Kawasan Falls
On December 16th we crossed over to the west side of Cebu and went down to Kawasan Falls. It swarmed with tourists, the people who run it charge for every little thing, and the water has been partially diverted from the falls. Nevertheless, here are two views of the place, one vertical and the other horizontal, one full-length and the other truncated, one at a slow shutter speed and the other at a high shutter speed.
Here’s the area adjacent to the falls:
On the walk back I couldn’t help noticing a decaying palm frond in the river that flows out from the falls.
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
That first one is a longer exposure than we are used to from you. Very nice. I’d love to be there with that beautiful blue water.
Steve Gingold
January 20, 2020 at 5:09 PM
It’s true that I prefer using a high-speed shutter because it captures the dynamism of the splashing water. For variety I’ve also sometimes used a slow shutter speed. Occasionally I’ve shown both versions in a single post, as for example https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2019/07/10/stone-bridge-falls/ and https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/mckinney-falls-state-park-the-lower-falls/.
Steve Schwartzman
January 20, 2020 at 5:24 PM
Beautiful. Your imagery is stunning. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Shayleene MacReynolds
January 20, 2020 at 5:11 PM
You’re welcome. It’s rewarding to find these things and let other people see them.
Steve Schwartzman
January 20, 2020 at 5:26 PM
Yes it is 🙂
Shayleene MacReynolds
January 22, 2020 at 10:54 AM
This place looks very idyllic, The turquoise-blue of the water is amazing
Robert Parker
January 20, 2020 at 6:26 PM
Idyllic per se, but not when it’s swarming with tourists (three of whom I had to remove from the third picture to leave an unbroken expanse of that turquoise water).
Steve Schwartzman
January 20, 2020 at 9:48 PM
I hope there was no strong-arm stuff!
Robert Parker
January 21, 2020 at 5:27 AM
Mostly in the fingers because the after-the-fact removal was digital.
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 7:33 AM
Ah, there we have again the amazing results of your passion with flowing water, Steve! I like the long exposure photo of the waterfall.
Peter Klopp
January 20, 2020 at 10:02 PM
Many photographers use a slow shutter speed with waterfalls. I more often use a high shutter speed to render the tumultuous action of the water, but for variety I sometimes go slow with the flow.
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 6:14 AM
I’m amazed to say that I prefer the fast shutter speed version. But the slow shutter speed version is no slouch.
Michael Scandling
January 21, 2020 at 3:34 AM
I’ll share in your amazement at preferring the high shutter speed. Do you think that in this case you prefer the second version at least in part because it’s a more abstract image?
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 6:20 AM
I’m trying to teach myself to look at things on a case-by-case basis and not because some preconceived notion of preference or taste or whatever other arbitrary thing there may be to get in the way of me and the art. In this case, for me it was a question of graceful waterfall or powerful waterfall. Another way of putting it would be static or dynamic. For this particular one, dynamic seems to work better.
Michael Scandling
January 21, 2020 at 11:52 AM
That’s a noble aspiration. In general, each of us is disposed to certain things in life and to certain ways of acting. When it comes to waterfalls, while I typically prefer a dynamic look, I’ve often also taken at least a few pictures with a slow shutter speed just to see how they come out and whether I prefer any of them to the dynamic look. In some of the cases where both looks have pleased me I’ve posted one of each type.
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 1:16 PM
There are multiple options in the technique of the removal of the dermal covering of the catfish.
Michael Scandling
January 21, 2020 at 1:24 PM
I’ve heard about the metaphorical removal of the dermal covering of the cat, but the piscatorial addition is new to me. Here’s information about the strictly feline version of the saying:
https://grammarist.com/phrase/more-than-one-way-to-skin-a-cat/
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 2:29 PM
Then there’s this: https://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=950.0
Michael Scandling
January 21, 2020 at 3:20 PM
Good sleuthing. I’d never heard of what turns out to have been the original version.
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 4:03 PM
Ever tried to skin a catfish? There are many schools of thought.
Michael Scandling
January 21, 2020 at 4:18 PM
Alas, America has many more schools of thought than thoughtful schools these days.
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 4:22 PM
😖
Michael Scandling
January 21, 2020 at 4:25 PM
The water color is amazing!
norasphotos4u
January 21, 2020 at 8:37 PM
Welcome to the tropics—although I saw this kind of water color in the Canadian Rockies, too.
Steve Schwartzman
January 21, 2020 at 9:00 PM
All that fish talk amused me, because I saw your decaying palm frond as a skeletal fish. I was especially taken with the contrast in the third photo between the simplicity and clarity of the pool, and the amazing tangle of vines, roots, and general growth. I’m still not sure if that’s rock behind the waterfall in the first and second photos. It looks almost like mud; is it perhaps volcanic in origin? That could explain the impression that it’s almost flowing.
shoreacres
January 21, 2020 at 10:13 PM
It was good of your imagination to pull a fish out of the water in the last picture.
I wonder what the simple and clear pool looked like before the area immediately adjacent got built up with pavement, a restaurant, outdoor tables, etc., to accommodate tourists.
As far as I could tell, and had no reason to doubt, what’s behind the waterfall is rock. Speaking of which, I was waiting to see if anyone saw the lighter-colored rock to the left of the falling water as a skull in profile or some creature with a big eye; if anybody saw it that way, no one said so.
Steve Schwartzman
January 22, 2020 at 4:26 AM
I took another look. I saw a cat (or dog), winking.
shoreacres
January 22, 2020 at 9:15 AM
Do cats and dogs wink? At least your imagined ones do.
Steve Schwartzman
January 22, 2020 at 10:06 AM
[…] our December 16th visit to Kawasan Falls we drove north to Lambug Beach, which provides a view westward across the Tañon Strait to the […]
Lambug Beach | Portraits of Wildflowers
January 22, 2020 at 4:50 AM
The color of the pool of water in the portrait orientation image is gorgeous!! I think that one is my favorite of this group.
circadianreflections
January 22, 2020 at 10:05 AM
It’d be hard not to love the color of that water. Although I associate it with the tropics, three years ago we found similar colors way up in the Canadian Rockies:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/peyto-lake/
Steve Schwartzman
January 22, 2020 at 10:12 AM