I spend a lot of weekends in the summer backpacking in the wilderness areas of Colorado. Spending time in the wilderness is a transcendental experience in which I recharge. I feel very much at ease in wilderness. With this image I’m attempting to bring the viewer to my location, alongside that cataract, to convey the sound of the flowing water as one’s primary sensory experience.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any and all. Does the contrast in the water work well? Does the tone of the vegetation work well?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any and all, particularly composition.
Any pertinent technical details:
Nikon D610 camera
Nikon 28-70 mm lens @ 70 mm
2.5 sec
f/11
ISO 100
possibly a circular polarizer
tripod
3-image HDR for exposure
processing in Lightroom
I like the dynamic here. The B&W works nicely, and the processing looks good to my eye. You might consider trying to pull a little more detail out of the dark upper left corner–it doesn’t need much.
The plant on the bank really looks like a person standing there, until you see the grasses. Interesting illusion.
–P
Great job with the b&w; the contrasts in the rock and water look great. I think the application of the milky shutter speed is effective here as well and so I’m not looking for any texture really in the water.
Agree with Preston on the ULC. Not sure why it would be so much darker, unless it’s under a big rock or overhang that we can’t see.
Exactly what I see too! It’s a miniature - a person holding a fishing rod or spear, or walking stick. And while I think the tones in the vegetation are fine, I might be inclined to crop down from the top to remove not only the miniature human… but that would also help with the dark corner. To me, this is all about the rocks and cascading water.
I love the water flow and the kind of metallic look of the rocks. I second Lon’s crop suggestion. I think it really tightens up the image and emphasizes the flow and rocks. That does look like a guy standing there!!! Too weird.
The dark TLC is not so dark in my edit - I find all my images are a bit darker on NPN, and I’m happy with the exposure on my edit - I can see detail as you mention.
I did a crop from the top to omit the “miniature man” illusion. It does help to focus the subject. I appreciate each of your comments on this issue.
B&W definitely shows the contrast in luminosity between the white in the water and the dark in the rocks. But in B&W you lose whatever color contrast there might have been in the upper right diagonal (I would guess shades of green). To my eye that area now appears too dark and dominant.
@Rick_Alway, thanks for inspiring me to work on the image some more to bring out some more detail in the vegetation in the URC. It’s much more balanced with the rest of the frame.
I also added a vignette to focus on the subject a bit better and increase the drama. Too much vignette? Does it cover too much of the water? Does it improve the image or not? I’d love to hear what you think of this edit.
Personally I find the top part with the grass more interesting than the very bottom. I find that those strands of grass in the urc add a lot to the image and I wouldn’t diminish them. The center of interest is the upper left rock, so I would build the comp around that. I agree that the little man has to go.
I think you did an excellent job with the edit. The vignette really draws the eye in and makes it clearer what you want me to focus in on. Personally, I am drawn to the “Z” of white water snaking through the 3 groups of rocks.
Deciding on just the right amount of vignette can me difficult, an artistic decision, as is deciding on how much detail to show in the grass. I’m sure you could revisit this multiple times in the future and make slight adjustments that seem better at that moment. This I find is one of the aspects of this form of art that is so exciting.
@Igor_Doncov Thank you. As I reworked this last night I also found compositional value in the URC vegetation.
@Rick_Alway Your insights are perfectly aligned with mine. As I’ve continued to work on this image I’ve grown more interested in it. I’ll continue to tweak it in minor ways since I think the big moves are done. Thanks for your comments.
