Quick Shot: Blackwater Falls

I've posted a few Quick Shot Blogs about my visit to Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia (post 1, post 2, and post 3), so I won't rehash the details of the park again!  

The big attraction at Blackwater Falls State Park is Blackwater Falls - a quick walk along a boardwalk (200+ steps to the bottom) brings you to several overlooks to see this huge falls. 

I had done a bit of research on the internet before heading out, so I knew what type of view I'd have from the boardwalk. I also knew that being restricted to a boardwalk, my opportunities for a creative or unique angle on the falls would be pretty limited. 

To get a unique twist to this frequently photographed waterfall, I decided to shoot with the Hoya R72 Infrared Filter in place. This filter blocks most of the visible spectrum of light below 720nm in wavelength. The end result of using this filter is that green foliage tends to look white.  

Shooting infrared poses a unique set of challenges. I have to use my 50mm lens to avoid ghosting and flairs and the long exposures required for these images can be problematic in a windy day. I made 10 exposures between 10-30 seconds and edited the one that was the sharpest. 

Although I could have kept the image in color, the infrared color look isn't usually my style, so I convert the image into black and white. You might ask why I shoot infrared if I'm still making the image black and white? The answer is because I still want the trees to be white!  

If you want more information about infrared photography, check out this video I posted on YouTube on the subject. 

Shot with Nikon D800, Nikon 50mm, Hoya R72 Infrared Filter, Gitzo Tripod. Processed with Photoshop CS6 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.