I went out with a couple friends to a waterfall we had visited together recently. We were expecting to see much of the same and look for new compositions, but we were blown away by the ice that had been formed!
I spent quite a bit of time at this spot, and finally settled on this small scene. This was shot at 18mm, so you can imagine how awkward it was to get this close. I was standing in about 4 inches of rushing water with my tripod leaning up against a low log and wiping water drops off the polarizer between every shot. The branches and elements are where they are, so there was a lot of slight adjustments to try to line them up in a pleasing way.
I’d love some general feedback about how it feels from a balance, and composition standpoint.
Thanks!
f/11, 1.3seconds, ISO 100
Sony A7riii, Zeiss Batis 18mm f/2.8
Formatt Hitech Circular Polarizer
This turned out really well, Dan. I find the snow across the top branch tends to pull me out of the frame, though. Maybe burn it down, clone it or crop down below it? The stars of the image are the ice, moss and water and they look great.
This follows a common theme in modern landscape photography where the image is underexposed and the highlights are processed to glow. It works very well here as it does lend a sense of mystery. I would add a frame to it because it’s blending with the NPN background making it difficult to tell where one ends and the other starts.
This is such a beautiful, intimate scene. I love the moss, ice and length of exposure. I also would do something to minimize the snow on the logs above and would even consider cropping. Must have been freezing on your feet!
Great job with this capture. Love the combo of the green moss, ice and water flow.
Agree with the others about the small line of snow atop the upper logs. At first I thought cropping away wouldn’t be an option, but then I tried it - and I think it works. Of course you’ll be the final judge, but my thought would be to crop all the way down to just exclude the bright end of the bare log, OR crop enough to get past the snow and then burn down that bare patch of wood. But I think the end result is more emphasis on what attracted you to the scene and caused you to get your boots wet!
Thank you so much for all the great feedback @Harley_Goldman, @Igor_Doncov, @Kathy_Barnhart and @Lon_Overacker! I actually have two versions of this photo and the other is just al little lower, so that snow isn’t visible. You’ve given me some things to consider.
