Venford Brook
It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote about a visit to Venford Falls. In the blog post I told you how I attempted to improve on an image of the falls that was in my portfolio. Though the area around the falls was lush and green, the lack of rain had made it look a bit dry. So while the image was good, and a little different from the image of last year, I wasn't sure it was any better.
Back to the Falls...Again
If you read that blog post and saw the images you may have thought there would be little point in returning so soon and at the same time of year. However, not only did I want to take an image of the falls after a rainfall, but I also wanted to explore the area around the falls a bit more.
Fortunately, as is the way in the UK, I didn't really have to wait to long for the next downpour of rain and soon I was heading back to Venford Falls. With the ground being a bit wetter the walk down the steep hillside tot the falls was a little treacherous, but I was happy to see the green on the rocks was looking, well, rather moist!
So looking at the 3 images it's still hard to say which is better. My most recent image improves the image from the 9th of May thanks to the rainfall, but I'm not sure it's better than the image from 2016. I prefer the size and placement of the foreground rock in the most recent image, but I still prefer the look and clarity of the pool from the 2016 image. Honestly, I still think there is room for improvement so I may just have to go back and try again!
Just before I move on to Venford Brook, there was another shot that I wanted to take on this visit.
Nikon D750, Nikon 16-35mm f/4 @ 20mm, ISO 100, 2 seconds, f/16, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
As you can see this is a much wider angle of the falls adding some trees and sky to the top of the composition. I'm not sure these elements add too much to the image, but they do provide a better sense of scale and place. What do you think?
Venford Brook
With my waterfall shots in the bag, I decided that I was going to follow the brook downstream to see if there was more to shoot than just the falls. I was happy to find that I didn't have to wonder to far to find something interesting.
Nikon D750, Nikon 16-35mm f/4 @ 30mm, ISO 400, 0.6 seconds, f/16, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
The brook had carved an interesting flow down the moss covered rocks and I thought it might make for an interesting intimate landscape image. This kind of landscape photography isn't normally something I go for. I'm normally a big vista type of photographer, but sometimes you see something and you know you need to make an image from it.
Nikon D750, Nikon 16-35mm f/4 @ 31mm, ISO 400, 0.5 seconds, f/16, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
If you've read the shooting details of those images you will have noticed that I shot the images of the brook using ISO 400. With this type of shot it's easy just to extend the exposure as long as you can but with water in rivers and streams, 0.5 seconds is just about right. So raising my ISO shortened my exposure time without any noticeable loss of image quality.
I was glad that I'd spent the time doing a bit of exploring around Venford. While the falls are very attractive and make for great photographs, it's important not to get too attached to a specific location, particularly if there are good images to be had just downstream!
So what did you think of the images of the waterfalls? Do you have a favourite? Do you take intimate landscapes? Let me know in the comments.