Photographing Sheoak Falls

About Sheoak Falls

Sheoak Falls (-38 33'55.2"S, 143 57'39.6"E)

Sheoak Falls is about 6km from the town of the hoilday / beach town of Lorne. The falls are a a reasonable short drop into a pool. During summer, these falls reduce to a trickle (as in the above photo). After heavy rains though a torrent poors down and it brings branches which end up in the pool. I have cropped the bulk of the pool out of the above photo due the amount of branches that were visible and distracting. Vistors to this waterfall can also stop at the nearby swallow cave attraction. The falls are not far from the car park. They are also on a nice 7km walk that takes in Castle Rock. A picnic spot is nearby to make an outing oof a visit here. This all makes the falls a reasonably busy tourist attraction, so if you are going to photograph the falls, try to get there early and after good rains.

The Love Lorne website provides a nice map of Lorne, its district, and the various walking and waterfalls in the area.

How to get there

The best way to get to the falls is by car. It can be accessed by bike or walking from the town of Lorne. The falls are about 150km from Melbourne (2.5 hours drive) and about 6km from the town of Lorne by road, or about 4km by foot.

If taking a car from Lorne, take the Great Ocean Rd south west from Lorne towards Wye River. After about 4km there is a a bridge over the Sheoak Creek and a car park just over the bridge. Park here. The falls are about 1.5km up the walking path.

If walking from Lorne, I would recommend taking the Allenvale Rd. I also recommend the Love Lorne map or a local walking map though.

Viewpoints

There are two main choices:

From the Upper Lookout. I dont particularly like this view. If you cant go down the steps, then it is clearly a chance to see the falls.
From the Lower area, on the river.

I took my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DMkII body, Canon 24-105mm zoom, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. I tended to shoot 28-55mm

Techniques

As with any waterfall, I want to blur the water but not the surrounding vegitation. That means using a long exposure and a tripod. I could have used NR filters, but in this case I didnt. I simply changed the aperature to suit. I was already shooting at ISO 100.

Other things to look out for

Nearby to Sheoak Falls are the Esrkine Falls, Staw Falls, Splitter Falls, Cumberland Falls, Upper and Lower Kalimna Falls, Won Wondah Falls, Henderson Falls, Cora Lynn cascades and finally the Phantom Falls. In addition for waterfalls, there is the is the beach, surf, and a range of tourist attractions.

The area is a temperate rainforest, with a range of interesting plants and wildlife. Jenny loves photographing the various fungi that can be found in these places

Location

FWV7+69 Lorne, Victoria Erskine Falls Access Rd, Lorne Vic 3232 ///seatbelts.stilts.contributing (-38.50591, 143.913509)

Techniques used

Kit used

How to get there

The best way to get to the falls is by car. It can be accessed by bike or walking from the town of Lorne. The falls are about 150km from Melbourne (2.5 hours drive) and about 9km from the town of Lorne by road and 7.5 via the walking track (past Splitter and Staw Falls).

If taking a car from Lorne, take the Great Ocean Road south (away from Melbourne). After some 5km the falls are on your right and clearly signposted.

Best time to visit

These are falls that need water running over them, so post reasonable rains is best. This is likely to mean late winter / early spring. During this time the local vegitation is also greener and richer. During the summer months this can become a reasonably busy tourist spot - meaning that you might have to wait 15min to get the shot you want without people in the shot.

Accessability

There are two viewing platforms: the upper viewing platform and lower. The upper is a short 5 minute walk from the car park, while the lower platform is down some 240 steps to the bottom of the falls.

The photograph above was taken from the Lower Platform. In this case the weather was overcast and the sky just a uniform grey. While I love a bright blue sky contrasting with the lush green to found around waterfalls - I dont like grey at all, so I composed the shot to crop it out.

Where to stay

Lorne is an obvious choice here. It ia lovely town with many attractions, good hotels, a nice caravan park, and lots of nice and inexpensive resturants. If travelling in the summer / holiday period though, you will need to book.

Slight west of Lorne is Apollo Bay. I also recommend this for accomodation. The same can be said of Apollo Bay. It is further from these falls though.