I photographed this from a boat in Fiordland, and while I was fluffing around with my camera the sunlight broke through the valley. It felt magical in a way and very otherworldly.
All comments gratefully received.
1/160s, f4.5, ISO 200
Nikon 50mm
LR, PS, cropped, contrast, tonal balance
I love this - especially how the reflection leads my eye to the waterfall, and then on up that ray of sunlight. I also love the contrast between the dark cliff on the right and the pale hazy one on the left.I wouldn’t change a thing.
Thanks Mike. Have just had a look through your work. You have some wonderful images there.
What a primordial scene! Reminds me of something out of Land of the Lost or Jurassic Park. I really must get myself to NZ!
I like the variations in light you caught here - dark, mid and light reaching up and to the left. It works to bring atmosphere, interest and such great texture. The mist kicked up by what looks to be a huge waterfall is a nice addition. I’m not a huge fan of whatever sharpening is going on in the dark parts of the water on the right. It looks unnaturally crisp and artifact-y. If you added sharpening or clarity, I’d see about toning it down or out in that little bit. I think a smoother gradation to the sharpest part of the photo would be more pleasing.
Wow, this is very cool, Phil. Perfect in every way. I wouldn’t change a thing.
What a lovely scene. Nature does some really cool things sometimes and you were in the right place at the right time for this one. The mood is what makes this work so well. My only suggestion is that you do have a sharpening halo on the left edge of the rock on the right side of the frame. Simple fix. Really nice.
Thanks for your comments @Kris_Smith @David_Bostock @Keith_Bauer.
I wasn’t sure about posting this as it was taken with an old lens that wasn’t sharp, hence the issues that Kristen and Keith mention after trying to sharpen it without getting all sorts of artifacts. However I do like the moodiness of the scene so I decided to accept the fact that it is not technically sound but provides an emotional reponse anyway. Cheers.
Phil,
What a wonderful nature image. I love the perspective and the foreground ripples leading the eye in to the scene. In fact those ripples remind me of those old animated gifs that were popular at one time where the water was moving in scenes like this? Anyway, great job with the depth and details front to back.
This is also very nicely composed. And of course the sunlight breaking in to the scene is icing on the cake. No nits or suggestions. Beautifully captured.
And welcome to NPN!
Lon
Thanks Lon. Am enjoying NPN…a friendly group and very helpful.
Hey Phil! I absolutely love this photo. The light is beautiful and the visual flow with the lines is amazing. It’s really well organized so my eye can easily follow where you are directing me to look. I would suggest looking at what this would look like in a 1x1 square crop. I wonder if the visual flow would hold up while eliminating some of the space at the bottom and top.
I honestly have little to say about this but wow. You have captured a truly wonderful moment here; that light is just stunning.
Thanks for your comments David and Cody.
I have tried a square crop as you suggested David and it looks good. I should have thought of that but probably I get a bit too tied up in knots with the emotional aspect of a scene that I remember well to look at it objectively for other means of presentation. Thankyou for that.
Beautiful light and moment captured here. It’s a stunning waterfall to capture and I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time with it in the past.
I think technically you have captured the light as well as could be expected given the difficulty of the dynamic range in the image with the shadowed wall of rock vs the strong light coming through. If I were to make a suggestion it would be possibly to turn the image upside down (not for final presentation obviously) and then observe where your eye is traveling. I would suspect to the area of brightness at the top where the light is hitting the reflective rocks and ridgeline. This is true to the scene, and while the light is a major subject of the image, it might be worth doing some dodging and burning or similar techniques to ensure that the waterfall holds the same strength as that bright part of the image - potentially by bringing one up and one down. You may find this is true of some of the water reflections also.
Overall very solid work and what I have suggested will come down to your taste, but will also affect the visual hierarchy (what you look at and in what order) of the final image to achieve how you want people to perceive the scene.
Definitely a wonderful and beautiful image. I love the light rays, obviously, but what I love best are the ripples on the water. They look so magical.
I also like the square version of this image. I don’t know if it’s necessarily better or worse than the original but it’s another great alternative.
Cheers Tom. I’m pleased I joined NPN as I get to receive widely varying comments and that provides really good learning opportunities. It has taught me not to take one viewers opinion in isolation but to balance all opinions and then have another good look at how that ties in with the emotion for the scene when a photo was taken versus using that photo to produce a better image that may have much less connection to the original emotional reponse. Does that make sense. Sorry if it is a bit long-winded.
In this case, I agree with you that the ripples in the foreground are an important component and, overall, I still like the original image best…I think.
Thanks Matt. Very interesting comment and advice. I have tried it, and see what you mean, and it has been a good learning experience for me in terms of looking more critically at areas that attract attention simply as objects, tone, lines, or colour, etc, rather than as parts of the image itself. In version 3 I have done this and brightened the waterfall to bring attention to that area more fully. Overall, I am 50:50 whether I prefer it over the original tones, probably because I know the waterfall is in the shade so I guess I expect the rocky areas in the valley to be brighter becasue they are lit by the sun. Thankyou for your help with this…very good. Cheers.
