A thunderstorm had just moved through the highlands around Blackwater Falls, so I knew there would be an opportunity for some atmospheric shots.
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
A really nice scene with the fog making for an excellent mood. I would be inclined to tone down the bright reflections on the leaves LLC and right edge and clone the little spot of leaves bottom edge. Otherwise, looks real good to me.
Hey @Michael_Lowe.
First i’ll have to agree with @Harley_Goldman, lower the highlights on the leafs and clean that spot.
Other then that i would change the framing to a 4:5 and re crop, as above, but is only out od personal taste.
Cheers.
Plus one for the crop. Great mood in this scene 
Mike, I love the mysterious look of the fog in this image. And I like your processing of the spring green colors, they look very natural.
I think there are several things along the bottom edge that are minor issues, the bright green patch, and a fallen log in the LRC. I would suggest a crop from the left and the bottom, as shown in this rework.
What a beautiful scene! Great framing of the falls with the treeline from your viewpoint. Appears to be heavily polarized with absolutely no reflection on the wet rocks. I wonder if dialing back polarization just a scoche would allow for a little more reflection as would have occurred in the scene? Interested in what others think in this regard as this is most certainly a matter of personal taste.
The color and atmosphere are just tremendous.
The windblown trees in the R. side of the image are an eye-catcher. Though there’s nothing to be done about that. I find these windblown trees to be present in many “natural” shots and they are often a little funny to me, because of their isolation from the remainder of the image with stillness. Does anyone have any recommendations for these findings that are present in many of my shots as well? I tend to wait and obtain several exposures, with the intent to blend in the still trees later in Ps.
Anyway, kinda just blabbin here, but I’m distracting myself here at work and trying to steal some photography in to my day!
I think this is such a fresh scene amidst all Fall color images. I think the fog adds to the image and of all crop choices I think I like @Ed_McGuirk’s best, it feels the most balanced. I am also with @Jim_McGovern about the blown leaves. I hope you have something to blend?
Hi Micheal, What a lush, beautiful scene. The mist and soft lighting provide a great mood and atmosphere. I visited this falls 20 years ago in the fall but was unable to come away with anything this nice. I second Adhika on Ed’s crop. I think it tightens the comp. up nicely.
Michael,
It’s the battle of the crops! For me, the fog and resulting atmosphere makes the image here with the falls of course being the primary subject. I love all the green as well, but as has already been commented on, the brighter leaves branch tips along the edge are mildly distracting. So my crop while not too different, keeps the emphasis on the falls and fog, but reduces much of the distracting bright areas. I also did some selective burning and Lights mask layers painting the LLC tree. Otherwise the overall color and WB is great as presented.
Lon
edit: DOH! I forgot to attach…
To steal from posts above, that’s a really lush atmosphere, and it creates a beauty.
My only thought would be that I’ve had luck taking a series of images if there is random movement, and then blending together still areas to create one that has no movement. I don’t know if that was possible here, but it would be one way to attack the motion on the right.
What a beautiful scene, with lush greens, some mist and a beautiful waterfall! Nice suggestions given that improve the image even further.
