The Story Behind the Image–Oregon Waterfall; O-M5 to the Rescue!

Olympus E-M5; Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 lens @ 33mm (66mm equivalent); 1/3 sec. @ f/14; ISO 400; handheld
Click to see it larger.

Lat fall, my wife and I took a combination road/train/airline trip from the east coast to the west coast of the United States—to the Oregon and northern California Coasts.  We rode Amtrak from SE Virginia to Sacramento, CA, then rented a car for a couple of weeks, finally flying back east.  I have documented this trip starting here.  If you enjoy photographic road trips, you may enjoy reading it.  I found lots of great image possibilities on this trip.  If you are thinking about taking a trip to these locations and have questions, leave me a comment and I will be happy to answer your questions.  After all, isn't the spirit of our photography to help each other?

As we were wandering up and down Highway 101, the Oregon Coast Highway (also known as the Pacific Coast Highway), we would make various stops along the way to explore the beaches and oceanfront areas.  One stop was Hug Point in the central part of the Oregon coast.  You may or may not know, but most of the west coast of the United States, unlike the east coast, is defined by bluffs and hills which then steeply drop down to the Pacific Ocean.  The east coast is mainly flat land for many miles inland.

Here are the bluffs and you can see the waterfall in the lower center

We parked our rental car and walked down the path and wooden steps to the beach.  It was a cool, somewhat foggy (over the water) morning and the ocean breeze felt just right.  It was one of those invigorating mornings that you find yourself thankful that you are outside and not in an office somewhere.  Think about it; a clear blue morning sky, Pacific Ocean, the sound of waves breaking just offshore, a nice gentle onshore breeze, a bit of high fog, feeling alive!  Not too many people were walking on the beach.  We saw less than a dozen as far was we could see, north or south.

As we walked north on the beach, we rounded a bluff that was protruding out into the beach and off to my right, almost not noticeable, I saw a small waterfall at the end of a creek that flowed down the hill.  This water then created a shallow channel and flowed down the beach and into the ocean.  As I usually do, I thought it may have potential and wandered over to see if there was an interesting image hiding within it.  As I walked closer, the waterfall seemed unremarkable, until I saw the wet black rocks at its bottom.  Those wet rocks made the difference between an interesting image and an ordinary image.

As I approached, I was making my "game plan" as to how I would photograph this nice little scene.  I wanted to blur the water to show motion but I didn't have my tripod with me.  It was 2000 yards away, up the hill and back in the car.  I should have walked to get it, but I was lazy that morning. Shame on me.  I wanted to ensure that all parts of the scene were in focus, especially the two main elements, the water and the wet rocks.  It was critical the the wet rocks be tack sharp.  What to do?  As slow a shutter speed as I could get with a large depth of field was the formula for this image.

Luckily, I was using the Olympus E-M5 and the Panasonic 13-35mm f/2.8 lens.  The E-M5 has amazing in-body image stabilization so I could use a very slow shutter speed to blur the water.  The Panasonic lens is an excellent lens, sharp from wide open to almost fully stopped down.

The technique I used is one that I have developed over the years, especially as I have gotten older and a bit less steady.  I put the camera in the mode which gives me the fastest frames per second and I use the same technique I have used with firing and qualifying with a handgun.  For those who may not know, I was a law enforcement officer and chief of police for over 30 years and handling and using a firearm is second nature to me.*  The technique is to stand with feet slightly apart, with one foot out in front of the other, body turned about thirty degrees from straight on.  Straight on doesn't give you much stability.  Placing one foot out and slightly to the side and the other back and to the other side gives a person much more front/back and left/right stability.  I then tuck my elbows into my sides and pull the camera tightly to my face.  I become the tripod, the stability factor.  I then relax and as I breathe out, I gently roll my finger onto the shutter.  I then fire off about 5 or 6 shots.

What I have found over the past years is the first image may not be perfectly sharp due to the shutter press or initial body movement, but after than there is no body motion, from you or your finger and you should be able to capture a few of those 5 or 6 shots as perfectly sharp.  In this case, this technique worked perfectly at 1/3 second!  Yes, 1/3 second!  I couldn't have done that if my life depended upon it with previous cameras, even with image stabilization built into lenses.  That is one reason I shout how great Olympus' in-body image stabilization really is.

I don't believe it is really possible to accurately determine whether or not an image is "tack sharp" on and LCD, even magnified greatly.  I've been fooled too many times.  When we got to our hotel that evening and I started downloading the day's images onto my laptop, I pulled up these particular images and was very pleased.

TAKE AWAY:  Four things.

1) If you see something that looks "okay", but doesn't necessarily grab you as interesting for an image, get closer and look at it more closely.  I didn't see the black, wet rocks when I first spotted the waterfall and that, to me, is what really made the image special.

2) Always have your tripod (or other image stabilizing device) close at hand, even if you don't think you will need it.  In this case, I could have set the camera on the tripod and used a number of different shutter speeds to get the exact effect that made the water look the best.  I settled for 1/3 second, which I believe, looks just fine for this image.

3) Technique can be the difference between success and failure in capturing a difficult image.  Luckily, I had the skills and practiced the technique that allowed me to successfully make this image.

4) Sometimes technique is not quite enough to get the job done well.  But, if you have the right equipment with the right features, technique can pull you through.  In this case the Olympus E-M5 and Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8 lens worked to my benefit. Another camera would not have allowed me to achieve success with this image.

*NOTE: Using a firearm has to be second nature to be safe and effective.  That is why law enforcement officers practice and qualify so often.  You can't afford to have to think about how to shoot your weapon when facing an armed adversary or you won't be around long!  It has to be burned into your mental and muscle memory.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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