I stopped in at Liffey Falls with a fairly specific plan in mind. The idea was to photograph the tiered falls framed by the surrounding forest and hopefully use the trees to give the scene some structure.

Fortunately this was one of those rare occasions where things actually went to plan.

The falls have a natural layering to them, so I worked the composition to include the foreground rocks and the large tree on the right to give the scene some depth. A branch stretching across the frame helped guide the eye back toward the waterfall, which was exactly what I was hoping for.

Because the light filtering through the canopy was fairly soft, I was able to use a slightly longer shutter speed to smooth the water without turning it into a white blur.

I also used focus stacking to keep everything sharp from the foreground through to the waterfall. When you have rocks, moss and water all at different distances like this, it helps keep the detail consistent across the frame.

The final image came together with some work in Lightroom and Photoshop, mainly to balance the light and keep the mood of the forest intact.

Sometimes photography is about adapting to chaos. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, the scene just quietly cooperates.