A little rain always makes shooting waterfalls a lot easier. It eliminates the extreme contrast from bright daylight shining on white water, intensifies the colors in the scene, and allows for longer exposure times to add a silky effect to the flow. I was very fortunate to have many rainy or overcast days on my trip to the Pacific Northwest this spring. The day I arrived in Bend, Oregon was one of those days.

Much of my trip was spent visiting backcountry waterfalls and it was rather rare to see more than a couple of other people. You could imagine how surprised I was to pull up to the trailhead for Tumalo Falls to find cars parked all over the place! It was so bad that there were cars lined up along the road even before I got there. Fortunately someone was leaving as I drove in and I snagged their spot. There are two overlooks to view the falls. One rather small one is just past the restrooms at the parking area, and another large one lines the top of the falls. Obviously the lower viewpoint gets a lot of traffic since you don’t have to travel very far. Unfortunately it is about the only place to get a clean shot.

I didn’t feel like waiting in line to get a shot there (and I knew most folks wouldn’t appreciate my tripod in the way), so I headed on up the path to check out the other falls along Tumalo Creek. The trail runs high above the creek offering only glimpses of the rushing water below. I took a few shots of Upper Tumalo Falls as the first few raindrops began to fall. It was getting late in the day anyway, so I packed up my bag and starting heading back. By the time I got close to the parking area a steady rain was falling. The nice thing was that the crowds were gone. It took juggling an umbrella to get my shots from the lower viewpoint, but I was pretty much alone. Yet another reason that shooting waterfalls in the rain is a lot easier. It clears out the crowds!

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