Autumn Leaf, Bridalveil Creek, Yosemite

The most beautiful things in nature are often the simplest. I spent most of October in Yosemite and much of my time was spent photographing Bridalveil Creek just below Bridalveil Fall. There were stair-step cascades, reflecting pools, swirling leaves—a veritable "what's what" of photographic subjects. But of all the images I captured there, this simple leaf on a rock is my favorite. The sense of motion so important in flowing water shots is heightened by the water's transition from dark to light as it bursts from the shadow of the rocks into the scene.

One small point about the silky water treatment that verges on cliché these days. Scenes like this must be photographed in shade or under cloudy skies; to shoot in sunlight would result a shadow-to-highlight range beyond the camera's ability to record. So the decision in these shots isn't about whether or not to blur the water, it's about how much to blur it. To achieve the depth of field I wanted I stopped down to f13, an aperture that required a 10 second exposure. And a shutter speed fast enough to stop the water would have required ISO and aperture (depth of field) decisions that would have rendered the image worthless.