Quick Shot: View From Behind

A few weeks ago I spent a day in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. With such a short visit, I wasn't going to be able to explore much of the park, however, I wanted to visit one of the parks most popular waterfalls, Grotto Falls. 

Grotto Falls is the only waterfall in the park that you can walk behind, which makes it an instant tourist attraction. I knew that trying to get a photograph would be tricky given the nice weather and the abundance of tourists. To make it even more challenging, I knew I wanted a flowing waterfall effect, which would require a longer shutter speed and timing my shot perfectly.

I really wanted to get a shot of the falls from behind, but I also didn't want to be directly behind the falls either. I made several compositions to get the perfect shot - for this photograph I am actually cramming myself and the camera into a small nook in the rocks behind the falls.

I am pretty happy with the end result- the water flowing off the cliff look as though they could almost be rays of sunlight. It's a rather whimsical photograph, which I think is why I like it so much! 

I used an ND 8 filter (solid neutral density filter) and shot with a two second shutter speed. Shot with the Nikon D800, Nikon 24-70mm and Gitzo tripod. Edited in Photoshop CS6 and black and white conversion done with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.