A hike at Twin Falls State Park
As those of you who have kids will know, a chance to get out and take some shots around town is a real treat. Therefore, when a coworker asked if I would like to go hiking at Twin Falls State Park and my wife said OK, I jumped on the opportunity.
The park is not very far from Seattle and is one of the many nice waterfalls we have around here. This is one of the great benefits of living here. While back East we had Niagara Falls (which I have seen perhaps a hundred times but never photographed) after that the waterfalls taped off a bit. Not that case here – as we have a good number of waterfalls over a hundred feet tall.
Ironically, I feel that the best shots from the trip were not of the waterfalls itself. They are nice waterfalls, but I believe it is necessary to get down to the waterfall level for a truly nice shot. Unfortunately conditions were not favorable that day towards doing that.
The picture here shows part of my problem for the day. Due to the weather conditions there was just too much dynamic range in the shot. I considered doing on HDR shot but I just didn’t think it would make a good HDR shot either. I am not against HDR, but I think too many people use it too often. Like other things, it is a tool that has its purposes. Here’s a closer shot with shadow/highlight added – which is kind of like an HDR effect.
Some people may like this shot better. I’m a bit conflicted, but I think the biggest issue with all of these shots is the viewpoint. In particular the trees on the left side distract from the waterfall. This particular viewpoint of the falls is very small, so all photographs from this location look very similar.
Going up the path a bit further there is another cascade above this one. It has a much better positioned viewing platform and I found an interesting tree trunk that was stuck in the falls.
I like this shot a bit better than the ones of the larger falls. The shot is a lot simpler and more direct. I’m not calling it a masterpiece, but I do think this is one case where bigger isn’t necessarily better. Here is a closer shot of the log.
I think this shot is interesting, but something in the framing is a bit off. Perhaps I should have come earlier that day. I do think I should have played with the framing a bit more. I took only a handful of shots of the tree. This reminds me that when I find something interesting I need to really explore the subject. It also doesn’t help that I overexposed the water behind the tree.
There are also a number of smaller cascades and streams in the park. A number of them are very pretty, though I don’t think I did them justice.
Finally, I couldn’t resist taking out my macro lens. In particular I found some moss hanging from a tree with drops on it. It was simply irresistible to take out my MP-E 65 and get some shots.
I also found some interesting insects that day, but you will have to wait for the next posts for them.
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Tags: cascade, park, photography, twin falls, washington, waterfall