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Capturing waterfalls with your camera is one of the best things about nature photography. However, since waterfall photography is so common on social media and other locations, you really need to know what you're doing to shoot something unique.

Fortunately, there are experts like educator and travel photographer Elia Locardi who in the below video walks you through how he photographs waterfalls. He also shares some considerations to take into account for your next waterfall shoot.

In the video, Locardi goes on location to Duggers Creek Falls, North Carolina to share his secrets for photographing waterfalls.

"It's really small but it has a beautiful bridge, some nice rocks and rapids and the waterfall is kind of far away, so it creates this really interesting scene," he explains. "I'm always looking for places that have more potential than the one single shot; a place that you can spend a few hours scouting, exploring and seeing things in a different way and maybe finding something unique."

After taking a few shots of the falls, Locardi realizes he's going to need to go in closer to get more interesting shots. That, however, would require him to wade through the runoff around the falls to get in close. His solution? A set of chest waders and boots so he can walk into the swirling currents.

"I wouldn't call getting into this position dangerous, but it also wasn't very safe," he notes. "I had to be very careful, and I probably wouldn't have been injured but I could have easily dropped my camera and submerged myself and everything else under water."

The effort was worth it though, as it gave Locardi a much better vantage point for photographing the waterfall.

"As I went in there, the perspective and the feeling of the waterfall changed," he says. "Where on the outside on the rocks and the bridge, it feels like just a little, natural friendly environment. Inside that it felt like a slot canyon. It was an interesting composition."

Watch the video below to see more of Locardi's experiences photographing Duggers Creek Falls and how he was able to shoot waterfall images that were different from the run-of-the-mill shots. Then go visit www.skylum.com/shutterbug to get your hands on more portrait & landscape tips and a 30-day version of Luminar AI, plus other useful goodies like the Epic Sunsets sky pack, Cinematic LUTs, and access to exclusive training videos only available to the Luminar AI “Insiders Community!”