Uvas Canyon, May 2006
Photography:
To catch the feeling of moving water, try slowing down the shutter to about 1/30 or 1/60 of a second. Take a variety of photographs. Look at your subjects from different angles and distances. Look at how you are composing your photographs. Try shooting your subject in the center of your frame and try shooting off to the side. See which vantage point you like better.
Sketching Waterfalls:
First find the rocks that surround and are under the waterfall. Sketch these underlying and overlying features in lightly, maybe using a hard pencil. Remember that rocks are 3 dimensional forms Ð box, ball and cone shapes. Next, draw contour lines showing which way the water is going. The water in waterfalls is usually very light, so make sure you have plenty of dark surrounding the water to make the water as light as possible. Erase areas that are too dark and darken areas that are too light.
One way you can improve your image is by moving your center of interest up or down in your sketch or photographs. See what happens when the above waterfall image is cropped. Try cropping your images and see what happens. Cropping is a great way to add interest.
You can also add branches, rocks or whatever you think might improve the image.