want to shoot on a cloudy or rainy day, for lovely, consistent lighting. Harsh sunlight can create dappled light and you may get blown out highlights on the falls, which is hard to “fix” in post-processing. There can be some exceptions to wanting to have sunlight in your shot, such as wanting a sunburst coming over the waterfall.

Look up not only weather conditions, but also any potential trail or road closures due to the season. When it is getting close to winter, snow can make a hike more difficult or the road impassible to vehicles. Read up on the trail and pay attention to the length, elevation gain, and any potentially difficult or confusing portions. I always assume waterfalls will be in area of no service, so I will screenshot trail directions, maps, descriptions, et cetera beforehand. Download an offline Google map of the area you will be in, and let someone know where you will be and when you plan on returning. I also highly recommend having The Ten Essentials, which could be split between you and your friends if you do a group outing, and that way you have less weight you have to carry. If you are bringing your pooch, double check whether the area is dog-friendly and what the leash laws are.

Make a checklist of all the gear and outfitting you’ll need and always bring a pair of extra socks! You never know when you will get soaked. If you are driving quite a distance, make sure you know where you will be able to get gas.

I have my favorite gear for shooting waterfalls, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the best gear for you. Here are my recommendations to get you started:

• Camera body: whatever camera you have with you is the best camera for the job! Whether this is a DSLR, a point-and-shoot, or your phone camera, you can’t go wrong. Here’s the one I use.
• Lenses: I love shooting wide, so I usually have my 16-35mm and 24-70mm with me, but a 14-24mm, 14mm, 35mm, and 50mm are all great choices. Don’t be too tied down to one lens; it’s good to experiment and play around. Sometimes I’ll even be using a 70-200mm to get a detail shot of some certain feature of the waterfall. Just be careful to protect your camera body when you change lenses so you don’t get water or dust on your sensor.
• Tripod: historically, the heavier and sturdier the tripod, the better. You are fighting against wind gusts, especially from the waterfall itself, sprays of water, rain, and other environmental conditions, plus you have to consider the weight of the body and lens you are using. However, I like to travel as light as I can so I can hike further with ease, so I have a mid-range tripod in terms of weight. I am currently using either the MeFoto Roadtrip S tripod, or the Peak Design Travel Tripod.
• Filters: if you bring nothing else filter wise, bring a circular polarizing filter. This will cut reflections off the surface of the water and give you a beautiful contrast between the white silk of the falls and the darker, deep patches of the river below. Hoya, Tiffen, and B+W are all fantastic brands to use. You can also play around with neutral density filters to help you get a longer exposure or create some cool effects.
• Camera sleeve or protective layer: plastic bag, rain jacket, umbrella, plastic camera sleeve, or a fancier set up is ideal to keep your camera safe in the wet conditions. Most recent cameras have pretty decent weather sealing, but you’ll need to make sure your lenses are also weather sealed too. Despite weather sealing, your camera could probably use some extra protection to keep it working long after your shoot.
• Lens cleaning cloth (more on this below): multiple. Bring multiple lens cleaning cloths. A small hand towel wouldn’t go remiss either, and a rocket blower is my secret hack for getting raindrops off lenses – for when your cleaning cloth is already soaked!
• Rain gear: jacket, pants, shoes, waders, the works.

When you see that amazing waterfall around the corner of your hike, you will be excited and probably jam right over to get that big, grandiose shot. Go ahead and take that shot, the classic view that you have saved on your Instagram account. But don’t grow roots and only take the one obvious shot.

Move around, take in different angles, and play with different compositions. Just be considerate of other photographers and other hikers that are in the area, because everyone deserves to enjoy the waterfall. No one likes the person in the red jacket sitting in front of the waterfall for a half an hour, taking selfies / live videos / otherwise posting up and oblivious to everyone else present. Don’t be red jacket guy. Take all the selfies you want, but be conscious of how much time you are in front of the main view of the falls.

There are some other considerations when shooting waterfalls. First, to revisit the lens cleaning cloths. Spray from the waterfall is going to give you water spots on your images and potentially ruin your shot. You will want to keep your lens as clean as possible between shots, and assume one cleaning cloth won’t be enough to do the trick. Everything you brought on this trip will slowly become more and more damp, and you’ll want something dry at hand at all times. After the shoot, you’ll want to take everything out of your bag and let it dry completely, including unfolding your tripod legs all the way and taking the covers off your lenses to let the glass in front dry off.

The second, but possibly the most important consideration, is to LEAVE NO TRACE. If you bring in a Cliff bar for sustenance, make sure you take the wrapper right back out with you. Don’t leave any trash, and if you are really amazing, consider picking up any trash someone else left behind. Respect trails in delicate areas; some places are eroded or have delicate moss or other plant life that could be easily damaged by ranging off trail. Don’t feed any wildlife you encounter, as it may pose a health risk to you or them, or someone else later on. Keep your music limited to your earbuds, as you are sharing this place with everyone else, and everyone else has a right to enjoy the sounds of nature. If you enjoyed exploring this waterfall, it’s likely someone else will too, and they deserve to see it in all its glory.

Now you’re all set to take epic photos – go out and enjoy yourself!

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