Darwin Falls

Death Valley certainly isn’t the kind of place you’d normally think of where you would go to photograph a beautiful scene such as Darwin Falls. The name “Death Valley” instantly brings to mind a harsh, inhospitable environment. The perception is not without merit. Consider some of these Death Valley weather facts from the National Park Service.

The world record highest air temperature of 134°F (57°C) was recorded at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913.
During the heat wave that peaked with that record above, five consecutive days reached 129° F (54°C) or above.
Summer temperatures often top 120°F (49°C) in the shade with overnight lows dipping into the 90s°F (mid-30s°C.)
Average rainfall is less than 2 inches (5 cm), a fraction of what most deserts receive.
The greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 100° F or above was 154 days in the summer of 2001.
The highest ground temperature recorded was 201° F at Furnace Creek on July 15, 1972. The maximum air temperature for that day was 128° F.
No rain was recorded in the years of 1929 and 1953.
The driest stretch on record was only 0.64 inches (1.6cm) of rain over a 40-month period in 1931 to 1934.

Very inhospitable indeed. Yet hidden away in a one of the valley’s many side canyons is a beautiful little waterfall, Darwin Falls. You could even consider it two waterfalls as there is are separate upper and lower falls.

Darwin Falls is named for Dr. Darwin French, a silver prospector who worked the area in the mid-1800s. The lower falls is a beautiful 18-ft. waterfall flowing into a small pool. Although not large, it is a beautiful waterfall. The National Park Service accurately describes it as, “a truly special environment, allowing for the growth of trees, cattails, aquatic vegetation, and even ferns. Amphibians such as tree frogs and toads complete part of their lifecycle in these waters”. It is a beautiful but incongruous scene that you wouldn’t expect in a place called Death Valley.

To get to Darwin Falls take Route 190 to the west side of Death Valley. One mile west of Panamint Springs Resort, turn left on an unmarked gravel road. It’s the first road west of the resort. Follow the road for 2.5 miles to the trailhead. From the trailhead it’s a one-mile hike (one-way) to the falls. The first 0.7 miles of the hike is relatively easy with a gentle slope. The last 0.3 miles involves a number of creek crossings and scrambling over rocks but is not difficult.

The upper falls is approximately 60-ft in height but more difficult to get to. Reportedly, water falls into a beautiful pool and grotto before making its way to the lower falls. Getting to the upper falls involves a bit of rock climbing which could be especially difficult with a camera backpack. When I visited, we opted not to visit the upper falls because of the difficult nature of the trail. Discretion is the better part of valor, as the old saying goes.

The Composition

darwin falls color — Darwin Falls, Death Valley National Park
(Click to enlarge/purchase)

Space around the pool at the base of the falls is limited and there are a lot of over-hanging trees. As a result, the possible vantage points are also limited. The sepia version and color version were taken from the same spot. Wading into the pool was tempting but not permitted; this is a source of drinking water for the Panamint Springs Resort.

Although taken from the same spot I cropped each photo differently. I did this because I wanted to emphasize different aspects in each photo. In the sepia version I wanted to highlight the variety of textures: the rough surface of the rock, the smoothness of the pool, and, the delicate nature of the reeds. The color version is more about the falls itself. I composed it to take advantage of the strong leading line of the tree on the right to draw our eye to the falls.

In both versions I cropped out a rather flat rock face on the left and the vegetation and sky at the top as they added nothing to the images and were a bit distracting.

Taking The Shot

The gear and settings were:

Canon 5D Mk III, Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II Tilt-Shift Lens, Induro AT013 tripod, Induro BHL3 tripod head, Shutter Release Cable,
Sepia – 0.4 seconds at f/22, ISO 100, mirror lockup setting used to minimize vibration
Color – 0.3 seconds at f/16, ISO 100, mirror lockup setting used to minimize vibration

I chose the 24mm tilt-shift lens over the 24-100mm. I did this because the tilt-shift lens is sharper.

Post-Processing

The post-processing for both images was rather straightforward. I made basic adjustments in Adobe Lightroom before exporting the images to Photoshop. In Photoshop, I made more detailed adjustments including bringing out shadows and lowering highlights using level and curves adjustments. I also adjusted saturation to bring out the vibrant greens in this lush scene. For the sepia image I used Nik Silver Efex to convert to black and white and the applied a sepia toning. I used color filters and sliders to adjust the underlying yellows and greens to get the desired tones. I finished the sepia image with some vignetting.

This is another one of those situations where I like both the monochrome and the color versions of a scene, albeit for different reasons. The same thing occurred when I photographed Machine Falls, in Tennessee. I guess part of it is just that it’s hard to take a bad picture of a beautiful waterfall.