This was taken in the late afternoon with the sun peaking through the clouds and occasionally hitting different streams of the falls.
Specific Feedback Requested
I purposely chose color over black and white to bring out the faint green at the top of the photo. I like the effect of the sun hitting different areas of the fall. I tried to show the minor stream coming from left and right as slightly darker to focus the eyes on the sun effect spots. I would like feedback on the white balance; composition; and any other thoughts you have.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
ISO 320; 100mm; f8; 1/8s. Very little processing. Clarity to bring out the brighter areas. Some repair tool for minor blemishes. Added some contrast.
Beautiful image! The essentially monochrome presentation with just a hint of color works very well, as does the inclusion of the side streams.
You selected the perfect section of the water. There are a multitude of small streams of water so there is definition in the flow rather than a mass of white. Lot’s of texture. Nice.
I like the deep rich blacks of the dark areas also.
The landscape format is an interesting choice. What were your thoughts on that as opposed to a portrait vertical?
Thank you Paul. I appreciate your thoughts. The landscape is probably my lack of understanding of the categories. I would have thought the image is a small scene or intimate landscape but those categories are not available. What is portrait vertical?
Paul is referring to flipping your camera to the vertical or “portrait” orientation when setting up. The landscape critique category is certainly the correct one for this image.
Hi Bob! This is a beautiful photo! I love the lighting and very delicate hint of color. From a distance it looks like a black and white. You really captured the water in a very lovely way!
Gorgeous image Bob! At first I thought it was black and white until I read your description. The color is so subtle and I enjoy this all the more because of it.
I like the shutter speed and like you I like the way the light comes through to different places.
Thank you Vanessa. It was a wonderful experience to be near the base of this waterfall and enjoy the different patterns of water and light. The image is a bonus!
I may be in the minority here as I haven’t read other’s comments yet, but here are my honest thoughts. I feel like the composition is dominated by the two brightly lit areas that form vertical lines in the composition. I know that to some degree this was intentional on your part as you wanted to accentuate the backlighting. At least for my taste I find that these closeup images of waterfalls work best when there are interesting curves and contours to the flow of the water that lead my eye throughout the frame.
I can see two different options that might make for a stronger composition. One option would be to go with a longer focal length and isolate some of the sections where the water has a little more interesting flow (the lower half of the frame or the upper left hand corner). Of course this is a complete change in course to your original vision of accentuating the backlit sections of the water. The other option would be to zoom out a little more with a wider focal length using a vertical composition. Adding more context might still allow you to highlight the backlighting while adding some areas with more interesting flow in the water. Also I feel like a vertical composition would be better suited to the strong vertical lines and they wouldn’t bother me quite as much.
The white balance looks fine as the water has a neutral tone (neither warm nor cool) and the image has a mostly monochromatic look (other than the subtle green in the top of the frame that you mentioned). Of course adding some warmth might help add some mood to the backlit areas.
Shooting waterfalls in dappled light can be very challenging for exposure/contrast, but you succeeded with it big time here. Great processing of this dappled light (WB looks perfect too). This image is all about the light, and you nailed it
I agree that this is an excellent part of the waterfall to extract a scene from, there are lots of neat things going on. Similar to @Brian_Schrayer I find myself most drawn to the two vertical pillars of light. Subject content usually dictates orientation (vertical vs. horizontal), and this “feels” more like it needs to be vertical. With that said, I don’t know what lies either above or below your composition, and there may be distractions that led you to choose this view. I think you do need to have some dark shadow area on the both the left and right sides to “define” the falls. So maybe using a vertical in a 3:2 or 5:7 aspect ratio would work better with these vertical pillars, assuming there is pleasing stuff either above and/or below. I don’t mean cropping this as presented to 5:7, becuase you would lose some important stuff. Rather I mean I might have considered composing this differently in the field.
Ed, your points are well taken and I tried with a different image. I don’t think the try was successful as the two vertical streams are even more dominant. What caught my attention was the dappled light and cascading layers in this waterfall. Good to keep the feedback in mind, especially the vertical orientation on the next shoot.
I don’t usually have time to comment on landscapes but I have to say how much I love this one! The original post is wonderful to me, with the area of interest in the center and subtly darker areas at both sides to contain it. I love the almost B/W.
This is a case where what lay below your original comp is not interesting enough to make the vertical work. What I had in mind instead was a rework of your original with a 5:7 vertical display. I’m not saying it’s better, but I think a vertical can also work within your original scene. I think it gives more of a sense of falling water.
Unfortunately there was no cropping of original image. I did try to crop 5x7 on left side and there were possibilities but the photo was not taken with this area in mind. So light and water flow were not optimum. Never the less, I learned a ton from the feedback and will take this knowledge to future shoots. Thanks for the feedback.
