Behind the North Falls

Chad,

I like images from Oregon although I've nver been there. I like the waterfall & the green moss.

The composition isn't bad, but - and nothing personal Chad - this is very illustrative of the major problem I see with HDR / tonemapped photography. There is absolutely no depth to this image as a result of the contrast being removed in favor of detail. The lighting looks neither natural nor believable to me, and I would honestly rather see some shadow and depth and the waterfall get blown out than everything be exposed to show the maximum amount of detail. My .02 at least.

I love the perspective and think the shot has tremendous potential.

It looks too unnaturally HDR to me though.

Mark

Man, the large version really shines! Very nicely done Chad.

Great composition and perspective on these falls. Nice work.

very nice composition, Chad. This needs slightly more midtone contrast. Select your midtones and apply a slight S curve.

Fantastic image, the hdr feel is a bit to strong for me. I'm wondering what would happen if you blended this hdr version at like 70 percent opacity in with an original non hdr file. Great work regardless and very interesting comp.

I've been here and just love this walk behind the falls. The light is certainly looks well-managed give all that it had to go through. My thought here is that it looks a bit flat. I'd be inclined to either increase contrast in the mid-tones or maybe just add a little more saturation. That's personal preference, though. With this even light I'd be tempted to play around and see where it might go.

I was looking at an issue of Color Magazine and I was admiring all the HDR work in there. If that's the way you want to do things Chad then more power to you. The processing has given it some mood in the shaded overhang looking out into the snaking creek beyond the falls.

I like your composition, but agree with others that the image feels a bit flat. I also find the bright patch of sky in the upper right corner a bit distracting. It seems to pull my eye away from the waterfall, which is the center of interest here..at least for me.

Wow, thanks for all the comments. I appreciate it. Looking at the image again it does look flat to me as well. I'll give it another try. Seeing the larger image does help, I think. I went for a less saturated look on purpose to give it a certain feel and try to highlight the waterfall and stream but I need more shadows and depth in the image, I think.