While I wait for winter weather to arrive in upstate New York, I thought I would share a few more photos from the Ithaca Waterfalls Adventure I took with Debbie of My Life in CNY and Andy Williams last month.

The day was seasonably cool (some may say it was cold) and overcast.  The Sun behind the clouds produced a very even, cool light on the landscape.  I used compositions which either eliminated or minimized the sky.  When I did have the sky in the frame, I used High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques and processing to control the light range.

The first photo is another from Wells Falls.  The photo I shared with you earlier of this waterfall had the sky in the frame and I used HDR processing to create the final image.  In this photo, I kept the sky out of the frame and included the roots of one of the interesting American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) tree roots on the Six Mile Creek for foreground interest. By using the hyperfocal distance, I got everything in focus from the tree back to the old power station next to Wells Falls.

American Sycamore roots along Six Mile Creek below Wells Falls in Ithaca, New York.
Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, 1/60s, f/16, ISO 200, EV =0.6, 15mm focal length.

What is a trip to Ithaca without stopping by Taughannock Falls State Park? It think it has been almost a year since I last put a photo of Taughannock Falls on the blog.  The photo below is similar to the winter iced falls from January of 2011 where I include people in the frame to show the scale of the 215 foot tall natural wonder. The water flow being unusually robust for late Autumn after the passing of Hurricane Sandy a few days earlier.

Late autumn at Taughannock Falls State Park near Ithaca, New York after Hurricane Sandy.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/30s, f/16, ISO 2800, EV -0.3, 45mm focal length.

Not sure why when I visit Ithaca Falls I tend to take sets of bracketed photos for HDR processing.  Maybe it is because the falls are smaller than Taughannock and the Falls Creek bed and gorge is wider then at Wells Falls. Could be I wanted to punch up the colors of late Autumn and HDR can do that.  I again used hyperfocus and angled the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX Wide Angle Zoom lens downward to accentuate the rocks and fallen leaves along the creek.

An HDR Image of Ithaca Falls in Ithaca, New York.
Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, f/22, ISO 200, EV 0, 16mm focal length, tripod.

Ithaca is Gorges 

Ithaca is Waterfalls 

Those sayings are popular on t-shirts, posters and signs all around the college town.  The three waterfalls in this post are within 10 to 20 minutes of each other and are of easy walking distance from public parking. Not to mention the almost countless other waterfalls in the region.  So, the sayings above are entirely correct.