Lee Vining

Photographer's Note

Small cascade along Lundy Canyon in the Eastern Sierra Mountains

During our recent TrekEarth summit in the Mono Basin, we took a short hike up Lundy Canyon where you'll see numerous waterfalls and small cascades like this one full with snow meltwater during the Spring.

It's interesting to note that although Los Angeles is about 350 miles to the south, this very pure alpine water will eventually run through the taps of some lucky Southern Californians. The marvels of several controversial 20th century water engineering projects have made it possible for Southern California to thrive and prosper very far from it's water sources.

This shot was taken during mid-day and I didn't really expect the light to work too well. Since it was very bright, I needed to use a polarizer, NDx4,and most likely an NDx2 as well to get the silky water effect. These bright situations are where the Cokin filter system really excels allowing you to stack the filters easily.

Regards,
Doug

robertosalguero, Hellas, pboehringer, plimrn, gunbud, siolaw, derek3755, bakes888, jwmunro, jmcl, kermit350 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

robertosalguero (292) 2007-06-20 3:34

Creek water is the best water I ever tasted. Everytime I go to the mountains I make the effort to drink meltwater. It feels good and fresh. Nice effect on the water. Lovely silky texture and colours of the surrounding environment. I enjoyed reading your note as well. Nice work Doug.

Roberto

Hellas (7123) 2007-06-20 5:50

The effect of using those filters was impressive. Three seconds were enough to show water's movement but the air made the trees to be blurred, too (I think so). I like very much the broken branch into the water. Thanks Douglas for sharing. Best wishes,
Athanasios.

pboehringer (770) 2007-06-20 10:22

Doug, you're right the ND filter allowed you a superb dynamic shot of L.A.'s property. How can you owe water? I still think that this is amazing and outrgeous. I wonder how the whole Mono Basin would look nowadays if the water would remain in the area. A very refreshing moment and view of this exaustive hike that we had there.

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Cormac (26565) 2007-06-20 12:09

Great waterfall shot! The sense of flow is wonderful, with the slow shutter spead really helping to smooth things out. The multiple cascades are great too. Beautiful work!

plimrn (21344) 2007-06-20 13:45

Hi Doug,
I've been looking forward to your posts and this one was well worth waiting for with its lovely framing of the curves of this waterway. The framing rock & tree are wonderfully sharp. I like the position of the two in the framing as well.

I've never been much for the effect of a slow shutter speed on moving water but in your middle section of the falls, the effect is perfect!! It looks better than real!! like the perfect representaion of water.

Was this from the higher falls?
HLJ, Pat

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gunbud (34066) 2007-06-20 21:55

Hi Doug,
Excellent feel of motion achieved in this photo. The slow exposure adds drama to this wonderfully framed image. Although there is ample water in NY state there is one exception NYC that gets its water from as far as 100 miles away and employes several hard rock miners to dig replacement tunnels as the old ones wear out. It makes one wonder why our population in this modern time could not be more properly spaced.

Regards, Tom

siolaw (38294) 2007-06-21 5:20

Hi Douglas,
Nice silk effect on the falling water with that extra long exposure... I was wondering how much light there has been, then i read your note... ;D Good vertical framing and POV and nice natural colors with sharp details... i like the small 'sub-waterfells in the lower part of the picture!
Laurent

derek3755 (2341) 2007-06-21 7:31

Hi Douglas

the slow shutter speed has worked very well giving a great sense of movement, especially in the bottom half of the picture. and a very nice composition too.

Derek

bakes888 (18499) 2007-06-22 4:00

Hi Doug. Nice photo. Good composition and cunning use of filters. Nice work and thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

Signal-Womb (13048) 2007-06-22 7:19

Very nice work Douglas, good composition and speed on the water without any blown highlights. Well done.

stevesieren (787) 2007-06-23 11:29

Looks like you got a little bit of cloud cover on this one Doug. It doesn't even look like a mid day shot!

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jwmunro (286) 2007-06-23 23:52

Hello Doug -

I guess we posted the same cascade and I must say yours is superior. The veiling of the water is perfect, I guess the use of a ND in bright sun makes all the difference in the world. I was waiting for a cloud when I did mine so the veiling is not what it should be. Well done, bravo!

Thank you for sharing.

John

pnphan (3957) 2007-07-05 2:20

You got a nice view and perfect exposure for this shot. I always love to capture flowing water, but I haven't figure out the right exposure time yet. Still learning.

jmcl (14535) 2007-07-14 19:21

Hi Doug,

I love the contrast of the water and the sharp stone .. the clarity you have maintained in the greens .. and the different paces of the water .. the little bits of cascade on the bottom with the longer flows above .. very nice.

take care,

John

kermit350 (9016) 2007-08-31 15:57

Hello doug, I perceive well the movement of water in his fall, framing tempting is pressed on these rocks in foreground and the effect of thread is ideally marked l`effet of the filters is used advisedly for thwarted the insidious luminosity, I adore the development which sincerely gives a true relief to this beautiful cascade which s`йtire since the top of the photograph, water is well distributed a little as in ventail on the whole of the sight, surrounding nature is very beautiful with much element to have an idea of the place,.......................Hello doug, Je perзois bien le mouvement de l'eau dans sa chute, le cadrage est sйduisant appuyй sur ces rochers en premier plan et l’effet de filй est idйalement marquй l‘effet des filtres est utilisй а bon escient pour contrecarrй la luminositй insidieuse, j'adore la mise au point qui donne un vrai relief а cette belle cascade qui s‘йtire depuis le haut de la photo, l’eau est bien rйpartie un peu comme en ventaille sur l’ensemble de la vue, la nature environnante est trиs belle avec beaucoup d’йlйment pour se faire une idйe de l’endroit, bien amicalement