Hi all. I came across this scene when exploring some woodland I had never visited.
I was really drawn to this small area of the river where the water was swirling in a little pool. The aim here was to capture the motion and retain plenty of texture in the water.
I got set up just as some lovely diffused light made its way through the trees highlighting the green moss and leaves perfectly.
I look forward to your feedback.
Many thanks
Chris
Chris, I really enjoy the swirling water in the FG, but the image as a whole doesn’t quite resonate with me. I think that is, in part, because I am expecting for something distinct in the BG and I couldn’t find it. This looks like a fantastic area though and since this is your first time visiting, I hope you will keep coming back again.
Chris,
I think a great find and I too really like the swirling at the bottom and then the water drawing the eye through the frame. The light creeping is just right and you caught things for anything got “hot.” (I hate it when that happens.)
For me, the UR quadrant is a bit dark and I think slightly dark in general. I can see detail in there, so I know it’s not block up or anything. I went ahead and did a quick edit to see what this might look like with the luminosity bumped up a little. I just used a midtones and darks luminosity mask from TK’s panel. I also burned down the ULC a little bit. Not much as that forest glow is a nice asset to the scene. The only other thing I would suggest would be to CA-Clone out the patch of white water along the left edge; a bit of an eye magnet.
This is quite a lovely, deep forest and cascading stream image.
Lon
oh, the edit:
This is original and I greatly appreciate that. I’m enjoying the light on the rocks and that wonderful moss. The whirlpool itself is a bit fuzzy. A square crop of just all of the upper part is another option. Keep up with your own vision and you can’t go wrong.
Thanks Lon, I hadn’t noticed the white water but agree your edit is so much better.
Thanks Igor. Any advice on how to make the whirlpool clearer? Maybe dodging some of the highlights might help?
I hear you! Usually I compose my images around something for the eye to find in the background but this whirlpool had me throwing my morals out of the window 
Chris, what a marvelous woodland scene !!! The light and lush greens in the vegetation are wonderful. That green moss is killer. I think @Igor_Doncov makes a good point about a square crop of the top, if your primary goal is to emphasis the whirlpool, it needs to larger in the composition, otherwise all the other good stuff in this image competes with the whirlpool. I think your background is fine, especially with the luminosity increase it gets in @Lon_Overacker rework.
My own personal interpretation of this image is that it is a classic foreground/midground/background composition, and the whirlpool is just one of three important areas within the scene, that is accentuated by having the rocks as lead-in elements. I would go for a crop like this (starting from Lon’s rework, which I like). I also burned down the mossy rock in the LLC.
Is this from the UK Chris? It looks like it could have come straight out of the Pacific Northwest!
The foreground swirl has good interest, and the stream leading to the light in the UR is a nice flow.
I really like the suggested edits, and agree that the view would be better zoomed in or out. (I don’t know what surrounded this, but to me it feels a little constricted; my eye wonders what the view would have been like if pulled back a little.)
Thanks ed, looks great. The burned down rock helps a lot. I’ll add that to the original file.
Hi John - it is! I know, it couldn’t be further away from what I imagine when I think of the lake district. The river leads through a bizarre limestone gorge with disused mill buildings scattered around along with cascades and waterfalls. I’d never heard of the place so it must be a well kept secret.
