The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
I am happy with the way the colors turned out in this shot. Waiting until later in the morning for the sun to reach the bottom of the valley yielded good lighting.
This is a focus stacked set of images. There is some focus blooming around nearby pine trees resulting in blurry halos around the pine boughs. I have found no way to avoid this focus blooming.
Creative direction
As a wall mural photographer I strive to capture images that are at least 1 gigapixel in size or larger. I had done a fair amount of research about this particular location prior to our departure to Yellowstone. The main challenge of shooting this type of image is handling all the technical issues and still getting a good artistic image that captures the aesthetic & Emotional mood of the scene. Shooting at 300mm forced me to use focus bracketing because much of the foreground was nearer than the HFD/2 range.
Specific Feedback
Aesthetic , Emotional & technical
Technical Details
I shot this using Canon R5 w/ Canon RF 100-400mm zoom at 300mm, f/13, 1/160th sec. ISO 400. Camera & lens were mounted on a Nodal Ninja M2 Giga w/RD8-II panoramic head. All the nearby trees required that I shoot it as a focus bracketed set of images. There were some 3,878 individual focus bracketed images used to create this shot. These were focus stacked into some 120 individual images that were then stitched to create the final image. The original full sized image is: 2.86 Giga-pixels, 46,189 x 62,115 pixels, 154ā³ x 207ā³ (12ā² 10ā³ x 17ā² 3ā³) 300 PPI un- cropped image size
Description
When I previously photographed these falls in 2019 I shot them from Artistās Point on the south rim of the canyon. As I planned this visit I decided I wanted to get the shot from the Lower Lookout point on the north rim. At this location is the falls are only half the distance away compared to Artistās Point. I also waited to later in the morning to allow the sun to reach to the valley floor.
Critique Template
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John, this is a striking view of Lower Falls. The famous āgreen tongueā sure stands out. The problem that you describe as focus blooming is a fundamental optical principle. I often ācorrectā it by going in with a very small clone brush and āpaintā over the bloom with the areas just outside the bloom. That should stand up to making a large printā¦although maybe not as large as you like to makeā¦ I think that some burning-in (and maybe contrast enhancement) of the rock wall to the right of the falls would be good as that wall seems bright to me.
Hi John, I think this is a beautiful image, lovely composition, wonderful detail, great leading line with the tree pointing at the falls and the cliffs leading into the falls. I think that the falls may be a bit over-exposed from my perspective. The pros on this site may think differently. Other than that, It is difficult to find anything negative to say about a photo made out of over 3000 shots. Thanks for sharing it.
From a technical point of view itās a masterpiece. I like the composition and even the rich colors seem to be mostly acceptable. The only place I would find it objectionable are the yellows on the right side, on the face of the cliff. Itās more like a painting than a photograph in a way. I thought the green tongue was an issue but apparently thatās in natural look.
What an incredible view John. Iām floored by the work youāve put into this image. Iām so impressed at the size of prints youāre able to achieve. Your website is incredible. Nice work. Iām a horrible nit picker with this, but I think it would help if you cloned out the little bit of the tree in the center that goes beyond the top edge. I told you it was horrible nit picking didnāt I? This is just excellent. Gives a new meaning to print it large and hang it on a wall . . .
Hi John, Youāve shared with us quite a stunning image and certainly a technical tour dā force. I agree with Markās concern that the rock wall to the right of the falls are a bit strong and take the otherwise fine image out of balance. A local correction to bring it down would help it be more in harmony with the rest of the image.
Dear John,
Thanks for sharing this image. Many positive remarks have already been made with which I concur. Just a note by someone who has never visited the location or seen other images of it: The green tongue in the luminous waterfall caught my attention immediately, and I thought that this tongue was unnaturally green and perhaps even out of place. āWhat is it?ā, I asked myself. It may well be that this really is the nature and color of the tongue, but I just wanted to let you know. Still, it is a fascinating image.
The green tongue is caused by a deep crack or groove in the riverbed that extends upstream from the brink of the falls. Thus a much larger volume of water is pouring over the edge in that area. How prominent it is depends on the time of year and volume of water flowing in the river. When I shoot this photo it was at about the peak of the spring runoff and was nearly at flood stage overflowing itās banks. The green color is due to the algae in the water.
