Force appears to be another one of those words that Cumbrians have hi-jacked and given their own meaning to; in this case force means waterfall, and Aire Force is a 70 foot example of this. Set about half a mile upstream from the west coast of Ullswater it is the largest of several falls on the Aire Beck - another word they've made up, meaning stream.
The day was rather overcast and there was a lot of tree cover over hanging the often ravine like course of the river, this meant there wasn't the light to get the pin sharp, freeze-frame shots of the falls that I had hoped for. Thinking on my feet, though, it did mean that the conditions were right to play around with very long exposures that flowing water so lends itself to. This smooths out the ripples and splashes giving calmer water a glassy look and rougher water the appearance of candy floss.
This was the first time I'd had the opportunity to try this particular technique out and I rather enjoyed it. Lacking a tripod until recently meant that any exposure over about 1/4 of a second would be blurred, especially with my shaky hands, and for this style to work you really need exposures of at least a second or two. Of course, once I realised I could do it I started getting more cocky and adventurous which began with the thought, "If I can just get the tripod set up down there....." and inevitably led to cursing and splashing and wet ankles. Still; I had fun.
My attempt at the classic shot of this particular waterfall wasn't great, the spray was getting on the lens to the extent that it was ruining most of the photos. Some heavy cropping resulted in this effort:
The day was rather overcast and there was a lot of tree cover over hanging the often ravine like course of the river, this meant there wasn't the light to get the pin sharp, freeze-frame shots of the falls that I had hoped for. Thinking on my feet, though, it did mean that the conditions were right to play around with very long exposures that flowing water so lends itself to. This smooths out the ripples and splashes giving calmer water a glassy look and rougher water the appearance of candy floss.
This was the first time I'd had the opportunity to try this particular technique out and I rather enjoyed it. Lacking a tripod until recently meant that any exposure over about 1/4 of a second would be blurred, especially with my shaky hands, and for this style to work you really need exposures of at least a second or two. Of course, once I realised I could do it I started getting more cocky and adventurous which began with the thought, "If I can just get the tripod set up down there....." and inevitably led to cursing and splashing and wet ankles. Still; I had fun.
My attempt at the classic shot of this particular waterfall wasn't great, the spray was getting on the lens to the extent that it was ruining most of the photos. Some heavy cropping resulted in this effort:
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