I’m sharing a series of three images from Godafoss, the same waterfall in my most recent post: one from the top, one of the stream (one of several, I think!) that flows out of pool, and one of the pool from the bottom. I used a fairly slow shutter speed in all of these because I liked how the water became transparent and revealed the rocks behind.
Let me know if any of these strike you as particularly interesting. Composition is one of my weak spots, especially in grand scenes like this.
###What technical feedback would you like if any?
I attempted to correct for lens distortion (16mm) on the first one, and I’m not sure whether it still looks weird.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Does the composition grab your attention?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
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I personally like the first and third and am a fan of long exposure. It must have been amazing to see this large volume of water, which I think the slow shutter speed shows off. My favorite is the first picture which I would have like to have seen just a little more sky for balance purposes. Your land horizon looks level to me and I am not sure that you would be able to get the water level also without a lot of work. Maybe warping, puppet warping? To me it’s not that distracting because your horizon is level. In hind sight a vertical pano would have taken care of it.
I like the first one best, it gives a nice overview of the whole area. I’ve never seen these falls myself, but to me there seems to be some wide angle distortion still? Like Greg mentioned, some more sky would have been nice I think. The longer exposure makes things a bit soft due to all the water spray I guess; I would add some contrast locally in and around the waterfalls.
I’m pretty much in agreement with all of Greg’s comments. I too like the first one and how the long shutter speed really captures the volume and power of the water. The only suggestions I have here with the first would be to clone out the rock near the left edge and perhaps warp a little more from the top, plus add/extend the clouds as Greg suggests. You didn’t catch it, but from the transforms you’ve got a strip of canvas on the right. Here’s a quick edit. I stretched the clouds up top and transform/warped a little in the middle:
Image #2, and this is simply personal preference, I think because it’s a closer view of the water, that maybe a little more texture in the water would be better. I do like that you’ve included enough of the top and bottom and nothing feels cut off, but inclusive.
I also like the last view, although the power of the falls is diminished quite a bit simply because of the composition. But it works and the perspective/pov works well. Not sure about the small rocks on the left edge though.
You’ve done well in doing the best you could given the pretty flat and unexciting light/weather.
Image 2 is a nice intimate scene, I love the diagonal flow of the river, and the interplay of the greens in the vegetation and the water. From a composition perspective, i think this is the most successful of the three.
Images 1 and 3 suggest to me that the vast scale of Godafoss is probably very challenging compositionally, given the limitations of viewpoints, and skies that you have to work with. I think image 3 would be stronger if there was more sky (even the overcast sky here). It just feels cramped at the top. The foreground placement of the rocks is good and creates interest and leading lines. but the cramped top holds this one back a little.
Image 1 has a lot of drama, and is very dynamic, with that strong side waterfall, and the curve of the main falls. I’m a little concerned with the LLC, you do have some rocks there to balance the composition and fill negative space, but I’m worried that the side falls in the LRC is such a powerful element that the comp is still a little right-heavy. Image 1 also has some white canvas on the right side, which needs to go away.
If image 1 were mine I’d embrace that side waterfall and crop something like this, and also doing some perspective correction / leveling that I did not address in my rework crop
Thanks, everyone. All of this feedback is so appreciated. I took another stab at #1 and #3 (two of each actually). I really need to try vertical panos. I’ve never done them, and LR makes stitching them pretty easy these days.
Thanks especially for catching the canvas and for suggesting removal of the rocks, which I tried to use as leading lines, but one is generally sufficient. My time was really limited at the bottom of the falls (workshop, time to go, too many tourists crawling all over the place), but a pano with no rock at all is a good idea there, as well as abbreviating the lowest rock.
Let me know what you all think, and especially holler if one of these feels extra special. I lose perspective when I work on something this long. I think my best of this area was a cell phone pano!!
I think both 3a and 3b are big improvements - Excellent! I think Igor’s does step it up a bit with the cloning - but yours is strong too with the placement of “the rocks” at the bottom anchoring the scene. I also like the sheen of the water’s surface allowing for some subtle reflections.
Great job working your subject and exploring your options.
