Photographing Henrhyd Falls
Henrhyd Falls is an exciting but daunting place to photograph. With all of the spray in the air, especially in the winter, it can absolutely soak your camera, your lenses and you! Therefore you do need to be prepared before you go there, so you don’t drown your camera or any of your kit.
If you do go there in the winter, and there has just been a big storm, the waterfall will throw so much spray in the air, and because the waterfall is in a massive gully, the wind does change quite a bit.
We went there on two different days … one day it was really spraying us as we walked along the path to the waterfalls, and the second day it was a little better, but then behind the waterfall, the spray was crazy … and we got absolutely soaked!
Henrhyd Falls in the winter can be a very powerful waterfall - which is fantastic to photograph!
What to do When you First Arrive at the Waterfall
When photographing Henrhyd falls the best thing to do is when you first get there, check out which way the spray is going. If the path is the driest, take a photo from there. if you can do down to the river and this is sheltered, go down there and set your camera up for a great waterfall photograph … and if you are really daring, go behind the waterfall and see if it is dry there.
This is where it is good to have a cover for your camera to protect it from the elements. As it is in Wales, the weather is a little chaotic at times, and in the winter, there are a lot of storms and weather fronts that cam come over the country, so be aware that you it could rain for the whole time you are there!
I grew up in Wales so I know first hand how rainy it can be, even in the summer!!
If you don’t have one of those camera covers, I used a plastic bag from the local shop … this isn’t the best, but it does keep a lot of the water spray in the air off your camera. You can see this in a couple of the shots in the video I filmed there in December 2021 with the camera I was filming with, not so much the Sony A7iii I was photographing with.
Should you be precious with you camera kit?
When I first started photography, I was very precious about my camera kit … and rightly so … it is such an expensive hobby and sometimes it feels like you almost have to re-mortgage the house to get a new camera.
However, this can sometimes lead us to be a little too precious. In the video the camera I use to photograph the fantastic waterfall, Henrhyd Falls in the Brecon Beacons gets absolutely soaked … and it did just fine … I did dry it out as soon as I got back to the car, but this shows how much abuse cameras can really take.
This shows the difference shutter speed can make on your photo. On the left, this is using a fast shutter speed, freezing the movement, on the right, this is a much longer shutter speed, blurring the water movement.
8 tips for Photographing waterfalls
If you get your settings a little wrong, waterfalls can easily look pretty rubbish when you try to photograph them, so here are 8 tips I use all the time when photographing any kind of waterfalls:
Shoot in shutter priority
Use exposure compensation to dial in your settings
Drop your ISO as low as possible, ISO50 is really good to control the exposure
For a rough and ready look, shoot with a shutter speed of about 1/30 to 1/60th second
If you really want to smooth out the water, 0.5 to 1 second is good. I’ve found that 0.5 seconds gives me a little texture in the water but enough blur to show movement.
If your camera can’t get the shutter speed this low due to their being too much light, either come back on a cloudy day, or consider using an ND filter.
Shoot from a tripod or a sturdy platform so the camera stays perfectly still during the shot.
If there is a lot of spray in the air, wrap a plastic bag around your camera … this is a bit of a rough and ready way to keep the water off your camera, but when done properly, it works.
If you want to see how I do it in the field, be sure to watch the video linked at the top of this post. It shows what I put my cameras through and how I get the Photographs I want to get with my camera gear.
This is my favorite photograph of Henrhyd Falls. This was shot at f16, ISO 100, 1/5 second.
This photograph is by no means perfect, but for me it captures the feel of the day … how cold it was, how wet it was but how much of an amazing location it is!
If you are ever in South Wales, make sure you head to this amazing waterfall. It is colder and wetter in the winter, but the amount of water coming over the falls is so much more spectacular to see … it really does roar when you get there and really does show the true power of mother nature!
Also if you were wondering about the location of this fantastic landscape photography location, then click here for a google maps link taking you exactly to that location. In the winter, the carpark is really quite, but considering they have an overflow car park, I’m guessing in the summer, especially on bank holidays and weekends, it probably gets really busy. So if you are thinking of heading there, be prepared for it to be really busy.
If you have any questions or anything you’d like to add. be sure to comment on the video on youtube. This is where I hang out and reply to as many of the comments as I possibly can. Also you can email me if you have any specific questions you need help with.
If you are interested to learn what camera gear I use in my landscape photography adventures, head over to my gear page. This is where I list all of the kit I use.
I hope you have a great day, and thanks for reading!
Mike