Multnomah Falls

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

Multnomah Falls is perhaps the most stunning waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge. In the picture shown here, I've actually cut off two-thirds of the upper falls. At my shortest focal length (18 mm), this is as much as I could fit into the image. It's huge.

There are several things to mention about this photograph. First, note the bridge near the top, and for a sense of scale, notice the two people standing on that bridge. The second thing that stands out to me about this picture is the symmetry of the lower falls. Finally, I really like the foreground. Most people leave it out in order to get more of the falls, but I loved the log in the bottom pool, as well as the lush foliage and mossy rock at the very bottom of the picture.

As for the actual taking of the picture, I metered off of the lush green wall beside the lower falls. The aperture setting was F11, which speaks to how much water is coming off this fall. At F11, this isn't even a 1/2 second exposure and yet you still get the silky effect. I didn't underexpose or adjust the ISO setting.