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| Equipment: Canon 20D, Canon 24-70mm | ||
| Image details: 28mm, f/11, 13sec, ISO 100 |
Snoqualmie falls is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Seattle area. It is one of the one of the first places I visited when I moved here. The beautiful cascading falls is around 268 ft high and spreads mist around the entire area.
It's a half mile hike down to the falls from the visitor parking lot. It's a short hike but steep in places - if your not in shape you'll have to take plenty of breaks on your way back up. You also have the option of driving to the lower parking lot which is about 3 minutes walk from the falls.
The trails ends at a wooden observation deck. Although the deck has interesting views they are not quite as good as from close to the waterfall. Get off the wooden trail on the left side and follow a rocky trail to the base of the falls. There are signboards on the deck warning people that getting off the deck could be dangerous in case of flash floods - so get off at your own discretion.
A good time to shoot here is in the evening preferably an hour or so before sunset. So in the summer it would be between 8 and 8.30 pm. Get out your wide angle lens for some beautiful shots. You can make interesting compositions with and without the falls. Usually there are some fisherman on the banks - you can use them as foreground for some interesting compositions. The whole area is covered with spray from the falls - so bring your lens cloth to clean your lens frequently.
Winter offers another opportunity to shoot the falls from a different perspective. Crowds also tend to be way smaller, so you can take your time to compose your picture. When there is a prolonged stretch of below freezing weather the sides of the falls get frozen and are very impressive! Boots with a good grip are essential if you going to get off the deck and walk down to the falls. Also look for interesting ice formations on the rocks along the sides of the river - they offer some very interesting macro opportunities.
Directions to the visitor center
Directions to the lower parking lot
It's a half mile hike down to the falls from the visitor parking lot. It's a short hike but steep in places - if your not in shape you'll have to take plenty of breaks on your way back up. You also have the option of driving to the lower parking lot which is about 3 minutes walk from the falls.
The trails ends at a wooden observation deck. Although the deck has interesting views they are not quite as good as from close to the waterfall. Get off the wooden trail on the left side and follow a rocky trail to the base of the falls. There are signboards on the deck warning people that getting off the deck could be dangerous in case of flash floods - so get off at your own discretion.
A good time to shoot here is in the evening preferably an hour or so before sunset. So in the summer it would be between 8 and 8.30 pm. Get out your wide angle lens for some beautiful shots. You can make interesting compositions with and without the falls. Usually there are some fisherman on the banks - you can use them as foreground for some interesting compositions. The whole area is covered with spray from the falls - so bring your lens cloth to clean your lens frequently.
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| Equipment: Canon 20D, Canon 24-70mm | ||
| Image details: 70mm, f/22, 1/2sec, ISO 100 |
Winter offers another opportunity to shoot the falls from a different perspective. Crowds also tend to be way smaller, so you can take your time to compose your picture. When there is a prolonged stretch of below freezing weather the sides of the falls get frozen and are very impressive! Boots with a good grip are essential if you going to get off the deck and walk down to the falls. Also look for interesting ice formations on the rocks along the sides of the river - they offer some very interesting macro opportunities.
Directions to the visitor center
Directions to the lower parking lot
3 comments:
Lovely composition... great evening light...
I want to sincerely thank you for your blog - not only because you share the places you have been to collect such great shots, but also because you share the details of how to take the shot. I just began a photography class at Seattle U and I am so pleased to have come across your site! You will definitely help with my confusion and some guidance for where to begin! I plan to post pictures I have taken on my blog if you are interested! Thank you.
Last time I went there (2 months back), access to the bottom of the falls was closed due to construction.
http://pse.com/inyourcommunity/king/ConstructionProjects/Pages/Snoqualmie-Falls-Hydroelectric-Project-Upgrade.aspx
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