And here is a version with the trees lightened as per @David_Kingham’s idea - I kept it in the trees by first using a Darks 4 luminosity selection and a black mask with a white brush. I did touch the water here and there, but left it dark.
This is my surrogate backyard - Ripley creek. It takes about 8-10 minutes to reach the parking area from home and then the trail winds next to this wild waterway. I spend a lot of time here in all seasons. This is spring. At least how spring is in northern Wisconsin until probably the end of April.
I took this yesterday. It was snowing and had done overnight, but we’d had major melting and ice out on some rivers so this creek was running very high and very fast. It’s messy, but that’s how it always is. This kind of force will make major changes along it and compositions will be different. Just up and out of sight here is a small bridge that used to be a nice vantage point, but a big oak came down right next to it, blocking the view. Ah, nature.
Specific Feedback Requested
I got rid of one distracting tree, but left everything else. Too messy? The water really is this color - very tannic.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Handheld since I wanted fast shutter speeds to freeze the water against the smoother snowy banks.
Lr for most of the initial work including a crop. Started with a linear profile and hit Auto then massaged the tonalities as needed. Dehaze since I didn’t use a polarizer. Some clarity, texture & sharpening & NR. Photoshop to remove the tree, do some color painting and some dodging and burning with luminosity masking. Some of the darkest trees needed to be lighter.
I used to live in St Paul, MN. I can relate to this weather But the temperature must have got pretty nice now, right?
Maybe it’s just me, but I wish the water were smoothened from long exposure. I find the light on the water surface intriguing and the trees in the BG even more captivating. But I find the texture of the water competes with everything else.
It got into the mid-thirties yesterday when I took this. Melted all the snow off the trees, but kept snowing anyway. Today it’s about the same. So I see what you mean about the fast shutter speed. Just experimentation, really. And a little laziness since I didn’t want to bring a tripod. But I’ll be back over there for sure and can slow things down. I really need to see better where to step and put the tripod so I need the snow to melt a little more.
I like the look of the turbulent water. The air bubbles entrained in the water in the center of the creek are reflecting light and make the water look as though it’s lit from within. That’s a cool effect. As far as messiness, yes, the forest parts are rather chaotic, but the stream is such a strong visual element and contrast to the forest chaos, that the messiness doesn’t feel so strong.
Thanks @Bonnie_Lampley - I’m glad you like the color and light in the water. Although it was fairly cloudy, the water was running over some ice still and so the shallower parts looked lit from below. I enhanced it a little, but didn’t have to do a whole lot. I was also trying to show the power of the spring melt. Even smaller streams can be dangerous at this time.
I love winter weather but I feel photographing waterfalls in the winter is extremely difficult. My two cents, but there is not much that can be done to overcome dead trees and brown. I live in Arkansas and once the trees are bare I do not even bother trying to photograph waterfalls regardless of how much rain we get haha. They never compare to having green and other colors involved. One thing that pops out to me is the amount of white, whether it is snow or foam on the water. Seems to be a really busy scene with nothing isolated in the photo. I’d love to see this composition and maybe a slower shutter speed with green involved.
The water really is the star of the show here Kristen, I would think about how you can bring attention to the water and away from all the chaos surrounding it. Because the trees around the water are so dark and have so much contrast, my eye is really drawn to them. If you were to pull up the shadows dramatically in the surrounding trees the chaos starts to fade away. I did this in Ps using the Shadows/Highlights, obviously you could get better results with the raw file but it gives you an idea.
If I didn’t shoot streams in winter, I’d hardly shoot them at all @Bobby_Burton Seriously. There is snow on the ground from December through some of April up this way.
And that’s an interesting take, @David_Kingham - I like the idea if not the extreme. Maybe we can meet in the middle. The trees do have a lot of visual weight. Thanks for the push.
But the temperature must have got pretty nice now, right?