Waterfalls always make for great subjects in landscape photography. Here in South-East Queensland we are lucky enough to have several dozen waterfalls within a few hours drive north and south of Brisbane.

In this series, I will take you through some of my favorite locations and provide a few tips on how the get the best images from those locations. For those of you that also enjoy a hike and the opportunity to see some scenery along the way, I will also give some tips on how to best enjoy a day in the wilderness.

The Warrie Circuit in Springbrook National Park is a spectacular hike along the canyon cliffs and down into the depths of the rainforest. It passes underneath several waterfalls, making it a great spot for rainforest and waterfall photography.

For those into hiking, you can complete the full 14km grade 4 circuit through the depths of the rainforest and back up to the cliffs. For those less inclined, you can always just do the more popular 1.3km walk down to Twin Falls along a well-formed track and still get to see plenty of scenery.

My favorite photography hike on the Warrie Circuit is the walk down to Poondarah Falls. It takes roughly an hour one way and along the way you pass through spectacular old growth forest while also taking in the more popular short walk stopovers. Once you get to Poondarah Falls you find yourself in an amphitheater looking towards a multi-tiered waterfall.

Poondarah Falls are a bit of a challenge to photograph, hence why I like going back there so often. The trick is to catch the falls after a few days after heavy rain, once the water has reduced slightly but while there is still enough moisture in the surrounding vegetation to give your images a bit of a sparkle.

There are any number of spots that you can set up facing the falls, but the rock pools and surrounding terrain make it a bit of a scramble and a hazard at times. I try to select locations for my images where I can connect the lower stream in one single line all the way back to the cliff face to form a leading line. I also like to use low angles, so don't be afraid to collapse your tripod and get in the water. The upper reaches close to the cliff face also produce good images.

In terms of camera settings and techniques you can focus stack, but the rush of the water from the falls and the surrounding draw of air up the valley creates a vortex at times, meaning there is quite of lot of movement in the surrounding vegetation. So, I usually stick to single images, set at 0.3 to 0.5 seconds with the f-stop all the way down to f/16 or f/18 (noting I use a medium format camera and lenses where lens sharpness is generally not an issue at the smaller apertures).

Like most rainforest photography, I recommend using a circular polarizer to take some of the glare off the water and give the surrounding vegetation a bit of extra color. A tripod is essential if you want really sharp images noting the amphitheater around Poondarah can be quite dark, even on sunny days.

Finally, a point on hazards. All of the waterfalls I will cover in this series can be hazardous. Keep your wits about you and don't push your limits or your luck. People have fallen and the consequences have been fatal in some of these locations.

Keep an eye out for part 2....