26 years ago, engineer Premjith picked up a camera "with a quest to capture what captures me. There has not been a single day of boredom in life [since] – just because of what meets my eye and what meets my camera."
He has a particular interest in "the nocturnal scenes of popular places around the world and the heavenly spectacle 'Aurora Borealis'" as well as challenging sports like Formula 1, skiing, sailing, ice polo and air shows.
Lately he's taken his practice to whole new dimensions: "Recently I've been drawn towards aerial photography and traveled to the Swiss Alps in a swift 'Piper Archer-II' plane to capture my own bird eye views of the world.”
His usual kit includes:
Canon EOS R3, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM and Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM
"Niagara Falls sits on the border of New York State in the US and Ontario in Canada. I wanted to cover all angles so I arranged to take photos from the skies in a helicopter, and later at eye-level from a boat.
“I have past experience in aerial photography in Switzerland, Iceland and Bahrain, mainly terrestrial and alpine mountain shoots. I knew that it was important to select the right camera and lens combination. In this case, I chose a Canon EOS R3 which has a super-high speed burst rate to help me maximize my chances of catching the perfect moment, as well as the crisp and sharp Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM lens which offered a lot of flexibility with its zoom range.
“I ensured that my shutter speed was high enough to counter any movement and vibrations caused by the chopper, trying to achieve around 1/1000 sec. For some angles I was shooting into the strong sunlight which was challenging and I needed to check my images regularly to make sure the highlights weren’t over exposed."
“I also wanted to take some pictures downstream from a boat to get a totally different perspective. The results from both were quite heartening. Shooting from the boat had its own set of challenges. Water spray was very high and this can cause severe damage to the lens and the camera, so precautions had to be taken. The rocking motion of the boat was also destabilising, but shooting with the EOS R3’s blisteringly quick burst mode helped ensure at least one of my images would be sharp and well composed.
“At close quarters it was difficult to squeeze in the vast falls into a single frame, but taking multiple images and stitching them into a panorama worked well. My top tip if you want to shoot Niagara Falls from the skies, or any location for that matter, is to make the pilot your best friend and the world below will be yours for the taking!”
Editors' Thoughts
Premjith has done a cracking job at capturing these stunning waterfalls by air and by water, he’s taken his photography to new heights – literally! He’s done a superb job at ensuring his images are nice and sharp, by masterfully focusing and opting for a fast shutter speed to counteract any movement from the boat or helicopter. His images are also beautifully sunny and colourful, as well as retaining some of the brighter details without them burning out. Our only slight issue is that his horizontal panorama from the boat looks a little squished and we think it just needs stretching ever so slightly to make the proportions of the falls look natural. This small issue aside, his waterfall shots are fit to appear on a postcard!
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