Falls brook

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
,
1

Falls brook
Falls brook1800×1200 909 KB

Many would not consider a roaring brook to be peaceful or serene, but I find it very much so. A watercourse left to its own devices is a magical place full of the unexpected. As the sound of the water fills my ears, I am tuned in perfectly to explore and leave everything else behind.

Specific Feedback Requested

I’m open to processing ideas. This was a little challenging, but fun to work on in terms of light painting and water contouring. I hope I didn’t go too far.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Tripod and probably at least a polarizer. Tough to position because of the abundance of trees, the slipperiness of the rocks and the step banks, but I like this composition.

image

Lr for initial RAW processing including a little wb adjustment, managing white & black points, controlling highlights and a little lens correction and a crop. Created a radial gradient to warm and open the exposure in the back of the photo, inverted it to reduce exposure and saturation a little in the landscape as it gets closer to the viewer. Photoshop to do some masking to contour the light in the forest to the left - specifically how the light was falling on the rocks and the tree trunks and the raised parts of the land. A little dodging and burning and contrast painting in the water. Cloning to get rid of some sticks.

@the.wire.smith
2

I’m trying to catch up here (never will!) and surprised this hasn’t gotten any comments. I love forest streams and find this one very serene. (I have the same reaction to the sounds of a running stream deep in a forest.) Whatever you did in processing is not at all obvious, as everything looks very well balanced. My only thought is to maybe darken the left edge to the left of the closest trunk. I’d be tempted to do some perspective straightening (distorting) on that edge.

3

Thanks @Diane_Miller - even I’d forgotten I posted this one. I think my work too pedestrian for some and so it falls through the cracks. But I like this and have it printed to rotate on my wall with other photos.

If I remember rightly, that tree did lean, but I could have a go at straightening it and doing some more burning.