Rework 1 -cropped B, cloned bottom and took out some green edging.
This is another stream shot I took on my photography workshop this spring in the Smokies. The yellow reflection on the water is caused by the sun shining through trees that are shading the water.
Any welcomed
Sony a7R iv 24mm -70 mm @ 64mm
f/11
s/1/8
ISO 64
No special processing
Donna, this is a really nice intimate landscape shot. Perfect shutter speed for the water. I think the composition is also just right. I can’t think of a thing to suggest changing. If it were mine I’d print it large and hang it on my living room wall. Well done.
Gorgeous!! Very strong composition and excellent SS. I love the reflected color in the top portion but am also somehow bothered by it – maybe because it’s too pretty?? (What a quandary!) It balances a similar shape in the darker gray water at the bottom, but doing a browser scroll to just crop most of it out leaves me more focused on the flowing water. I’m curious what the landscape gurus here think…
Hey Donna! Really cool shot! I greatly enjoy the color bleed of yellows into the reflections of the water. One question that I always ask myself with a shot like this that might help you as well is “what would this look like with a different crop?” Maybe try cropping out the rocks on the left just to see what it looks like versus the shot you have here. It always helps to play around with crops to see if you like any better than the original. Well done!
Donna, I like a lot the image as is. I could also see another crop, emphasizing three rather equal fields mixed together: Black rock, yellow reflections and white moving water. Below is an example.
@David_Bostock Thanks David! I can’t think of a better compliment than someone suggesting to hang it on a wall.
@Diane_Miller I initially included a small strip of the bank that ran the entire length of the photo. I decided it was not needed and cropped it out along with a little on the left side thinking the stones (although very beautiful) carried to much weight. I didn’t think I could crop anymore off the T and I felt trying to clone the reflections out would be a nightmare making it look good. I also cropped a little from the bottom. I did a rework cropping the B more and cloning areas that lacked the flowing water. I was afraid to crop more off the bottom thinking that the water needed and outlet. I think Ola’s crop proved me wrong. Thanks so much for your critique. I always learn from them.
@David_Johnston Hi David. I was very happy to see your name and to get a critique from you. David was one of my teachers in the Smokies. It seems like cropping is a favorite suggestion. I’ll try your suggestion to see how that looks. As always, thanks for your input.
@Ola_Jovall I really love this crop. I didn’t think closing the outlet for the water would work, but I don’t have a problem with that. The water hitting the side of the stone looks much better.
David suggested playing with a crop on the L. I liked the hole in the big stone and didn’t want to slice part of that out, but maybe a real minimalist approach would do this image justice. Anybody’s thoughts on that would be appreciated. Thanks to all for making this a better image and helping with crops.
Beautiful image, Donna. The rework definitely makes it better. It was good to start out with.
I think @Ola_Jovall nailed the crop on this one. I don’t think we need to know where the water is going. It’s about the rocks, the reflection and the falls. All play an important role here. I love the shutter speed you’ve chosen. It shows motion but still retains lots of texture. The whites look really good to me. I love the middle of this scene where you have the waterfall furthest back forming a wedge and a drop down onto the small rock in the middle of this scene and the golden glowing waterfall just in front of that. I could actually see this cropped down even more than Ola did and making it more about the three pieces coming together. Wonderful image.
@David_Haynes Oh David, I’m now in a dilemma 
. I like both @Ola_Jovall and your crop for different reasons. I like the longer aspect ratio compared to a more square crop. Maybe because it doesn’t look as cut off. I like your crop because I think it does make it more about the three pieces coming together. @David_Johnston also suggested cropping more of the stones out. I think I loved the beauty of these stones so much that I wanted a little more to show, but I’m starting to learn that good cropping sometimes means losing some of the parts that you really like. I’ll keep both crops which I think are much better than my starting image. Maybe in time, I’ll be able to decide which is my favorite. Thanks to all for helping me making this image the best it can be. My trip to the Smokies was an experience I want to hang on to forever.
Donna,
Beautiful image! Personally, I think your top and original post is my favorite of all the options! I understand the reason behind some of the crops and can’t disagree about simplifying to the 3 main elements. But don’t lose sight that all those elements are still there in your original!
The water is gorgeous - beautifully handled with the shutter speed - and of course the reflected colors are beautiful. Great and wonderful detail in the rocks.
Just gorgeous image - and most definitly needs to be printed and hung!
Lon
Oh thank you, Lon. I do like seeing those beautiful stones. It’s one of the great features of the Smokies. I can also see why cropping it down would bring the eye closer to the middle of the three pieces that make up this image. I guess I’m very happy that this image can be viewed at many crops and still hold a viewer’s eye. I think I’ll keep the 3 crops and ponder on them awhile. Time away from viewing them for a couple of weeks or more always helps in making better decisions when viewing them again. I liked what you said:
I agree,
The thing is that the cascade of water is so strong that the rest of the image looks ho hum compared to it. Of course you could not have known that because the water was moving and looked different than the final product. So you composed for what you saw, not what the camera would capture. Here’s yet another crop.
This is a nice crop too, Igor. Now I’m really confused!
Don’t be. Mine is an alternative and not a replacement.
