Picture of the week

Eagle Falls above Emerald Bay

Lower Eagle Falls emptying into Emerald Bay of Lake Tahoe with Fannette Island in the distance. Spring is the best time for photographing these falls when the snow melt increases the flow on this creek. I visited Eagle Falls this morning after some alipine skiing the previous two days at Heavenly Valley and Kirkwood. Normally at this time of year there is still snow on the ground around the falls, but the more recent storm systems were warmer than usual and melted what little snow that was previously present at lake level. Due to the drought conditions the water level over the falls is less than usual, as I typically try to visit this location each year about this time. In addition, I was hoping for a small break under the cloud cover for the sunrise to better illuminate the foreground, but they tended to be a bit thicker than hoped, resulting in less backlighting of the water. In photography, the breaks don't always go your way. But if you don't show up, then you are sure to miss the opportunties when the conditions are prime, and also not learn to build on for future efforts. To give you an idea of the potential for this location, the image shown here to the right is one that I captured during a previous endeavor where the lighting conditions and water flow were more ideal. It was published in the California State Parks July 2011 calendar.

Due to the more difficult exposure of this shot, I ended up using a graduated neutral density filter over my lens to further mute the sky, along with applying a 3 exposure bracketed sequence. The multiple exposures were then combined using Photomatix Pro, to create an HDR'd image. I tend to loathe HDR when it is overdone due to the garish tones and funny contrasts that can often result when just letting the tool do the work without further adjustments. To help avoid this, I dialed the settings back and manually followed-up in Photoshop to readjust the contrast selectively using a manual mask where appropriate. This is done while trying to minimize loss of detail in the shadows or highlights, with a resulting more natural look.

You can see more images I have captured of the Lake Tahoe basin in my image gallery here.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2014.  Last updated: 3/9/2014   ()