Photographing Kauai Part 8 – Wailua Falls and Opaeka‘a Falls

For Shelley and I’s last evening on the island of Kauai, we spent it photographing two of the island’s iconic waterfall locations, Wailua Falls and Opaeka’a Falls. You can easily photograph these waterfall locations can from the road.

Wailua Falls – Kauai

If you search the Internet, you’ll find that Wailua Falls used to have a trail down to its base by using ropes. The state and county do not really want you doing that anymore. There is a lot of risk involved, and it is not exactly the safest trail on the face of the earth.

While this is a lovely waterfall to photograph, almost every photograph will be nearly identical. There are few places to frame up a composition of Wailua Falls, and depending on the amount of traffic to the falls, there may be no parking available at the time day that you would like to shoot. Please keep this mind when trying to plan a visit.

Shelley and I finally made it around to photographing Wailua Falls and Opaeka’a Falls in the late afternoon on our final day on the island of Kauai. Once we arrived at Wailua Falls, I saw a few compositions that would work for what I had in mind. Even after knowing that most photographs would appear to be roughly the same of this iconic waterfall, I search for a composition that included something in the foreground. With the afternoon light providing contrast and definition to my image I framed up my shot.

I went a portrait orientation for this photograph and zoomed my 24-70mm slightly in order to crop out the disappointing sky that we had. While at Wailua Falls, I did not feel the need to use any filters. I wanted my photograph to show the power of the water as it was falling over the rocks.

I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 55mm, f/11, and 1/50 of a second.

Wailua Falls - Kauai — Wailua Falls – Kauai

Opaeka’a Falls

Opaeka’a Falls is easiest to photograph from Opaeka’a Falls viewpoint that is located off of Kuamoo Rd. Here again, you are not going to close to this waterfall without a great deal of work. According to multiple sources, there is a trail to the base of the waterfall. This trail has closed because of safety concerns. After visiting the overlook and walking along the paved sidewalk along the top of the ridge, I can say that getting down to the stream would be an undertaking.

I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 300mm, f/11, and a 1/15 of a second.