Shooting from a Different Perspective
The Classic Photo
When traveling one is always advised to shoot a waterfall, a canyon, an overlook, a trail head, a lake or any vantage point from a specific viewpoint. It is always "thee classic shot" to get. And as usual you come home with some pretty terrific photos. Everybody Ooohs and Ahhhs and you feel great. You've captured the quintessential viewpoint of a particular special feature. But what about turning it around just for a moment.The Alternate View
The photo above is a good example of Thee Classic Waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge, called Multnomah Falls, though you would never recognize it from this view. And it won't be your main shot you hang as an identifier for Multnomah Falls. Yet you may find that you like it equally as well, if not better than the one everyone else captures just because it is so different, so uncommon, in fact the one that everybody else missed. The views you can achieve from a slightly alternative location or angle will gain you far more Ooohs and Ahhhs when someone who is looking for a print, either one you'll gift to someone or one you'll sell to a buyer.
Take Time to Think About Your Placement
The trail or viewpoint is always where everyone goes to capture that shot. you can too. It's sometimes surprisingly easy to step away from the classic vantage point to see an alternative place to set up your shot. It is often only a matter of moving a small distance from where you are, or everyone else is, to see another terrific angle to shoot from. It could be a change in height or just through some tree branches or 20' away that gives you a capture you could never have imagined. I will admit I've been challenged too many times in finding that for all of my seeking another angle, there was no safe way to get a different shot. and for that reason alone, there are times I have to admit, it is not worth the risk.
The photo above was a small challenge but it was worth it, I had to scramble slowly and carefully across wet slippery rocks, and the monopod I carried then worked as a sort of trail staff for support and balance. It wasn't easy, and yes I risked the camera and lens which if I had slipped might have been damaged, as I might have. But I didn't slip, and I got the shot.
Another Technique and Safer
You'll find that your zoom or telephoto lens will give you an immense advantage in capturing a shot that fewer people shooting will use when trying to capture that classic shot, because they simply want just that, thee classic shot again. But if you'll zoom and pan around up and down, side to side, you'll find some very interesting angles even without moving or taking challenging climbing risks. Too often when we use a telephoto lens we merely attempt to fill the frame with the shot, so do that. Then begin zooming to see unusual frames of the same scene by focusing less on the main feature and more on the unusual angles achieved through this technique.
If you'll notice in this case you could not have merely zoomed in, because in doing so you would have been looking down into the pool, and not head on at the lower falls itself. That would have been the easy way and no doubt many have also captured that, but to get the perspective I did took some time and risk. So there you have it. A whole new view of the same old thing. Here's hoping you can incorporate this into some of your photography, if you haven't already done so. Best of success to you.
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