Elowah Falls REPOST

Really, really difficult exposure situation. Looks like you were dealing with very high contrast between the brighly lit "background" falls and the foreground. Its always difficult to tell from monitor to monitor, and mine here at work hasn't been recently calibrated. So my comment may not be worth much. But it appears to me that the upper right quadrant of the photo is still a bit bright for my taste. Maybe some additional work with blending. Unless you were going for a "high key" look in that part of the image. I don't do a lot of blending myself, so cannot suggest how to do it differently. I have used the photomatix HDR software to do most of my blending work lately.

I like the composition a lot. Nicely balanced with the long, single flow on the top and the two shorter ones in the foreground. There are a couple sub-compositions in this shot, and you have successfully brought them together in one image, in my view.

Mainly running a graduated adjustment from the top down to reduce the top luminosity. Then some advanced sharpening techniques. Still for jumping in and giving it a go, good job Raymond. Now get your internet working faster so we can do those Skype lessons!!!

Thanks for the suggestions Andy. Yeah I guess the background is a bit too bright. Mark, thanks for the ideas, and yes, I really want to continue when my net improves!

Raymond - I do like the arrangement of the falls in the image. I might suggest cropping a little of the top to eliminate the bright spot at the top. In the future, you may want to try some slower shutter speeds for the falls to blend in. I'm from the camp that some detail in the water better represents the flow and motion of the water but you may prefer the milky rendition. Just changing ISO and maintaining the same exposure can give you a great variety of choices while keeping the desired DOF. I didn't see that you used a polarizing filter, which might help as well.

very nice i like!

Harry, I did forget to mention filters. I believe I was using a polarizer on this shot.

I've never attempted a blend that worked so I can't really comment on that. My only issues are that it could use some web sharpening, and the background could be darkened slightly and a little more contrast. I like your composition of this, my favorite waterefall in the gorge.

Chris

Maybe we can do this as a "before and after lessons."

Had I known that Mark I could have made the "before" shot look even worse.

I like the comp and light. Could maybe see trying to balance out the light and dark areas a bit.

I like the composition and the timing a lot.

Very well seen.

D&L

Raymond,
I love well-done waterfall pictures such as this. I think you chose a perfect three point composition.
As for the blending, certainly you managed a great tone rendition, but I think a 3 (darker) additional exposure would have gotten the upper waterfall just perfectly. Anyway, nice work!

Very good composition, top should be darker, could be painted in. overall I really like this.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I took your suggestions and did a quick rework. Hope this improves it some.

I am reasonably new here and learning as I go. However I find this a very visually pleasing shot and to my untrained eye would not have known it was two shots merged etc. For me a very pleasing photo, one that even though running water is the feature, conveys peace and calmness. Simon

I really like what you've done with the top part of your rework. It has restored some contrast, which is nice. I am curious why the main waterfall is darker in the middle than it is on the edges. Was this the result of blending in some more detail in the water? If so, I don't think it's really necessary unless the area surrounding the waterfall was darker. With this exposure, I would expect the water to register equally bright throughout the waterfall. With a long exposure, I really wouldn't expect to see much detail.

Thanks Ben. The dark middle in the waterfall is natural. I'm guessing there's a separation at the top of the falls that causes less water to fall down the middle, because it is visible on all the shots I got.