A photo journal post about salmon run photography at Salmon Cascades on the Sol Duc River. You can find the photo in the PNW Nature gallery or here.
Every year, salmon make the migration back from the ocean to the place where they were born, where they’ll spawn and then die.
During the prime migration season which runs September through early November, you might catch a glimpse of them. The best places are at rapids — Salmon Cascades is an “exhibit” with a viewing platform at one of the best locations to view them during their annual migration/
I’ve written more about visiting Salmon Cascades here (or will soon if it’s not yet posted).
Table of Contents
Why I chose this photo
I selected this photo out of my other photos from this date because of the vivid red color of the fish against the rocks. This was one of my later-morning photos after the sun had come out (and after I found that my white balance settings were off!). Unfortunately, it also meant that I had to remove a bit of someone’s head from the photos as there’s an area you can climb down to get a closer view of the fish.
Salmon Run Photography at Salmon Cascades, Sol Duc
This was my first experiment in salmon run photography — I’d been to Sol Duc but not at the right time of year to view the salmon and, though I was aware of the annual salmon run, a photography group I joined did a field trip out there. Unfortunately, it (as usual) coincided with something else and I was unable to go, but it motivated me to take a solo trip there later in October and, truly, though I like the idea of field trips, I often appreciate taking photos solo.
So I experimented with camera settings and went a few times during the day. Lighting conditions, of course, were better later morning after fog had burned off, and I was happy to see some sun which made the color of some of the fish more visible — but, then, you’ll also need to deal with more people, too.
As far as gear and settings, I found my 20-600 lens to be too close and my wide angle lens to be just right. My 24-150 mm lens was in the goldilocks zone for this shoot. I may have improved my earlier morning photos by using a flash, but I had not brought it. I used similar settings on my camera as use for bird photography in hopes of freezing the motion of the salmon as they jumped. The photo, here, was taken at 66mm focal length, 1/2000, f4 and ISO 160. Why f4? I was experimenting with various aperatures — I wanted to let more light in but also not have too shallow a depth of field.