Natural Bridge and Photofeed Waterfall Photography Comp

Most of you that know me know I love waterfalls! I thought for a while about what to pick for this comp and went with a personal favourite from Natural Bridge. It never does that well on traditional social media as its a panoramic shot which does not work well on small screen; but it's epic on large screen or as a wide angle print.

It is a three shot panorama of the Natural Bridge which is a naturally formed rock arch over Cave Creek, a tributary of the Nerang River. It was formed as the waterfall undercut a cave beneath it while digging a pothole on top. Eventually the two joined and the creek flowed through the cave rather than over the old lip, leaving an arch across the front.

I took this shot just predawn under full moon. To shoot looking out of a cave with such high dynamic range of light you need to shoot under the softest possible light. Shooting later in the day even using high dynamic range sensors just results in the image looking 'fake' in an unnatural HDR kind of way. The colour dichotomy is a result of the green rainforest reflections contrasting with the subtle blue light in the fall itself which is from preferential scattering of short-wavelength light as it hits the the waterfall mist in the moonlight. This is the same reason a regular daytime sky is blue due to blue light scattering from moisture in the atmosphere. The length of the shaft makes sure there no direct unscattered light.

I spent most of the night in this cave from about midnight to dawn; and have similar shot but with the addition of some glow worms being captured. This was a few hours before dawn and before the moonrise so it was very dark. Only scattered light outside coming from the approaching moon over the horizon so the forest looks blue. Think of it as a blue hour before the moonrise. You have to click and see in full screen to appreciate the glow worm structures.

The glow worms (Arachnocampa flava) are actually a fungus gnat species which have a luminescent larval stage. The genus of Arachnocampa means "spider-worm," for the way the larvae hang sticky silk threads to ensnare prey. They are endemic to New Zealand and Australia, dwelling in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests.

After dawn I headed outside of the cold dark cave, adjusted my eyes and shot a few outside shots. These were still before any direct light overhead in the forest but the intensity of light removed any blue overtones as scattering was not the predominant source of light.

The bridge is located in Springbrook National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia. The park is situated on the McPherson Range, near Springbrook, approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Brisbane. The park is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia.

If you like my waterfall photography I have a sold out NFT collection of 66 waterfalls from a lifetime of chasing waterfalls around the world called Intrepid Falls. It has been very successful with 36 owners and almost 50 ETH in trading volume. You can find them available on the secondary market on Opensea at https://opensea.io/collection/intrepidfalls

To enter the photofeed waterfall contest you can place your entry in the comments here https://peakd.com/hive-153349/@photofeed/photofeed-theme-contest-waterfall-photography-13

If you would like to learn a little bit more about my background in photography you can read the interview @photofeed did with me here.

Robert Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

_{All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}