Jon, thank you. Its camera shake. I didn't have a tripod and I wanted a long expo shot. So I just tried to place the camera vertically on the rocks to make it "stay".
You'll definitely want a good stable tripod when exposing for waterfalls. It seems that you are in the range of 1/8s-1s shutter speed for this shot, and it is not possible really to hand-hold or balance the camera on a rock for such shutter speeds.
The log that fell across the bottom of the waterfall doesn't help the composition of the picture and the light brown logs at the bottom of the picture are distracting and unnecessary. I guess it can't be helped that the log fell there, but if possible you might want to try a different angle, so as to use the log as a foreground element to help bring a sense of perspective and size to this waterfall.
It also seems that there are alot of specular reflections on the rocks, which indicate to me that a polarizer might not have been used in this shot (please correct me if I'm wrong). You might want to use a polarizer to reduce these reflections, or if you did, you might want to wait for the sun to go behind a cloud, in order to reduce the bright spots on the rocks.
Thanks for the comments nutek. I'll remember to use a polarizer next time.
Chris, thanks for your comments too. when I was at the location, I thought - damn, a log in front of a water fall. Can't get better than this!
You have heard about the need for a tripod already, and the use of a polarizing filter will make the need for a tripod essential as you will lose one to two stops of light. With this image and a polarizer and a tripod, an even slower exposure would have smoothed the water more, making it more sensual.
Thanks Alan. Thats exactly what I had in mind while taking the shot, a silky smooth waterfall.
Everytime I see that shot, I curse myself for not taking a tripod. I didn't really know there was a water fall there. We just went on the Crystal cave tour and there were 2-3 water falls. Besides that all my buddies were in a hurry to go see some more places, so I had to hurry and take a shot.
If any of you goto the crystal cave in Sequoia NP, don't forget to take your camera and a tripod.
