Rainbow Falls State Park No. 2, Washington, 2015

👉 BUY PRINT 📷

I made this photograph of the South Fork Chehalis River a few years ago. This section of the river flows through the Rainbow Falls State Park in rural Lewis County, Washington.

The river splits up into multiple sections as it passes over the waterfalls. An S-curve of the river around the moss-covered rocks caught my eye. White water provides contrast to the surrounding darker colors.

Using my old Nikon D700 with a Nikkor 80-200 mm f2.8 lens, I captured this 0.4-second exposure with camera settings of ISO 100, ƒ/16 at 80mm. A 10-stop neutral density filter allowed for the slow shutter speed, giving a smooth look to the flowing water.

I used Adobe Lightroom for the black and white conversion, then adjusted the tones to contrast all the elements in the image.

How do you prefer photographs of moving water? Silky smooth with long exposures? Or freezing the action with fast speeds? Or something in-between? I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave your comment below.

This photo is one of a series of images from my Pacific Northwest black and white photography project titled Highway 6, Washington, 2015