Selfie Sticks and Petrohué Waterfalls

the selfie and me, me, me

MichaelStephenWills

Petrohué Waterfalls are on the tourist track, traffic on the walkway was heavy on the southern hemisphere summer day, February 2016, of our visit. People were relaxed and friendly, the walkway well designed and safe. The wide angle lens was mounted on my Canon dslr, with a circular graduated neutral density filter. This is a filter with the upper third restrictive to light fading gradually to clear and mounted on a ring to rotated to cover the bright portion of the view. I used this successfully in the previous postings to obtain an exposure of the bright sky and darker land (for example, “Orsorno Volcano and Tourists.”). I could not resist capturing our fellow tourists. With a wide angle lens it is easy to do candid shots, such as the following. Most people are unaware of the capability of the 24 mm wide angle lens.

Click any photograph for a larger view.

Unfortunately, in the rush of the crowd and moment the dual use of a configuration for landscape and (candid) street photography lead to mistakes. I did not have the lens hood attached correctly, you can see the hood in each corner. Then there is the circular, graduated filter. In the above photograph, the shaded portion runs across the lower left to the upper right. The subject is watching me photograph the water.

Here, I turned around from photographing the Orsorno Volcano to capture these selfie fans leaning against the railing to capture themselves and the volcano through they are in the minority. The trail is a “dead end”, rising to the point above the falls, where I am standing.

Selfie Stick

We started back down towards the point over the incredible emerald green water. There were three teenagers having fun with a selfie stick. Around them are people entranced by the water, as we werel.

Smile!! You’re on Candid Camera

Headed back, I thought that curving tree was a good subject. Turned out, a fellow tourist heightened the interest of the shot. You see him, leaning against the railing next to the tree in the mid-distance of the following shot.

Here I am, looking back toward the child of Orsorno and the entire length of the observation walkway filled with people.

11 thoughts on “Selfie Sticks and Petrohué Waterfalls”

  1. You’re probably aware that every year now there are people who take selfies from a high place like the edge of a cliff and get distracted enough that they back up too far and fall to their deaths.

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    1. I’ve seen that behavior myself. In Treman State Park there is Lucifer Falls. A young man, in his 20’s, crossed the stream above the falls to climb onto the cliff and, with is back to the chasm, no railing and a few inches from the edge, took his photograph. Nuts.

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  2. The mob scene here is in stark contrast to your previously posted photos (June 30 and July 1) of the peopleless Falls. Good job capturing the falls without any sign of this chaos, Michael Stephen, but its realistic to see the crowds, too. A gorgeous and attractive place.

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  3. Whoa, that’s a lot of people! Glad to know that I am not alone in making mistakes when feeling rushed to take a shot. Thanks for being real. 😊

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