Very hard to get into the right place for this shot as it was incredibly slippery on the rocks. Then experimenting with a good shutter speed. I wanted to see the water disappearing out of the picture bottom right and quite liked the frosty rocks in the centre foreground. On the whole I think I feel quite happy with this photo, but would be interested in any second opinions. There is a bit of a sad story connected to this photograph, as I went out in the very cold weather on my birthday in December. I was out for two or three hours and very happy at the falls taking many photos, and then returned home to find my cat had died, and though she was nearly 15 she’d seemed in rude health, so I look at these pictures (including this one presented here) with a slightly bitter-sweet feeling. I hope you like the picture, but please be brutal if required!!
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
The picture was focus-stacked and also exposure-stacked (in fact I don’t think I needed the 3 exposures, but will often take 3 as a precaution if I am not sure - in this case not to blow out the water but retain enough detail in the darker rock.
Technical Details
My processing attempts to exercise the “art which conceals art”, in other words to work hard to get a naturalistic effect. I wanted to retain the bluish cold overall colour. I like the way the main water stream moves top left to bottom right, but a subsiduary stream from the bottom left too, and the frosty rocks I hope work where they are. Is it a problem that there is not just one main place that the eye is led to??? In asking for a critique I want to make sure I am not just seeing what I want to see, though!
Ahhh Philip, I’m very sorry about your cat. I have lost many animals in my life time and I know how hard that is.
I like this image a lot. I love capturing ice covered stones, trees, leaves, etc. I think it tops snow. The small fall is beautiful and I like how it flows in two different directions. The stones in between the the flowing water makes a triangle that draws my eye toward the fall. Maybe a light vignette to darken the edges where the water flows out of the image would help keep the eye from going that direction. This is just a lovely scene.
First off, sorry about your cat Phillip. I have had a few cats and dogs pass away so I know the bittersweet memories they provide.
The image works very nicely for me as well. The V shape you created with the water flow heading out the LRC along with the LLC works beautifully as does the frost covered rocks. Kudos for getting out on those slippery rocks! It may be just me, but this looks just a touch green. Nice textures in the water BTW. What was your SS? Just curious as I tend to like water scenes around 1/10 sec.
I kind of like where the FG rocks are, although I’d prefer them to be a little off-center on the left to help anchor that side of the scene more… I think the image flows nicely, and I think the comp works. The color works for me as well - it conveys cold without being overly done. There’s a small black thing at bottom left that is a bit of a distraction and easy to fix.
Very sorry about the loss of your cat. Losing our little furry, family friends is never easy…
And I think the steely blue capture and presentation is quite fitting - kind of a somber, melancholy mood. I think the composition flows nicely with the different sections of water and rock.
I couldn’t put my finger on it until I read Ed’s comment, but I would agree this has an ever so slight hint of green. NOt that it’s not good or doesn’t look right, but I think you could alter the hue slightly towards blue and still retain that mood. Other than that, this is well photographed and presented.
oh, yeah, that small black piece lower left edge - clone that out if you decide to print.
Thank you, Donna. In fact I have a vignette applied to the whole image, and I tend to be quite minimal and think that if a viewer looks at the image and can say “oh, there’s a vignette” then that is too much. But maybe I could be a bit bolder here with the flowing water - I will experiment. Much appreciate you dropping by and commenting…
Hi Ed! Funnily enough my SS was exactly 1/10 second and I hope that works. I tried a few, and in order to be slow enough to be effective yet not turn everything into blancmange I find that the speed varies depending on the speed of the water and distance away, as well as each photo trying to get a slightly different effect. I also wondered about the slight greenish cast, and have experimented with this, and may post a variant, but haven’t quite made up my mind, so thanks for that comment. I hope this finds you well!
Hello, Matt, and thanks for responding. Appreciate your pointing out the blip at the BL - quite right. I also know what you mean about the foreground rocks, but I feel constricted because I quite like the chunk of darker rock at the top left - always a toss-up gaining one thing but losing another! I tried it but couldn’t quite make up my mind! @Lon_Overacker thanks for adding those points too!
