Photo of Hardraw Force waterfall

Waterfall #35

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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 already made several exposures of the falls in their entirety, and with the light fading fast towards the end of the day I started photgographing more intimate views, using the falls as a backdrop rather than the main element in the frame.

This was almost the last image I took at the falls, and with the colour temperature of the light climbing inexorably upwards in the deepening twilight, everything was turning blue as my camera's white balance setting was locked in its default 'daylight' setting.

When the time came to process this image I thought about correcting the colour balance to neutralise the blue cast, but then I thought 'No - in fact I'll enhance the blue and make it look like the photo was taken by moonlight instead'.

So that's what I did. I think the blue cast enhances the mysterious mood that I was certainly feeling on my own in the dark by the falls.

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Image data

Filename - waterfall 35.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @24mm

Exposure - 8sec @ f16, ISO100

Location - Hardraw Force, Yorkshire Dales

This image - 533x800px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

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