Photo of Hardraw Force waterfall

Waterfall #33

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The story behind this image

This is Hardraw Force in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, at 100ft the highest single drop waterfall in England.

My wife Liz and I were spending a day exploring the Dales, tasting cheese and looking at various beauty spots highlighed in our tourist guide and our trusty OS map.

We reached Hardraw towards the end of a cold and damp day, and to be honest, the thought of another squelchy hike wasn't too appealing. But there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to see and photograph a decent waterfall, so on I went, fully laden with LowePro, camera and tripod, much to the amusement of the locals.

I was glad I made the effort as the path to the waterfall and the fall itself were like something out of middle earth. I was expecting elves and dwarves around every turn.

I'd just set up my camera gear to take a picture of the falls under the gloom of an overcast sky when a thin shaft of late afternoon sunlight somehow broke through the clouds and penetrated right up the vally to spotlight the escarpment to one side of the falls in a golden glow.

Well, as you can imagine, I went into photographic hyperdrive, bracketing exposures like crazy while the light show lasted. (About two minutes in total).

This final image is a blend of multiple exposures and some serious tonality work in PhotoShop which to me brings out the magic of the light and the beauty of the location better than I could have achieved with a single exposure.

I'm so glad I made the effort to get to the falls and witness such a memorable spectacle.

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Image data

Filename - waterfall 33.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @28mm

Exposure - 1sec @ f16, ISO100

Location - Hardraw Force, Yorkshire Dales

This image - 640x800px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - Tripod, mirror lock up and cable release used to prevent camera movement.