Waterfalls and Wildflowers - The Power of Separation

It won't come as a surprise to some of you to know that our medium-term plan is to up-roots here in Bavaria and settle in Austria. The intention is to semi-retire, earning a little bit on the side with photo safaris and workshops in the border area between Lienz and Cortina d'Ampezzo, between the main chain of the Alps and the majestic Dolomites. I've been working on my photography a lot over the last 18 months. I've come a long way in that time. I still have a way to go, but if I review my photos of the last few years, I can see definite progress. The Mike of 18 months ago would have a lot to learn from the Mike of now. I know that I've still got a ways to go, but in the near future I hope to start offering tuition on a 1:1 or 1:2 basis. The tuition can be in English or German, though preferably not both in the same session.

After the Rain || Olympus f4.5, 1/160 s, ISO 200

This won't be on a monetary basis, which doesn't mean the tuition will be free. Instead of remuneration, I will be asking for detailed feedback from you in order that I can hone my skills as an instructor. So, if you're in the Munich area and find yourself looking at my photos and saying "Wow, I wish I could take photos like that!", get in touch and we'll see what we can work out.

It would be useful for me to understand a bit about your current level of expertise as well as your aspirations before we start out so that I don't end up boring you with stuff you already know and so that I can plan the excursion to give you a chance of learning what you want to learn.

Dewy Needles || Olympus f6.3, 1/200, ISO 1600

Unless you have a specific plan in mind, my recommendation would be that we head down to the mountains to somewhere like Hinterstein here and simply head up the trail. Tuition would involve a whole day spent in the wilds, so you'll need to be at least a little bit fit, though we will be stopping regularly for photos. Rather than classroom tuition, it will all be out in the field (or forest😉) showing you optimal camera settings as we go for the compositions as we find them. We'll discuss what makes good photos, what constitutes good and bad lighting (and why bright sunlight isn't always the best), how to separate subject matter from its environment to draw the viewer's eye to where you want it and how to use lines in a photo to do the same.

Zipfelsbach Waterfall || Olympus f22, 1/2 s, ISO 125

One of the first compositions on this particular tour, for example, is the Zipflesbach waterfall, where we could play with how the exposure time affects the appearance of the water and how to convey a sense of motion through slow shutter speeds. A tripod is a must for such shots on most cameras, and a neutral density (ND) filter can be very helpful to prevent over-exposure. At the very least, a variable ND filter, with two layered polarising filters that can be twisted independently in order to adjust how much you decrease the amount of light hitting the lens. Professional photographers frown on them because they can cause unsightly patterns on plain subjects such as the sky, but they're great on waterfalls. There are several schools of thought - or preference - concerning the optimal exposure time for moving water, varying from about 1/5 s, enough to convey a sense of movement without overdoing it, to 2 s for that real silky motion. Personally, I like the effect that can be obtained with a 1/2 s exposure, though I have been known to go to as long as 10 s for some of my shots of the Stuiben Falls and Pöllat Gorge.

Alpine forests are a treasure-trove of wild flowers in early summer (and mushrooms in the autumn if it hasn't been too dry), and there would be plenty of time to get up close and personal with orchids, wolfsbane and the like. Early summer is also great for fresh pine growth, which traps dew-drops and rain-drops beautifully. 

Fresh Pine Growth || Olympus f11, 1/60 s, ISO 1600

Wolfsbane (German: Arnika) presents a great object lesson on how to photograph flowers with a little bit of imagination. There's a temptation to simply shoot flowers from head height - in my opinion, one of the worst perspectives to shoot from. It can work if done well, but it rarely has real impact. Get down low for a more oblique angle. In steep woodland it's relatively easy to get this sort of angle without breaking your back, it's common that plants are at waist height on the uphill side. 

Top Down || Olympus f4, 1/400 ISO 200

Classical Aspect || Olympus f4, 1/200, ISO 200

Here I took the spontaneous decision to take the unusual side-on shot. Depth of field is always a consideration for shots like these, you want it to be shallow enough to isolate the flower from the background without making the focal plane so narrow that virtually nothing is in focus. I got away with f4 here, though in retrospect I should have gone for a smaller aperture to get more of the flower head in focus. I'm still learning too.

Wolfsbane, Side On || Olympus f4, 1/250, ISO 200

Above the tree-line there are more wild flowers to be had and maybe even some bona fide landscapes. We were stunned by the number of wild gentians growing as we left the forest, together with marsh marigolds (a challenge for any camera due to the intensity of the yellow) and oxslips. Focus isn't the only way to get separation on subject matter, here I used light. With the sun shining on the pale yellow flowers it wasn't difficult to set the exposure so that they were well lit whilst the shadowy stream behind them was almost completely black. 

Oxslip || Olympus f5,6, 1/250 s, ISO 200

Electric-blue Gentians || Olympus f11, 1/80 s, ISO 640

The Zipfelsbach Alm has a small alpinarium with a lovely variety of mountain flowers including perennial cornflowers amongst others.

Perennial Cornflower || Olympus f13, 1/125, ISO 1600

The path back down from the Alm follows the Zipfelsbach over a series of small falls before the trail drops back into the forest and then down along the side of the high waterfalls. There are multiple opportunities to stop and shoot the upper falls on the way down.

Zipfelsbach || Olympus f22, 1/2 s, ISO 80

Interested? Drop me an email via the About Me at the bottom of the column to the right. Think I'm overstepping the mark and offering my services too soon? Let me know in the comments below.

Down the throat of a giant yellow gentian || Olympus, f13, 1/80 s, ISO 1600

Getting up-close and personal with a Burgundy Snail || Olympus f16, 1/60 s, ISO 1600

Trumpet Gentians || Olympus f13, 1/200 s, ISO 1600

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	Early summer for the wild flowers, best early in the morning to avoid the crowds and catch the dew
Challenges	Steep trek up to the Zipfelsalpe
Parking	€4 at Parkplatz "Festhalle" just behind the church
Where to Stop	Zipfelsalpe from June to October
Links	Zipfelsalpe (German)

Chasing the Light: Where Matthias and I Spur One Another On

Some time last autumn, I spotted a photo of one of my local sites (not really a surprise, I live about 15 min from one of Bavaria's most photographed lakes) in one of the Olympus User FB groups and I got to chatting with the photographer, a young German guy living up near the Czech border. We seemed to have quite a bit in common in terms of the style of photography we were interested in and so I suggested that we should get together for an afternoon if he was ever in the neighbourhood.

Mill Race at the Pöllat Gorge || f5.6, 1/2 s, ISO 64

Towards the end of September he was travelling back home through Munich and so we arranged to meet up for an afternoon photoshoot at the Ammersee, a local lake with a few great spots for late light photos. We had a great afternoon, chatting about favourite YouTube photographers and filling in gaps in the other's education as we hiked up to Kloster Andechs, taking the occasional snap in the autumn woodland.

Autumn at the Ammersee || f8, 1/800 s, ISO 200

I left Matthias to shoot the sunset at the lake alone with the promise that I'd be in touch later in the autumn to show him a couple of my favourite local spots, the Pöllat Gorge at Füssen and the Stuiben Falls just round the corner in Reutte.

Now I'm not a great fan of my own company and so when Sharon planned a weekend visit to our kids who are both studying in the UK it seemed like a golden opportunity. I'm not usually one for sunrise shots, but somehow Matthias pursuaded me that it would be cool to catch the sun coming up down at lake Hopfensee, so we were out of the house by 5.30 on Saturday morning, chasing the light down to Füssen.

Hopfensee Google Maps

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	sunrise or sunset, pretty much any time of the year
Challenges	avoid windy conditions, also, as mentioned below
Parking	all along the promenade (ticket required) or at the far end of Hopfen am See (limited parking)
Where to Stop	any of the cafes or restaurants along the promenade
Links	-

Sunrise at the Hopfensee || f7.1, 1/2000 s, ISO 200

We parked the car at the end of the village whilst still in the blue hour. Normally, the northern shore is lined with jetties poking out into the lake and providing photogenic leading lines into the water and on to the mountains. Apparently, they take the jetties in for the winter, leaving only a couple for us to scrabble over. Not only that but the lake was far from still as were struck with a warm south wind, the dreaded Föhn.

So it was tripods and filters at dawn, playing around with long exposures and bracketing, things that I knew about in theory but little hands on experience with. Even though he's quite a few years younger than me, Matthias is a lot more experienced than me with these technical aspects of photography and it was good to have him on side with tips and advice.

Early Morning Light at the Hopfensee || f9, 1/60 s, ISO 200

With dawn wrapped up we headed back to Füssen to tackle the Pöllat gorge under Neuschwanstein. 

Pöllat Gorge Google Maps

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	essentially any, can get busy in the summer / carry on to the Marienbrücke with a view out over the castle
Challenges	only open in summer / avoid direct sunlight
Parking	€7 in Schwangau (10 min walk), €1/h at the Tegelberg cable-car (20 min)
Where to Stop	any of the places along the Alpseestrasse, our go-to restaurant has been the Alpenstuben
Links	Pöllatschlucht (German), Schwangau Website (German)

I'm sure there used to be a small car park at the beginning of the Pöllat gorge for hikers (as distinct from the mere tourists flocking to castle Neuschwanstein), but not any more. These days you're funnelled into the €7 mega carparks. From there you have to follow Pöllatweg along the bottom of the hill to get to the beginning of the gorge. Do check whether the gorge is open before you go. Unfortunately this isn't shown on the Pöllatschlucht website, but you can find the information by searching the (German) website for Schwangau, which caught us out. The gorge really is worth a visit, but we got to the gate only to find it closed for the winter.

Closed for the Winter

We were about to give up and head off to our next location, but the bottom of the gorge is always worth spending a few minutes on. First and foremost there's the wooden mill race that leads to the sawmill by the Gippsmühle. I personally find this channel extremely photogenic and always worth building into a composition, either as the main element or a clear leading line. Even as a backdrop, the trestled trough is interesting, partly because it's not completely water-tight and is always dripping. But there's also something very special about the water and rocks here in the eastern Allgäu. Due to the minerals in the ground, the water has a distinct green cast, something that you'll see even more clearly in the photos taken at the Stuiben falls.

Green on Gold || f14, 1 s, ISO 200

Here at the mouth of the Pöllat gorge there was also a pool at the bottom of the last falls. Unfortunately, there were no clean shots to be had from our side of the river, partly due to the mill race. Matthias ended up soaked because he squeezed through under the leaking trestles. I ended up soaked as I had chosen to go the long way round and cross lower down. The rocks were predictably slippery and I ended up on my ass in the water.

One of the things that more experienced photographers always say when you're concentrating on a composition is: "turn round" - don't be so focussed on what's in front of you that you forget your surroundings. I'm so glad that I bore this advice in mind as I was looking for my shots, in the branches above us there was this verdant scene: 

Green on Green || f7.1, 1/50, ISO 1600

There was a particular image I had in mind and was keeping my eye out for; gyrating autumn leaves in a waterfall pool. The beech forest was particularly generous with the leaves at this time of year and I found a suitable pool, but to the naked eye, the leaves were not really moving much. Fortunately we both had our filters and tripods with us (yes, this time even I resorted to a tripod). A 10 s exposure with the Panasonic Leica f2.8 8-18 mm revealed that not only were the leaves gyrating, there was a double-centred flow and I ended up with an image that I was really happy with.

Orange on Green || f14, 1 s, ISO 200

Stuiben Falls Google Maps

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	all year
Challenges	avoid direct sunlight
Parking	free at the Wanderparkplatz E-Werk
Where to Stop	-
Links	Stuiben Falls hike suggestion

We grabbed a quick lunch in Schwangau before driving round the corner to the Stuiben Falls. I never knew this place existed even though I've lived nearby for over 15 years, but last year I happened on the website of a local photographer who was showcasing some images of the location. Even knowing where they are, it's extremely difficult to find the falls, but utterly worth it. The road to the parking spot feels like you're driving through a factory premises and even when you do find where to leave the car, it's not immediately obvious where the falls are. Once you've been there once it's relatively easy, but finding it the first time is a complete pig. The crazy thing is, once you've found them, you realise they're only 5 min from the road. Talk about easy access!

Upper Falls || f22, 5 s, ISO 64

Whilst not particularly high or spectacular, the falls are an absolute delight to shoot because of the colouring. The rock is light and varies from grey dolomite to golden where it's been in the water and the water is properly emerald green - no tone enhancement necessary! The gorge is deep enough to cut out direct sunlight for most of the day but open enough to catch plenty of light. We started at the upper falls, a short 5 min up the trail, and worked our way down from there.

Middle Falls || f10, 2 s, ISO 200

Middle Falls Detail || f20, 5 s, ISO 200

There are a couple of spots where it's worth crossing the river (provided you can do so safely), so bring wellies or river shoes, depending on the season. Working our way down from the top, we got a handful of solid images. There's a viewing platform for the bottom falls, but you have to be extremely careful shooting from here with a tripod if there are other people around as every footstep shakes the platform. The very best angle means placing the tripod the other side of the fence so it's balanced on the rocks, but make sure it's tethered somehow so you don't lose your gear into the pool below.

The Lower Pools || f16, 5 s, ISO 200

Matthias Making the Ultimate Sacrifice

At the very bottom, it's worth crossing the river again for close ups of the bottom falls, but be aware that you won't be able to catch the main flow from here unless you're prepared to take some crazy steps:

Lower Falls Detail || f20, 5 s, ISO 200

Hopfen am See Revisited

The light looked like it was closing down on us as we finished up at the falls. Not only that but we were tired - we'd been up since the wee hours and shooting all day. The forecast was inconclusive. Should we or shouldn't we swing by the Hopfensee to catch the sunset? We decided that we'd take the detour and keep our options open. The closer we got, the more interesting the sky was looking and whilst we didn't necessarily get the colours we were hoping for, there was definitely some magic in the sky. We piled out of the car with all our gear, eager to set up again at the head of one of the few remaining jetties only to find a photography workshop in residence. Each of the pontoons already had a cluster of eager photographers crowding for the optimal spot. We finally walked far enough that the crowds petered out and found ourselves a little jetty almost to ourselves. Several curious passers by asked what was going on, whether there was a special event that they weren't aware of? After carefully explaining that we were there to see the volcano erruption (oh yes I did!), they mostly scurried off on their evening perambulations, leaving us to shoot in peace.

The Competition Hogging the Jetties

Elusive Jetty || f20, 15 s, ISO 64

My usual photography style is to vaguely plan a day out and take the camera along to spontaneously catch the good views as they come. I think most people are like this because for most of us, our photography started as a way of documenting where we'd been. This day out with Matthias was very different, the first time I'd ever been out where everything was planned around the photography. Having another more experienced photographer to hand was great in terms of learning some new tricks. We also spot different compositions, which is mutually beneficial. The day out stretched me technically and was a great learning experience. I'd definintely recommend going out on a shoot with a fellow photographer as a way of continuing your mastery of the art.

What experience have you had shooting with another photographer? Leave your comments below.

Christmas in the Heimat

Heimat is the German word for homeland or home-region and we spent Christmas with my parents in Somerset after picking the kids up en route. Although I've chosen to live in Bavaria and have lived here longer than I ever did in the UK (approx. 30:20 years), I still feel a deep connection to rural Britain. There's something in the rocks and countriside that just resonates with my soul and I find it relatively easy to find images when I'm walking around. I've discovered over the last few years that particularly the semi-managed wooded gardens of National Trust properties can provide some great pictures, depending on the season.

Surf at Sunset, Lyme Regis // f22, 1/2 s, ISO 64

Photographing on the coast is also very therapeutic, it's like watching a fire - you never have the same scene twice when you're shooting the sea. Whether you're looking at the tidal state, the clouds or the waves, every few seconds the composition changes. Again, Olympus IBIS for the win, I could easily shoot 1 s exposures free standing and didn't need to resort to a cumbersome tripod. It's so much fun. Throw a low-speed continuous capture mode into the ring and we're dancing!

Tarr Steps Google Maps

The Saturday before Christmas took us to Tarr Steps on Exmoor. There are some great images to be had here and being able to take slower exposures without the tripod was as good as a home run, except I didn't come away with an image that I was 100% happy with. Once again I made the mistake of checking the kids' Instagram feeds after we got home only to see that they'd got better compositions than I had. There's a gimme shot of the slab bridge leading up to Tarr Steps Farm (WELL worth checking out for food and drink!) but I screwed it up by taking it straight on.

In the end I opted for one black and white and one partially desaturated image of the steps:

Mixed Textures at Tarr Steps // f11, 1/2 s, ISO 200

Tarr Steps // f16, 1/2 s, ISO 200

The second image was my favourite from the set, but I should have had a lower perspective to let the bridge head into infintiy. I was particularly happy with the ON1 monochrome conversion of the first picture though. Previously I've found the ON1 black and whites too muddy, but there's a contrast and coarseness here that really fits the complex textures. Here's my son's take on the bridge and pub. I've got a similar one, but the bridge is straight on. Joshua's diagnonal makes it a much more interesting image. I was too focussed on the length of exposure, correct framing and cropping out the construction crane on top of the pub.

Lyme Regis Google Maps

Lyme Regis is our default beach when we're back in the UK. It's probably the closest bit of coast to my parents in central Somerset, it's picturesque, has a thriving art scene, a fantastic second-hand book shop that'd justify its own post and the best clotted cream teas. Given a high-ish tide and any moderate sea state and you get some great wave action on The Cobb, Lyme's tiny protected harbour.

It had just finished raining as we arrived  and it showed up beautifully against the dark clouds as we walked along the pastel beach huts - just visible on the left here.

Rainbow over Lyme Regis // f8, 1/200 s, ISO 640

The sea defences are regularly closed if the waves get too strong as they can be extremely dangerous.

These photos were taken just below the castle. The low sunlight and grey clouds gave these next two images almost a monochrome flavour without any tinkering.

f22, 1/2 s, ISO 100

f22, 1/2 s, ISO 80

By this time, the sky was developing a bit of colour and the spume was beginning to break over The Cobb so we headed back to see what we could catch. It's thrilling to see the waves crashing over the sea defences. Swapping the exposure from 1/2 s for the surf to 1/250 s to freeze the wave action was the right call and I was able to catch a series of waves crashing into The Cobb. The best of the series was this shot where the wave bouncing off The Cobb back into an incoming wave.

Backwash at The Cobb // f4.5, 1/250 s, ISO 200

We also managed to catch the last rays of the sun for the day, shining through the clouds as they departed. The golden light is real. I caught a couple with the spray shooting up the rocks, but this was my favourite with the gull just crossing the light.

Sunset on The Cobb // f8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

Into the Blue: Gorge Excursion

Breitach Detail // f16, 1/2 s, ISO 200

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	Winter for the icicles, early summer for snow-melt
Challenges	Tripod inadvisable due to narrow walkways / avoid midday sun in summer / check opening times (link below)
Parking	€2 at Gasthaus Breitachklamm
Where to Stop	Gasthaus Breitachklamm (traditional German food) or Waldhaus (rustic; approx. 40 min up from the top of the gorge, follow the river)
Links	Breitachklamm

Our first winter excursion to the Breitach Gorge [Google Maps] was in 2012. We'd had a snap freeze in February and the car thermometer was showing about - 20°C on the way down. There was snow on the fields all the way from home. We'd set off early enough that we saw a fox on his morning return commute back to his den. It was so cold that I had to keep my camera under my jacket to preserve the battery and could only take my gloves off to shoot for a few seconds at a time. It was so cold that there was ice on the stones of the river bed with the water flowing over it. I'm told that the water has to be about -10°C for this to happen.

The Breitach anno 2012 during a cold snap

This year it was only just below freezing at home, so I was expecting about -5°C inside the gorge. I wasn't sure how much ice we'd be seeing. I certainly wasn't expecting the ice curtains we'd seen 8 years before. But this time I had a secret weapon with me: my Olympus EM-1 Mk II has 6-stop image stabilisation on board, 7 when it's synchronised with the Zuiko 12-100 mm f4 telephoto. It really is difficult to believe, but I can get pin-sharp 2 s hand-held exposures using this combo and I've read reports of people claiming the same for 7 s exposures. And I don't have the steadiest of hands.

Black/Blue/Grey // f5.6, 1/2 s, ISO 200

So, winter conditions and the possibility of multi second sharp pictures: bring it on! Normally, using a tripod in the narrow gorge, especially in the middle of the day at the weekend would have been extremely antisocial towards the other visitors and so heavy IBIS (in body image stabilisation) is the best way to get those juicy silky flowing water shots.

There was no snow on the ground this time, but there was still a significant frost on the ground as we entered the gorge and we were soon rewarded with out first icicle pipe-organs.

Icicles in the Gorge // f8, 1/8 s, ISO 1600

Gorges are funny things, they're never the same twice, I learned this the hard way the first time I walked through the Partnach gorge in Garmisch. Towards the end there was a waterfall with a wonderful rainbow. There were too many people standing around and so I thought I'd catch it on the way back. Coming out into the sunshine at the end, we sat down to a comfortable lunch on the river bank. Forty-five minutes later we headed back. To my dismay, in that time the sun had moved completely and the rainbow was nowhere to be seen (duh!). Walking back through a gorge is always worth it though, because there are always angles that you missed the first time round. The Breitach was no exception and as we made our way back down, we were met with the sun shining down through a gap in the rocks above.

Hole in the Roof // f5.6, 0.8 s, ISO 1600

Towards the end of the gorge, there's a mossy waterfall falling down the southern bank of the Breitach. There's a reason why I love the Zuiko f4 12-100 mm (24-200 mm FF equivalent) and why probably more than 95% of my photos are shot with this lens. Apart from the optical quality, weatherproofing and image stabilisation and a closest focal distance of 12 cm, the 12-100 mm range is perfect for most of what I want to catch. Unless I'm going for wildlife or need my ultra-wide Panasonic Leica 8-18 mm (also a lens with exceptional IQ), it lets me take the bigger picture or zoom in here to a detail of a waterfall across the narrow valley. 

Frozen Christmas Trees // f22, 1 s, ISO 160

Not an ideal perspective on this shot (tricky without a rope and harness in this case), I thought this showcased the water colour and flow nicely. I also enjoyed the opportunity for an unconventional crop. Most of my images end up at a 5:4 or 16:9 crop, but a 1:1 can also be powerful. Micro 4/3rds cameras have a native crop of 4:3.

Gorge Detail // f9, 1/2 s, ISO 200

Sometimes, a human figure in the scene puts everything into perspective like here. Many of the icicles were at least as long as Sharon.

Enough Icicles for You? || f8, 1/2 s, ISO 1600