Little Colorado River II + Repost

Here’s another photo from the Little Colorado in the Grand Canyon. Since the scene was still in full sun, I decided to take out the 10-stop ND and blur the river.

5D2, 24-105 @ 28
10-stop ND, f/11, 8s, ISO100
TK curves adjustments

Rework with Harley’s suggestion to clone out the rock in the lower left:

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Craig, love the low, wide perspective of this image. Is that the actual color of the river? If not, a bit too turquoise to my eye. Must have been a great trip!

This is a great composition. I came to appreciate it better after downloading it. Initially I had trouble understanding what I was seeing. The fg water seemed to be part of the shoreline at first glance. Maybe it’s just me. But after looking at it more closely there is a clear line between the blue water and the water reflecting the walls. Given the long shutter speed I don’t understand why this boundary should be so sharp. Perhaps you were standing on a ledge over which some water flowed over. The water/stone boundary at the nearest boulder also seems unnatural. These are things I would look at. The back looks like a photograph and the front has the freedom of a painting.

Thanks @Mario_Cornacchione and @Igor_Doncov.

Mario: yes, that’s actually the color of the water, it’s truly incredible. I’m adding an unprocessed raw of another image that includes the sky for color reference. The foreground and river in my original post has been burned down a bit because of the harsh sunlight, but I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the color having seen the unprocessed image.

Igor: thanks for the thoughtful comments. This water has a pretty opaque quality with all the minerals in it, so it definitely plays some tricks on your eyes. I’m standing at the very edge of the water, but basically all the foreground you see on the left is underwater. The only parts that aren’t are the chocolatey brown rocks (like the one cut off on the left edge just under halfway up). The water leaves a white chalky substance on everything, so maybe that’s what you’re referring to as being unnatural in the nearest rock? It does have a hard transition from brown rock to whitish/yellowish limestone (?) below the water, but that is how it really looks.

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Thank you for the explanation. The yellow section at the very bottom is then actually mineral deposits. I think that lower left part of the image would make a wonderful image all on its own.

I think you did a nice job with the color after seeing the unprocessed image

Craig, the long exposure from the ND filter did some wonderful things to the look of the water here. To some degree I agree with @Igor_Doncov about the image having two looks, a literal photograph at the top, and a painting at the bottom. That contrast in style catches my attention, and makes me think about what I am looking at. Did you also try shooting this location after it was in full shade? That might have produced an interesting look too.

Regarding the water color and the travertine mineral deposits, they reminded me of Havasu falls. There is a scientific explanation of the water color, calcium carbonate…

https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/education/classes/ecogeomorphology-grand-canyon-2016/flogs/why-so-blue-havasu

Ed, fascinating article regarding the geochemistry.Thanks for sharing that.

Thanks again @Ed_McGuirk and @Mario_Cornacchione.

Ed, I didn’t shoot this particular area in full shade, I had moved farther downstream by that time. Thanks for the article. We went to Havasu Creek (not up to the falls though) later on this trip, so I’ll have a photo or two from there as well.

Beautiful colors and overall scene. I would clone out the mountain shaped rock along the bottom but otherwise the comp and processing are working really well for me. Great color in the water.

Thanks @Harley_Goldman. I liked the shape of that rock, but there’s probably not enough of it showing to justify it in the comp. Good suggestion to remove it. There’s a rework up top.

The repost looks better to my eye. Well done.