Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
During a trip on the Colorado River, the traveler spends hours a day musing about time. There seems to be a paradox in the way raging, rushing water is constantly wearing away billion-year-old stone that looks immutable. Throughout each day, I was astonished by the mass of the canyon walls and their variability in texture and color. On this morning, the earliest kiss of light brought out an unusual rounded quality in this section of rock, and the vivid mosses seemed to suggest a certain gentleness here. I used a slow shutter speed to smooth the river so its rough and tumble behavior wouldn’t compete with that softness. I think there’s also something in using a slow shutter to emphasize the ceaselessness in the flow of the river: A faster shutter speed suggests its power, but shows just one moment of a process that never ceases. This spot is at the top of a rapid we would enter right after breakfast, and we had been warned the night before that the run could be dangerous. After a restless night, perhaps using a slow shutter speed was also my attempt to calm the waters – and my fears.
Technical Details
ISO 100. 100mm. f/14. 1.3 seconds.
Mostly finished in Lightroom . May have done some color painting in Photoshop to tame hot spots in the water.
. Slowing the river down was a great idea and adds to the serenity of the scene. I agree with Mark about the colors; you had pretty nice light at the bottom of the canyon. Nice detail in the moss and rocks too. The only thing I would be tempted to do is bring up the shadows in that narrow, vertical spot a bit, to reveal more detail. A very pleasing image overall!