Eas Chia-aig Falls

Eas Chia-aig Falls near Loch Arkaig (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 24mm, 1 sec at f/16, ISO 100, ND64 filter, tripod)

A great day today, with the relaxation of travel restrictions we had a trip to Spean Bridge and Loch Arkaig to meet the in-laws for the first time in 16 months.  We had a lovely picnic lunch in the sun at the Forestry car park at Eas Chia-aig waterfall.  Despite it having been a long dry spell and most of the watercourses along our journey being pretty dry, this fall was still flowing well, although nothing like it would when the river is in spate.  The falls are in three steps, these two being the lower parts, with a magnificent pool at the base.  The early spring colours offset the brown of the pool and the blue sky really nicely, providing good contrast and texture in the woods around the falls. 

I used my Zomei ND64 (6 stop) HD Schott glass filter to allow the use of a long shutterspeed, in this case 1 second.  This produced a lovely smooth effect on the water, capturing the sense of motion really well.  It is easy to overdo this by using too long an exposure and all the water just becomes a blur with no details remaining.  I tend to favour 0.5-2 seconds depending on how much water is flowing.  I took a few shots from different vantage points with the above being my favourite, but I like the following two as well.  The first captures the rocks in the foreground, while the second was taken from between the two falls, and I like the patterns in the rocks, all of which are obviously covered in water when the river is in full spate.

Eas Chia-aig Falls near Loch Arkaig (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 31mm, 2 sec at f/16, ISO 100, ND64 filter, tripod)

Middle section of the Eas Chia-aig Falls near Loch Arkaig (Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 24mm, 1.3 sec at f/16, ISO 100, ND64 filter, tripod)