Rocky Gorge

Photographers at Lower Falls

Most people travel the Kancamangus in the fall to view the foliage. I went in the spring, because it is the time of the snow melt and the brooks, streams and rivers will be flowing in the waterfalls will be powerful. What I had hoped for, were some overcast days, this so that the lighting on the water would be uniform and save me a lot of post-processing to correct the highlights and shadows. However, I had bright sunny days with only some clouds. But I survived and had a great time. I created images with the water smooth and milky by utilizing my polarizing filter or a neutral density filter to give me slow shutter speeds. I also used by lowest ISO in my cameras. I also took some pictures with a high shutter speed to freeze the action of the water. I experimented with sun flares, and zoom blurs. With the zoom blurs, I utilize two seconds or greater shutter speed and either zoomed from the widest to the narrowest setting of vice versa. Equipment included both a Nikon D7100 and D800, lenses, ranging from 17 mm to 75 mm, shutter releases, polarizing and neutral density filters, and of course, a tripod. It was a fun time, and the waterfalls for the next few weeks still should be great to photograph.

Two locations that are easy to photograph and give you great action, plus a right along the road and do not require a lot of hiking are The Rocky Gorge Scenic Area (9.0/21.0 miles, easy) and the Lower Falls (6.8/23.2 miles, easy). Mileage is from Conway at the Sacco Ranger Station stop sign or from Lincoln at the entrance to Lincoln Woods.