Flood pictures on snoqualmie river

[Blrdvision]

I went out to survey the yearly November flooding in the Snoqualmie valley (East of Seattle) yesterday and shot these. The shot of the falls was nearly impossible because most of the time you couldn't see it - all you saw was a mass of white mist blasting at you. I walked a bit further away and then waited until it opened up for a minute. I kept the camera as dry as possible and then, while holding my hand over the front of the lens, quickly pulled it away and snapped some pictures before it got wet again.
The explosions you see 300 feet below me near the base of the falls are massive and loud. They would burst up like that and a few seconds later a 30 MPH wind would blast at you like a fire hose.

I should probably get some water gear for this in the future before ruining my camera. (any ideas?)

How would you have done this shot differently? Any post processing ideas?

Several miles upstream this is one of the forks of the river coming out of a moutain valley. It was tough to get anything interesting here that would reflect the noise and power of this event. Any ideas?

Here is the parking lot of a nice park where you can walk along the river bank. I have no idea why they put it here as this flood happens every year. Lighting? Composition ideas/comments?

I have always wanted to get a shot of this stream as it flows through the dark forest but have never found a way to capture the feel of it properly. I have not been able to find a good way to present a definitive "subject". This area is incredibly dark and wet because it is in a steep valley and gets virtually no sunlight in winter. Thus far, this has been my best attempt.
Any ideas on how to make a scene like this work? I took the shot from the gravel road because there is no safe way to get any nearer to it as the banks are muddy and steep. (I'm looking nearly straight down)

In real-life this was a very dramatic scene. I'm not sure I was able to capture it in this photo....but perhaps to another eye it looks better. I should have probably waited until the mist cleared from the peak on the left...but with a fussy 3 year old in the care (nearly always with me) and the weather very unstable, I don't know if it ever would have cleared. Comments on lighting or post processing ideas?

I'm guessing 1 & 5 are the best except for the lighting problems on 5. I tried lightening it up in PS but then the clouds looked washed out. I then used the magic wand to select the clouds separately to make it more even - which worked a bit but still didn't achieve the result I was looking for without making the scene look cheery - which it was not.

 

[KeenTimothy]

5 is really nice!
It's very dark, mysterious and dull...in a good way!
I like it better without light!

 

[Blrdvision]

5 is really nice!
It's very dark, mysterious and dull...in a good way!
I like it better without light!

Thanks. I with I knew better how to capture the full "feeling" of the scene though...it was even more dark and mysterious than that. Downright spooky actually! Especially with the flooding river lapping at the bridge, the groan of bumping logs, constant dripping, the wind and the fact that the mist you see on the mountain was moving and morphing at a decent clip.