Photographing Waterfalls with Small Equipment

Muddy Creek

I visited Western Maryland in late July, and I had a lot of fun visiting my all-time favorite park, Swallow Falls State Park. I visited the park twice. On one day, I went to the main park entrance and walked the trails inside the park.  On the second day, I walked a trail on the other side of the Youghiogheny River. When I lived in Maryland I wasn't a birder, so I wondered what kind of wildlife might be in the park. I was not disappointed, as there singing warblers all over the park, including Pine, Hooded, Black-throated Green, and Black-throated Blue Warblers, Common Yellowthroat and Northern Waterthrush. In Florida I never get to hear thrushes sing, and it was wonderful to hear Veeries, Wood Thrushes and Hermit Thrushes as well.  The biggest highlight was my first ever Winter Wren.

Muddy Creek Falls

Swallow Falls

But when I was out birding, I also wanted to take photographs of the falls and cascades along Muddy Creek and the Youghiogheny River, some of the more picturesque falls in Maryland.  However, I didn't want to constantly change lenses or lug around a big tripod, so I decided to go with my DSLR and 400mm lens and then use my Canon Powershot G7X for landscapes. I brought a small tripod that is about 10 inches long when collapsed, but can expand to be about waist high.  Because it's so small, I could put one leg inside my belt and keep it with my camera. When paying attention to birds, I didn't even notice it, but it was always there when I wanted to photograph the beautiful scenery.

Muddy Creek Falls

Muddy Creek Falls

I think the set up worked pretty well.  The G7X takes great pictures, especially if I don't need shallow depth of field.  To get sharp images with long exposures, I put the camera on my small tripod and then put the self-timer on 2 sec. to eliminate camera shake.  I shot most of the waterfalls with a long exposure, but always 1 second or shorter, due to the limitations of the point and shoot. Of course, most of these images were taken between 7am and 9am so that sunlight doesn't cause mottled lighting on the trees and make it impossible to get slow shutter speeds.  I've included some of my favorite photos from my two days at the park. It seems to me that with this kind of photography, a large-sensor point and shoot will do a pretty good job, even when stacked up against the 40D I used to use when I lived in Maryland.  Of course, it can't compete with a DSLR in many other types of photography, but I will never shy away from using a point and shoot for landscapes again.