POTD 24 August 2014 - "Secret" Venford Falls

[Mike Farley]

Another shot from my recent Dartmoor trip. These falls on the Venford Brook are described by some as being in a "secret" location. Well, they are not that well hidden as I found out about them while doing my pre-visit research on the Internet. The main problem seems to be that they are not marked on the Ordance Survey map, so many people do not know about them. One website gave an approximate location and after a bit of tramping around I eventually found them. One surprise is that the falls are in the middle of a series of cascades which are photogenic in their own right, but nobody seems to have mentioned.

Access to the falls is down a steep slope which is a bit of a scramble, but manageable if you are sure footed. That said, it was the only location on the entire trip where I lost my balance, although a heavy backpack did not help. The falls themselves are contained in a small gorge on a bend in the river, which is flowing downstream to the right, The only way to shoot them is to wade in across some slippery rocks and use a wide angle lens. It is the first occasion when I have got my feet wet to get a picture and an initial test of my boots' waterproofing. Fortunately, there had not been any rain in the previous few days, so the water was not too deep.

[davidc]

I like this.
I know the cotton wool water is a "marmite" item in photography put personally I prefer it, not least because it shows the photographer made a deliberate decision about how to render the scene and didn't just take a snapshot.

[Mike Farley]

I like this.
I know the cotton wool water is a "marmite" item in photography put personally I prefer it, not least because it shows the photographer made a deliberate decision about how to render the scene and didn't just take a snapshot.

Thanks, David. I have quite a few shots of moving water from the trip and what I found is that the blurred water provides a contrast with the sharp surroundings, which is a pleasing effect. Mind you, apart from the first day when the sun made an appearance, it was so dull that I did not need a ND filter to slow the shutter speed down in the places I was shooting. This was one of my last shots of the second day and there was not much light entering the narrow gorge where the waterfall is located. Exposure was 0.8 secs @ f/11, ISO 100.

My tripod had a secondary purpose on this occasion as it provided me with a support when I was clambering over the wet rocks in the brook to get into position to make the shot.

[Paul Heester]

Great shot and just teh right amount of blur for my personal taste. Ive been doing the "hand in front of me blocking part of the image" we tend to do at competitions and find each waterfall works equally as well on its own. So you've got 3 shots for the price of 1

[Mike Farley]

Great shot and just teh right amount of blur for my personal taste. Ive been doing the "hand in front of me blocking part of the image" we tend to do at competitions and find each waterfall works equally as well on its own. So you've got 3 shots for the price of 1

I must admit that I had not seen this as two separate images of each of the flows. I suppose that I could have them individually, but that would have meant changing lenses and making the journey over the slippery rocks a second time. No way was I going to attempt that!

Glad that you enjoyed this one.

[davidc]

The only improvement I can think of would be for an image of you clambering over rocks using a tripod as a walking aid.

[Mike Farley]

The only improvement I can think of would be for an image of you clambering over rocks using a tripod as a walking aid.

You know that I do not do selfies.

[davidb]

LOL