This is the lower section of Crabtree Falls off of the Blueridge Parkway in VA. It had rained earlier so the leaves were nice and saturated and when the sun would peek out from behind the clouds it managed to throw some nice soft light in the surrounding trees. Anyway, just wondering if the comp works with the waterfall off to the left. I tried to balance it out with the leaning tree thinking that would mimic the falls.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
All C&C welcome.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
All C&C welcome.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Nikon D700, Nikon 17-35 @ 28 mm, f 18 @ 0.3 sec, ISO 400, CPL, cable release & tripod
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Wonderful interplay of light and shadow. Perfect exposure on the water to create contrasting textures with the darker rock. I really like the leaning tree on the right side of the image seemingly at the same angle as the water cascading into the viewers gaze.
Man I just love that S (or Z?) curve of the waterfall exiting in the LL corner! Love the shutter speed as well…really appreciate the texture of the water in this scene. Also, I think the exposure is perfect and I (personal taste) also prefer keeping the brighter sections of the water away from the far right edge of the histogram. The rock in the bottom is nice for grounding the eye. I’m not sure what I think of the leaning tree…interested in what you and others think. It certainly pushes the balance more strongly to the left of the image, which already has a substantial amount of visual weight. So, I guess I’m concerned about the balance heavily favoring the left side of the image, but I accept this may be my bias not shared by others. Looking forward to others perspective. Only recommendation is WB seems favored to the warm throughout the scene, including the water in particular. Water is no longer white (maybe wasn’t at the time either?). So, I wonder about balancing the water (and shadows?) more towards the cooler edge. Let me know your thoughts on the above and thanks for sharing.
Ed, I think the comp works great. I like the flow of the falls through the image and the large rock makes a nice anchor at the bottom. I think the tree does balance the image out. My only small nit is I think the image is a little too warm. I would play around with the white balance some.
The composition works great for me. I like the leaning tree. I would try pulling some of the warmth out of the water and see how it compares. Real nice!
thanks for your thoughts guys @David_Schoen, @Jim_McGovern, @Michael_Lowe and @Harley_Goldman; always appreciated. I do have a habit of making some images to warm and don’t always pickup on it until after the fact. I actually took some yellow out of the image. Here is a repost with 10 more points of yellow removed. Let me know what you think.
Lovely cascade and image. The comp is slightly unbalanced to me, but most certainly the leaning tree helps a lot; as do the rocks at the bottom anchoring the scene.
I would agree with the warmth in the water as I thought that before reading any comments. The repost is better in the water, but from what you described I think you made that adjustment globally? If so, I think made the rock to the right of the falls turn a bit blue/purple, where it wasn’t before. Or maybe I’m just seeing things.
Nice touch with the illuminated greenery up top - it’s like a sunroof or something…
Ed, I think the shape mimicry of the tree and the falls works very well. The glowing greens and the spots of lichen on the rocks at the bottom are fine extras.
Lovely falls Ed. I agree it has a strong color cast, and the repost is an improvement. Interestingly, to my eye it still looks a little off. Looking at the image in Photoshop it looks like the blue channel has a large amount of plugging, and since nothing in the image is pure yellow I would not expect that. It might be worth going back to the raw image to see if some of the blue channel can be recovered, and maybe the color will be easier to tweak?
Ed, I looked at this earlier and knew there was something that intrigued me, just couldn’t put my finger on it. Then suddenly I realized it was how the inward leaning tree and the near bank parallel that of the river course. The delicacy of the cascades work nicely with the open composition. As a suggestion, might be worthwhile if you could try bringing up some of the shadow details in the lower right quadrant?
I also appreciate your inclusion of the shooting specs. Even if some might be able to guesstimate, I believe it’s always helpful for those who may benefit.
