Douglas Falls

Ed and I had wanted to visit this falls for a few years and finally made it this past fall season. A lot of the rocks are colored red caused by pollution of the old coke mills upstream.
Olympus EM5 MK2, Leica 8-18, 1 sec @ F/16, ISO 320

What technical feedback would you like if any?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

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6 Likes

Michael - beautiful image. I love the way the colors wrap around the head of the falls and the flow of the water carries my eyes right through the scene. Makes me wish I was there. Really well done. I would not change anything. Did you use any type of filter to help with the long exposure?

This is a great waterfall image Mike, a classic scene. At first I thought the rocks were too warm, but then I read your description, and saw that the shadows here were relatively cool, so I knew this is how it looked in real life, and was not due to the processing. The shutter speed did a nice job a getting a good looking flow in all 3 parts of the falls, it worked out really well for you. I love the right / left / right direction of flow in the 3 falls, it creates an interesting dynamic here. The fall colors look peak, you timed this trip very it appears.

My only suggestion would be to clone away the fallen stick in the LRC, for me it is a minor distraction.

Hello Michael, you made a beautiful image. I like the colours, textures and the composition. I think the shutter speed you selected was just right. I agreed with Ed’s suggestion regarding the fallen stick. Congrats!

This really says New England to me. Yes, it’s all ultrasaturated but the color scheme works well together somehow.

Mike, this is great. Definitely my favorite type of fall scene, including a nice set of falls. I like the framing of the falls in the arch of colorful trees and, as Ed mentioned, the right/left/right of the falls. I also agree with Ed about the LRC stick, but that’s all I can see to change.

Mike,
You already know how I feel about this image as I asked you to grab a shot for me while you were setting your comp up. I love everything about this capture; from the POV along with the way the fall color up top helps to frame Douglas Falls. This also has some nice depth with the two tiers of cascades leading the eye to the falls. My only suggestion is the already mentioned removal of the stick in the LRC. Great job on this one!

Hi Michael,

I am also fond of flowing water images, and the actual experience of being there… The sound, breeze, and aura of streams surrounded by forest, just as the one you captured… is therapy to me.
On your image, I really like the rich and vibrant colors in the scene, and I would agree with you choice of shutter speed. On the composition, one thing I would suggest would be to maybe go for a slightly tighter one… That would allow some additional focus to the main element of this scene, this beautiful cascade, and can potentially provide a more immersive experience to the viewer. I’m attaching a modified image to demonstrate this:

I only slightly narrowed the frame by removing some space from the left, as in my opinion it did not add much to the scene.
… If I was there in front of this stream, I would also maybe shift the scene down a bit, to allow the nice white foam patterns to complete and allow the bottom part to transition to greens, which would add some balance and counterweight to the greens/yellows on the top. Last pointer, I would remove that small twig on the bottom right, it really pierces the general ambience, with it’s sharp edge :slight_smile:
… That’s my critique, which is purely subjective, so no rights or wrong here, plus I’m really neat picking. Overall a very nice, feel-good image. … Makes me miss my hikes so much now that we are in the middle of a lock down here in Greece :smirk:… Thank you for sharing.

Nikos