Very wet!
Specific Feedback Requested
Color and processing, and any other ways to improve. Thanks!
Hi Mark and welcome - I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. This is a terrific opener for sure, and just my thing. Love doing this kind of work, getting wet and all!
The little trees in the center are a nice place to end up with this shot. At least that’s how my gaze traveled. You could crop the lowest 1/5 and keep the focus up there if that’s something you want to play with. Also deepening the shadows could add some three-dimensionality to the shapes of the rocks and trees. It’s a tiny bit soft, too, but not knowing your camera gear or settings it’s hard to tell why. My guess is a bit of camera movement, but maybe not. The color cast feels a bit warm to me, but I wasn’t there and at least your water isn’t blue! That’s bugbear of mine when it comes to shots like this. The water movement is nice, but maybe bringing up the texture in the moss could accentuate it even more. Just some thoughts on a really lovely shot. Thanks for posting and I hope to see more of your work.
Hey Mark, what an awesome shot of the unnamed stream in Sol Duc. I’ve shot it myself a number of times. One year maybe 15 years ago the whole stream was overrun by a flash flood that destroyed most of the beautiful moss and the then scenic wonder of the stream. I see it’s coming back now, that’s great.
Your composition does a great job of creating some order in the chaos. I like the water line leading my eye up the scene to the top. Your choice of shutter speed looks about right too. Well done.
Thanks for critiquing! I applied an “Orton” effect to the upper half (mid- to background), that included a bit of negative dehaze and clarity, which would account for the softness you mentioned. It was a bit misty and I wanted to enhance that effect a bit. I’ll look at the shadows. Thank you!
Thanks for critiquing. I too have shot this many times over the last 30 years, and am always amazed at how much it changes every few years.
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Hey Mark,
Good to see you here!
I like a lot about this, but a minor suggestion from me would be to try cropping off about the bottom 1/3 of the image as I think the white rapids bottom left are quite distracting and don’t really add much to the overall scene. I also wonder if a shorter shutter speed could have helped convey more texture. Cheers!
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Thanks Matt. I’ll take a look at the cropping. Did you mean texture in the water or overall?
Just the texture in the water =)
Matt,
Welcome to NPN! Your name is familiar for some reason - either a previous member from NPN 1.0 now returning, or there was a group of 'togs in the PNW I new that had some annual gatherings… but then again, I could be just imagining things… except the welcome part!
Beautiful scene and capture. If this is where I think it is, I had to stop here as well back in I think the year 2000… A couple things stand out for me. First, great job with the color and processing. I think it’s quite easy to go crazy with the lime-greens of the Olympic forest. I think your colors and sat are spot on. The second, I’ll have to agree with the others about cropping up from the bottom. The white-water exiting the frame in the LLC I think detracts from all that is wonderful about this photography.
I think you have two viable crops here, if you’re inclined… One is a square or near-square crop up from the bottom and a little off the left, and still featuring the nice redwood sapling top center. There’s also a lovely crop removing both the bottom as well as the larger cascade that’s crammed a little on the right edge; resulting in a closer to 4:5 crop. The great news is that you have such a great image to start with that is presenting several options.
I also don’t mind the longer exposure and silky water here. For me, shutter speeds and water treat vary from scene to scene and the water here in this scene is more of an accent, a color contrast to the greens and not so much about the water itself and so the lack of texture in the water here isn’t a issue for me.
Anyway, great to have you here. Look forward to more images and your participation in the forums and galleries!
Lon
I agree with @Matt_Payne’s suggestion crop idea. There is so much going on in that waterfall that it looks busy and takes away from the upper part with the trees where much of the beauty lies. I think it’s all those bright whites scattered about among the dark causes the eye to jump around and not rest on anything. The more you reduce these white by cropping more and more aggressively the stronger the composition becomes. From my point of view the young tree amidst the thicker trunks with a little water below would be the best compromise.
Thanks! Interesting that I have to create a 20 character post to say thanks?!
Thanks Lon. I am a bit red-green color blind. As I get older I seem to have more trouble (doubts) with greens. Sometimes they seem to end up a bit brownish. I’ve finalized on a crop that is approximately a 4x5 as you describe. I’ve photographed this scene many times over the years, and have better images. But I really liked the young trees (samplings) at the top of the waterfall, which are more noticeable than the last time I was there a few years ago.
Not sure where we would have crossed paths. But perhaps we will someday.
Thanks for your critique Igor!