Sri Lanka – Waterfalls
Before going to Sri Lanka, I researched the work of local photographers to explore locations and understand what styles worked best. Without doubt the best I found was Amila Hewagama, whose amazing Lankascape website showcases his impressive artistry and some remarkable Sri Lankan scenery.
I made contact with Amila before setting off, and he very kindly gave me some excellent advice about where to go and the practicalities of shooting waterfalls in Sri Lanka. I didn’t cover the wide range of falls that Amila has shot, but I photographed six in total and they are shown in this album.
One of the features of Amila’s shots is that he gets quite close to the falls, and in a series of moderately risky manoeuvres, I got into the waterfall in several of them, enabling close-up shots with some drama and intensity. Shooting this close was a challenge to the camera system — and the photographer — as it was, to put it mildly, pretty wet in there. The OM-3 and my non-weatherproofed lenses worked magnificently. I am also indebted to the wonderful Ranil for helping and guiding me so well — I would not have wanted to be this adventurous on my own.
All these shots were taken at longish exposure times (around 1/5s), hand-held, with a variable ND filter to achieve the correct exposure. In the most intense situations — at Bomburu Ella and Diyaluma falls — the spray was so intense I could not see the camera settings or much of the scene, a situation that presented unique challenges.
I used the Olympus 8–25mm f/4 and the Panasonic 14–140mm f/3.5–5.6 travel zoom for these shots. Neither are classed as pro lenses, neither are weatherproofed, and most Olympus/OM photographers disregard them for serious work. They continue to perform for me, however, generating images as crisp and true as my pro lenses.
Photographs in this album include: Hunnas upper waterfall (5 images), Ramboda falls, Bomburu Ella waterfall, Lahshapana waterfall, and Diyaluma falls.
View the full album at mcaughtry.photo/albums/sri-lanka-waterfalls. Touch or click any image to open a lightbox view; tap the full-screen icon for the best experience. Click the “i” icon beneath any thumbnail for full EXIF data and location information for that image.