Abiqua Freeze
by Scott Smorra
Abiqua Falls surrounded by icicles and frozen spray, December 2013.
In early December, the Pacific Northwest experienced a run of record low temperatures. The local photographers know that sub-freezing temps for several days in a row can lead to frozen waterfalls. If it gets cold enough, the frozen spray, ice and snow can transform the waterfalls from ordinary to extraordinary. After closely following the temps, I decided to make the trip down to Abiqua to check things out. When I arrived in the "amphitheater" around the falls, I was floored by the beauty of the ice formations surrounding the falls and the cliffs. It was a very enjoyable morning, but after about 4 hours of shooting, the cold air made it really hard to keep my fingers warm. At least my toes and feet stayed toasty warm in my new -55F Columbia boots!
Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-120 at 46mm, polarizer
0.6 sec at f/16, ISO 100
Thanks for any comments or suggestions. I'm interested to hear what you think of this one. Please check out the larger version.
Comments
21 commentsI like this a lot, my favorite falls in Oregon.
I do hope you will post a large view of the entire Grotto at some point.
Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
One question: are you on a calibrated monitor? Just curious only because you seem to tend toward strong colors and I am just wondering if that is true or maybe effected by your set up. Having said that, I love this as is and like your style!
REMARKABLE
John
@MarkMetternich - Thanks for the kind words. My current setup is a color calibrated NEC monitor. The bold colors I use are an artistic choice/personal style. My goal is to keep things looking somewhat realistic, but I do enjoy colorful images. I always seem to be straddling the line of how much is too much when it comes to color and saturation. Thanks again for the comment.
Albert Darmo
Canada
Only nit is the sat in the red in the upper right, which appears pushed too far on my moniter (also a calibrated NEC).