The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This capture comes from one of my favorite areas on the planet - along the shores of Lake Superior. All of Superior has wonderful features, but the Canadian shorelines are much more wild and rugged. This river flows through Lake Superior Provincial Park, a destination I have regularly visited for over 40 years (I’m old).
I’m a little worried the sunlight in the upper left third may draw the eye, but I do think then the waterfall picks it up and carries it downstream. I would appreciate any thoughts on that.
I shoot a lot in the woods and have to manage sunlight in the forest. It is a challenge I want to take on - as I like the look of it - though it can be difficult to manage at times.
Thanks for any and all thoughts.
Specific Feedback
I am always interested in feedback that can take my work to the next level - that is why I joined this community. I have a reasonably thick skin.
Technical Details
Nikon D750 with the 28-300 walking around lens.
28mm,
f/16 for 0.4 sec.
ISO at 50.
I quite like this. There is a nice flow to the composition. The brighter ULC does not bother me. It draws the eye but that’s where the flow of the image starts anyway, so no problem.
Ditto. Nice composition and compelling scene. I like the big round boulders/rock banks on the left contrasted with the flatter on the right. The sun is a bit much though and you could try some light painting with the highlights in the water to help balance things. I usually use Luminosity masking in Photoshop with the TK9 panel for this. Nothing too dramatic as there is shade down there and sun above, but some massaging might work. There are some great rivers and streams that end up in Superior. Nice find.
What a wonderful scene!! I love how the falls split and then come together and rush off to somewhere I can only imagine.
Yeah, spots of sunlight are a nemesis in forest scenes. Don’t know if a polarizer might have helped here, if it’s spots of reflections on leaves. HDR captures may help in some cases, or just masking areas from a lower exposure. The latter is trickier but sometimes an HDR can work, treated to reduce highlights but hold the rest of the tones at normal level, then layered on top and masked with a soft-edged brush. But maybe you have tried all that.
Another idea is just to do a soft-edged mask of the bright area and add some green color to the highlights with a curve – pull down the UR corner of the red and blue channels a little to tint the highlights.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I found them helpful and have posted an update. The changes are pretty subtle. I did add a bit more highlight to the downstream water and made some adjustments to the dodging and burning to better emphasize the major shapes within the composition and add a bit more texture to the rocks.
