As with the other images from this trip, my sky conditions were pretty miserable, so I am making do by limiting the amount of sky or bringing what detail exists into some kind of pleasing texture. In this image, I hoped to capture a particular contrast between the energy of the waterfall and the stillness of the pool and rock. I felt that the fog settling over the distant mountains echoed these contrasts, as does the waterfall to the right side which was so misty and diaphanous as to become transparent at slow shutter. Let me know if you think it works.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Curious about the white balance…does the color temperature feel too warm?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Is the scene too complex to be read effectively? Does the eye dart too much? It was my hope that one would follow the rock and water to the falls and foggy mountains and then back down to the misty falls on the right.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Single image processed in LR, cropped, some wb and exposure/contrast adjustments.
ISO 50, f/20, 2.5 seconds, filter (I think a three stop)
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You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Color is a personal issue. I have always like cyans. I remember at the age of 8 deciding that my favorite color was turquoise. I think your cast is too green.
I also modified the composition but didn’t put a lot of thought to it. I don’t think it’s necessarily better. I was trying to show the rock/waterfall relationship more emphatically but don’t feel I’ve succeeded.
I think you’ve captured and crated this scene beautifully - especially given the weather conditions you were dealt. I think you did wise to include the amount of low-hanging clouds - and not too much more.
Igor’s correct about color being a personal choice, but his rendition hit me like a sledge hammer… such a stark difference. After the shock value wore off, Igor’s color rendition indeed seemed well within personal choice and interpretation. I think the hard part was comparing the two. In the end, I think your colors work well and probably appropriate given the conditions. And another factor, I wasn’t there and so have zero reference.
I do like Igor’s crop as it really seems to condense and simplify the scene. However, I like your pano crop as well. The large rock at the bottom adds just a little bit of tension and anchors the scene well.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, and for the different approach to the color, Igor. I’m sharing another image so you can see what the color was like (it was not particularly pretty, kind of brownish). I like Igor’s colors in general, but in this case, I think I will stay truer to my perception. There were waterfalls with the cyan tones in Iceland (and I’ll share one in the next few weeks.
I am attaching two other shots showing my effort to work the scene for balance: one with greater simplicity by focusing on the rocks closer to the falls and another taken from a position slightly to the right which places the foreground rock further off center.
I’ll keep tinkering with the color for sure. I’m thinking the second one below might be a better comp. At the time, I felt that there was too little room below the foreground rock, but I ended up cropping to something close to that distance with the one I chose to work on.
Marylynne,
Having the benefit of being a bit later in this post I do prefer the second composition of your repost the best. I like the the original but the off center composition is my preference. Maybe a touch more in the foreground in front of the rock if you have it.
Thanks #Alan_Kreyger. That second version of the two rock groups composition is growing on me as well. I think it took a back seat initially also because of water texture (and maybe crisp focus in the fg to bg). I don’t think I have more space there, and I don’t use PS (just LR, which doesn’t allow adding of content aware space).
I think I’ll wait a day or so and process that one similar to my first but still tweeking those greens or the hue of the greens. I just cropped (didn’t level or do any other adjustments so folks could see the relatively raw color of the water).
ML
Marylynne, I’m late coming in here, but I much prefer the more zoomed in crop above, it feels like a more tighter and cohesive composition. Eliminating the near foreground rock places more emphasis on the falls.
Colors like these greens here are very much a matter of personal taste, and you could spend a lot of time tweaking them and find lots of colors that work, even with significant color shifts like @Igor_Doncov interpretation.
But if this were my image, I would take color out of the equation completely. IMO this image was made for B&W (with some dodging and burning too)…
Thanks for helping me see this, Ed. I had been working in b&w for the last year or so, and Iceland through me into a color mode. I think you are right that this is perhaps best expressed in black and white. I’ll keep playing with color and black and white and also with both compositional options. I guess the good news is that I have a couple of good images here. I just haven’t found them yet
ML
Hi Folks,
Thanks for helping me think this one through. I played with both of the preferred comps in both color and black and white. I do like the black and white, but for me, green with water and rock are the key. I’m sharing the variations here, but I plan to keep tweaking the color.
Alternative frame to the right of where I stood in number 1 above. Processed to capture the greens.
