Probably @Ed_McGuirk will recognize this - Upper Purgatory Falls - shot in 2012, very late on an overcast day in November. It was wicked dark down there.
Anyway…this is an example of how a very long shutter speed and the resulting extremely silky water can work with a highly textured element - mainly the rocks. It isolates that aspect in many ways and I’ve always liked the effect. The contrasts there and in the overall luminosity values made this a no-brainer for B&W.
Specific Feedback Requested
The crop is square because that ULC is just a big granite overhang with nothing going on. Also there are some branches & other debris on the rocks in the center of the composition that I found to be distracting and just plain messy. With that said…thoughts? Ideas for improvement?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Had my old Bogen 3001 right in the water for this one - probably just a polarizer, but maybe a ND as well. Can’t recall, but it’s a long exposure. Got splashed on a few attempts so had to re-take.
Processed in Lr for some tonal management with the brush, the crop and the B&W conversion.
Hi Kristen, I really like the square crop, for some reason it didn’t even strike me as being square. Just the exposure and the way the big rocks are leading into the image and looking like they’re floating on the water makes it seem like a very big view and kind of 3d. I think it’s really beautiful!
I do know this waterfall well. And sadly this is another waterfall whose access has been closed by the town of Milford. It brings NIMBY-ism to new heights (or depths).
I love the composition you have here, in the sense that this image is more about the foreground rocks and cascades, and the main waterfall is just part of the supporting cast. Whenever I have shot here in the past, the rock cliff adjacent to the main falls could easily dominate a more straight forward shot of the falls. I think this composition is a more unique view which avoids that problem.
I think the B&W processing generally looks good. My only suggested tweak would be to burn the highlights in the rock in the center of the right edge. But that is a nit, overall I like this image very much.
I like this a lot Kristen. I like these long exposures with water this silky smooth. And yes, the contrasting smooth silky water and textured rocks is really prominent and eye-catching.
This tonal range from black to white is great. I thought you were going to describe processing in PS with luminosity masks, and maybe some Smart Sharpening, but no such notes! Great job. @ed_McGuirk, too bad the city closed off access. Maybe it got trampled and abused by inconsiderate ones not sensitive to Nature First.
This is a great image. The silky water, the monochromatic rendering and the crop are all very good. As pointed out by @Vanessa_Hill you do not think of the crop as square. There is so much going on in the image so there is no need for any more dynamic crop shape.
Thanks @Vanessa_Hill, @Ed_McGuirk, @Mark_Muller & @Ola_Jovall - I’m glad the square is effective. I seem to crop that way more than others, but here it was for reasons not just because I felt like it.
I see what you mean about that rock, Ed & I’ll repost in a bit and see how it looks. Very disappointing at the closure and I’m sure if I still lived there I’d be really mad, but I don’t know how it will go in future or if there is any recourse.
I didn’t use any of those things for this. Honestly, I’m not ‘getting’ the luminosity mask thing fully. The images I’ve used the baby TK6 plug in on haven’t been dramatically different than using curves. It’s me, I’m sure and I probably need to do more education for myself, but now during tourist season my internet capability is at an all-time low so it will have to wait.
The way things are going, I’m worried Milford will close Tucker Brook Falls too, and that would be a real shame. Tucker was still open as of 3 weeks ago. The 2 Purgatory Falls were closed partly due to “Covid concerns” but they are not re-opening. I think the town used Covid as an excuse to close access because they wanted to anyways.
This looks really good, Kris. In addition to Ed’s suggestion, I would clone out the little sticks, as I find them to be distracting elements that don’t add anything. My take, anyway. I quite like this one.
Thanks Harley. It’s one of my favorites. When you say sticks…do you mean the ones in the water near the middle rock? Or the ones on the very bottom edge - more like leaves under the water.
