What technical feedback would you like if any?
What artistic feedback would you like if any? Composition intent to show the waterfall as an environmental element, but not the main subject. Misty background intrigued me.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
This was captured a few years back at a nice location in Costa Rica. I’m always drawn to rich greens. Maybe it is because I live in the desert southwest.
Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105 @ 45mm
ISO 160, .4 sec @ f/11
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5 Likes
Wonderful Keith! You’ve rendered those lush beautiful greens(/yellows) beautifully. The waterfall in the mist provides a great backdrop; and I think a wise decision the position the falls as you did because you’re telling the view the waterfall is accent element and not the main subject. You did a great job isolating that “fern tree?” against the misty backdrop. Processing looks great.
The only thing that catches my eye is the partial fern in the LRC. I think it’s one of those cases where I want more to help fill in that corner… or none at all. I think a crop/clone combo to remove that fern can work. It also brings it to more of a 5x7 ratio, even closer to 4x5.
Regardless if you decide to crop, this is just luscious!
Lon
Very strong composition here, with pleasing greens. The fern tree is a great find, and the foreground ferns and flowers are a nice element as well. I might be in the ‘wishing for less intersection of the falls’ camp, not sure if it was possible though. In the large version, some of the flowers are a bit OOF. I might have stopped down more, or blended in another image with a faster shutter speed if they were being blown by the wind. A very pleasing image regardless. Agree on the cloning of the rt lower fern.
I love this image. The rich variety of greens. But the crowning glory, and it really is a crown, is that marvelous fern. My first impression was that this was Hawaii.
I love such lush green scenes, so inviting! One of the highlights for me is the light and different tones on the top of the majestic large fern! I would love to see it composed without crossing the waterfall, if possible like Wade mentioned. Also the slight blur in the colorful flowers is a bit of a pity. Blending in something with a faster shutterspeed is a great option, keeping in mind the DOF, cause I find focus-stacking scenes like this with flowers in front of a lot of other vegetation ‘not the most fun in PS’ 
Looking at your settings I think this would have been possible.
Beautiful scene, I also really like the misty feel at the top!
Great looking shot. Love the colors, mist and detail. I do agree with Lon in that the fern in the lower portion does draw my eye back. Maybe just try turning down brightness/yellows/luminosity etc. to keep the eye at that fantastic looking tree.
Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. I’m posting a companion version with the LRC cleaned up. I definitely like the improvement.
How very creative to have placed the waterfall behind the tree! I’m not sure I ever would have thought to do that if given the opportunity. I guess my mind would’ve considered the two so strong as to place them across one another and let them mutually tell their story as interdependent. Not sure if you “had” to do this, but I sure like the way this as @Lon_Overacker states, becomes a secondary/supporting element rather than primary.
For me Keith, the OOF plants & flowers in the foreground, both bright and with complimentary color, is something I struggle with though. If I couldn’t have gotten them in focus, I wonder if it was possible to gently pull them aside without damaging them? Anyway, love the mood, color, relatively low key nature of the shot. Feels like there’s a big storm cloud overhead and you’re gonna get dumped on! Love the vibe.
A wonderful image Keith, I like it a lot. The LRC cleaned up is the finishing touch.
I agree with Lon Overacker w.r.t. the waterfall: it doesn’t bother me at all that the fern crosses the fall, on the contrary. And the fall emphasizes the humid environment that creates this type of vegetation.
Wonderful composition and study in greens. All the elements compliment each other in this image. Amazingly beautiful throughout. NO nits here.
Love the lush greens and wonderful misty falls. Beautiful image Keith!
Keith, this is a fabulous photo. What an amazing composition. About the lower right corner, I think the fern actually balances the composition by filling in the dead space that the darker leaves represent. And the fern points to the middle of the photo, directing the eye.
