Hi Holly,
Welcome to NPN and what a lovely first post. There is much to love about this image: the light, the composition. I am a fan of milky water, especially in scenes like this, where the water texture is less important than its lines and the textures and colors of the surrounding rocks sculpting its movement through the scene.
I have to admit that the softness in the background rock was not a problem for me. I had a Canon 40D, 7D, and 5DIII that would rarely get more sharp than this (or rather that I could rarely get more sharp than this). Several folks mentioned focus stacking, and that can be the only way to get near to far sharpness, especially when shooting close up. Personally, I find that tedious, but I don’t think my camera has a built-in stacking function, so my aversion is based on experiences with software ten or more years ago. No doubt, it’s much easier to do now.
Here are some other thoughts on how to maximize sharp focus throughout the scene:
- If possible, back up a few steps and crop to achieve the same composition. Even zooming out by 5mm on that lens might give you more sharpness in the part of the image you want to use. If the camera has enough pixels, leaving some room to crop can help you not only with sharp focus in the area you want, but also options in case you later have second thoughts about where to cut off the scene.
- Choose a focus point about 1/3 of the way into the scene. It’s a complicated calculus (hyperfocal distance) that depends on lens, focal length, etc. But in general, that will maximize the sharpness in the foreground and background. I generally try to ensure the foreground is tack sharp as a little less sharpness at the back is less noticeable and more expected.
I also might be inclined to crop a bit given the focus issue. Maybe just half of the bright green rock a the top. I keep being drawn to the top of the water, and wanting more of it. If you have a version with more up top, I’d love to see it.
I hope all of this isn’t overwhelming. You have landed in the right place to hone what are clearly already impressive skills.
ML