I have a bad habit…50/50 comps and centered subjects! Hopefully I’m able to battle the 50/50 nature of this one. When I tried to include more rocks and leaves the water became insignificant, the rapid was cut off, and a bunch of clutter came through in the top left corner. When I tried to include more water, some rocks came into play and I was left wanting more color. This was taken near a well known, much visited, waterfall in Ohio. I actually didn’t take any pictures of the waterfall until the very end, I spent so much time looking for these other scenes! Interested in your thoughts.
Specific Feedback Requested
Does the composition work? I tried to maintain interest in all parts and achieve some balance, unfortunately it lead my back to my nemesis, the 50/50 comp.
Those leaves are amazing, Dave. The color contrast between the rock and the leaves really sings. And I think you process them really really well. That said, I cannot connect that part of the image with the rapid below it. Feels somewhat disjointed.
I agree with Adhika. While the color and conrast are really nice, I don’t feel a link between the two parts of the image, and indeed, the water flowing out of the frame draws me in that direction rather than up to the color. Thing is, I can imagine myself in exactly this situation, having the exact same problem. Working hard to get the shape of the moving water into the image, but in doing so, losing focus on the real subject of the scene. I don’t know what I would do any differently, other than maybe try and position such that the leaves are in the near forground and the water is the background?
The contrast between the colorful leaves and dark rock is spectacular. I agree with Adhika that the two halves feel disconnected - my first impression was that the scene was quite surreal. If that was your intent, this works. If not, what was the main thing that you wanted to say? You said that you wanted to maintain interest in all parts, but why? Why not accentuate one thing over the other - have one aspect be the main idea, with the other as supporting cast?
I’m with Bonnie on this, IMO you have the dreaded “It’s Two Different Images” problem. I’ve seen a million flowing streams, but wow those leaves on the rocks are really unique and wonderful. They look like a sky of autumn hued stars. If I had encountered this scene, this is direction-ally where I would have gone. Stream not required…
Sometimes I find myself going to a location with the goal of shooting a specific subject, say waterfalls. And then once I get there all I can see is waterfalls, even if the waterfall conditions are not great, or there is nothing special about them. I have to force myself to look beyond my initial expectations, and recognize other possibilities when they present themselves.
I think Ed nailed it with this one. Finding a consistent rock texture set against the leafs would make for a far more cohesive and interesting image. It is so close!
@Adhika_Lie@jefflafrenierre@Bonnie_Lampley@Ed_McGuirk@Kyle_Kephart thank you all for looking. This is justification for a 600mm lens lol. I literally had it maxed out at 400mm and hoped to pull something off. I knew the top was nice, I tried to make the most of it and incorporate the most pleasing part around it, vertical wasn’t going to work, further right/left got messy, the only thing of any interest was the water. I could have just walked on but I wanted to give it a shot. Ed’s suggestion of a crop is probably what I will end up doing with it, cropping like that just makes me feel icky for lack of a better term. I have a really strong aversion to doing that, but in this case I literally couldn’t get any closer, I was at the edge of a fence on the edge of a 20 ft drop…this was it!
I actually put off shooting the waterfall till the very end partially because I was trying to see what else I could find, this was a situation where I just couldn’t get any closer than the original composition and tried to make the most of it because I was so drawn to the leaves on the rocks. Should have just cropped it.
Seems like the processing worked though, so that is a plus and an improvement from where I was a year ago for sure!
