Another image of Douglas Falls from our October 2020 trip to WV. I liked the way the birch tree and the fallen cascading leaves seemed to mimic the falls as it plunged into the Northfork of the Blackwater River. I would have liked to move a little more to the right to catch more of the base of the falls, but it would have required me getting wet and I did not have a change of clothes. I am hoping to make a day trip back to this lovely location this winter after a little snowfall. It would make for a long day as it is a four hour drive out as well as back, but I think it would be fun.
Some of the rocks along the river have this orange coloration caused by acid runoff from a mining operation by Davis Coal and Coke back in the late 1800’s. I believe the area still has some environmental problems as I did notice some monitoring wells as we drove down the rut filled gravel road.
As always thanks for taking a moment to leave a thought.
Specific Feedback Requested
All C&C welcome. Does the lack of not being able to move more to the right bother anyone?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D800, Nikon 17-35 @ 25 mm, f 16 @ 0.3 sec, ISO 200, CPL, cable release & tripod
Hi Ed…what a cool location! The scenery here looks fantastic. I love the green water as it complements the organ rock and fall leaves.
My first impression from the thumbnail was that the image lacks leftward balance despite the presence of the leaning birch tree. All energy points to the water fall which drops down to the right. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty to do a crop/C-CL rotate of the image and neutralize color cast in the shadows a bit to add some blue. This crop also helps reduce the presence of the green pool in the lower right corner which does remove some tension from the “squeeze” of water present between the falls and the pool. I dunno - just a different take so you know the drill—grain of salt!
Ed, To me a well made image. Although the tree is a bit disturbing the balance. I tried some crop options but that was not better in my view . Then I just turned the image horizontally and that did make the image more in balance in my view.
Ed, only someone as hardcore as you would drive 8 hours in the same day to shoot for just 4 or 5 hours. Then again you drove 7 hours one way to a Joe Pye Weed meadow that you realistically had no real directions to find it with. And yet somehow you did find it, and you found me there too
This is a pretty cool waterfall, all the jagged rocks make this a really interesting location. Processing looks awesome, you have become expert at the warm autumn WB, neutral white water look. I vacillate between liking the tree because it allows you to include the lichen on the rocks in the LLC, and not liking the tree because it has so much visual weight that it possibly competes with the waterfall. The composition is nicely balanced, yet something about that tree makes me pause. Cloning or cropping it away doesn’t help, I think. I’m probably over-thinkng this one. Overall the image has a heck of lot going for it. Let me chew on it for awhile, I may come around on the tree.
This is a beautiful falls as I have shot there many times. The green water makes it look like a science fiction movie set. I admire you even thinking about descending into the base of the falls in the snow as we used a 50 foot rope to lower ourselves down in dry weather. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ed! In my opinion this image is beautiful as you have presented it. Everyone takes a photo of a waterfall straight on! We don’t need them all to look the same! I love how it makes me feel like I’m hiking up towards the tree to climb onto the rocks above that beautiful green water! With never having been there I think this is a more interesting angle than straight on. Just my little amateur thoughts!
