The east-bank ledges above the falls

Cross to the eastern side at Fosshóll and a path runs along a series of low rock shelves above the water. The view from here is a different picture entirely: instead of facing the falls, you look along them, with the river coming toward you out of the plain and the horseshoe curving away below. The stepped ledges also give a photographer something the west bank does not — levels, so a couple can stand slightly above or below the camera without a hill.

Use the shelves as a set. A wide lens low on one ledge puts the couple against sky with the falls' edge just below; a longer lens from further back turns the ledges into layered bands of dark rock with white water beyond. Because you are shooting broadly southward here, the light behaves differently from the west side: in the middle of the day the water is lit and the rock is dark, and in the low winter sun the whole shelf system rakes into relief.

This side also holds the quiet. The main car park and the café are here, but most visitors walk to the nearest viewpoint and turn back; walk two minutes further along the shelves and the crowd is gone. Sunrise and late evening empty the place entirely, and in June there is effectively no night to stop you.

The hazard is simple: these are unfenced rock ledges above a river with a waterfall in it. The rock is wet from spray and slick where it is polished, the drops are short but onto stone or water, and the current below is fast. Keep everyone back from the edges, do not pose anyone on the lowest shelves near the water, and skip this side entirely when the rock is iced — in winter it often is, and spikes are the minimum if you go at all.