Thor's Well, + Repost

What an interesting phenom. - looks like something in a sci fi movie that goes to the center of the earth. The processing looks a bit too cyan for my tastes. i might also consider cropping some of the left dark rocks - they are a bit of an eye draw in contrast to the rest of thescene - maybe 1/2 of the rocks? I think the water flow-shutter speed works to give that sense of motion. Would love to see deeper into the well, but I figure that might be impossible unless you wanted to take the ride of your life .

Scott,
I really like your shot.
The cool color balance sets an interesting tone.
The scene itself is fascinateing,the water motion is perfect and I really like your comp.
I would love to see this big not NPN big but 20x30 big.
Nicely done

The good: interesting subject, good comp, and excellent ss for the water motion. The not as good: the overcast sky and flat light.

What a cool place! The blue cast enhances the sense of mystery and danger.

This looks like a phantastic place to photograph. I like your comp. Perfect shutter speed.

I like the water action Scott. At first I was on the fence about the blue/cyan cast but without it, I think it would look more like a B&W and lose some of the mood.

I really like the curves and textures in the foreground water, not to mention the fascinating "well" feature. Altogether a very interesting shot. Color and processing feel just fine to me. Must have been dangerous to capture this . . .

Scott: I would agree with a number of Harry's comments: a tighter shot of the hole would have made a more compelling image, and a color balance away from the intense cyan tone would help with the contrast between the rocks and the water. I don't know whether it is feasible, but if the image was shot from the 8:00 position relative to the current perspective, there would be less distraction from the rocks on the left. The DR seems somewhat limited, so a levels adjustment and a midtone contrast bump could really add some pop. Mark Metternich has a very useful set of techniques for dealing with these issues. His approach would add contrast to the water, but not the rocks or brighter highlights. Overall, a very interesting image which could benefit from additional postprocessing. Randall

I really need to visit this some day, it's a fascinating feature. Great shot here Scott. Did you play with BW? I wonder if that would look good, especially if the sky were milked for dramatic contrast.

Everyone know to be CAREFUL shooting in this and any coastal area like this!!! I love interacting with surf and especially love this whole area on the Oregon Coast (there are countless "Cauldrons" here) but one false move could prove devastating.

Having said that, I like the image Scott. We will have to go out soon once I move up.

I love the water texture in the "hole" area and the water in the FG pouring into it. I like the background waves too. I even like the really moody grey mood.

My main wishes are another perspective on this without the left dark mass. I also think the color balance could be neutralized or balanced a little more.

Thanks for the comments guys, I always appreciate the critique.

I actually had two crops of this stored in my Lightroom library already, here is the one a number of you seem to have asked for with some of the dark rocks removed. The full size version has some more detail in those rocks, but I agree there are still an eye draw. I also toned down the blues in this one, I am on the fence about those though. The blue tones were pretty representative of the scene when we arrived since this was predawn with overcast skies. The blue added to the mood something that the lighting couldn't give. That said, I do like it toned down just a touch as I did here.

A number of people also mentioned getting closer or commented on the danger. Getting closer was just something I wasn't willing to do. Actually I only stood in this spot for a few minutes right when we got here, and I was standing on a small rock formation so as to be a little elevated. The tide was rising and I decided to retreat to higher ground when the first big wave came and then I didn't come back down to this location. It just wasn't worth the risk.

This also lead to a few of the other issues I had: usually I would take a few bracketed shots for the dark area on the left, but the waves wouldn't allow for that too much. :)

Oh and John, since the color palette is already very limited I didn't find the B&W to enhance it much, and because of the limited tones I already amped up the clarity and used some high pass filters to bring out cloud drama as much as my PS skills allow. :)

And Mark - as soon as you get to Portland let me know, we will head out to shoot something. I am really enjoying meeting new shooting partners.

Cool shot Scott. I love the FG water action. I thought when I saw this on your LCD that there was more color in the sky there in the URC. Either way, very cool shot and definitely a fun shoot.

The upper right hand portion has a little bit of a bright patch, but no color to speak of. If I wanted it there it would involve making it appear out of nowhere. The sky already has a warming filter and a very slight magenta filter added in order to bring out the texture and color gradations along with some selective saturation on the lighter areas to try and bring out any non blue tones.

Your shutter speed left you with great texture and flow in the water. Neat scene, I'd like to see this one day. maybe it's a little blocked up in the shadows on the left.

Chris

Love the swirling water textures in the fg and the detail of the streams as they descend into the well. It's a shame there's not a little bit more color in the sky to break up the overall blue cast.

Beautiful spot.. nice capture!

Came back to see the repost. I have to say, for my tastes the color in the original feels more natural. I've been on the receiving end of critiques about the "blue" of water in a couple of my shots taken at the ends of the day, and I've consequently paid a lot more attention to it in the field. The blues in the original feel just about right to me based upon those more recent observations. Both versions are excellent though!

Wow, the power of mother nature. Scott, you did a great job on this image, I like your original version.

Thanks for the last batch of comments everyone! And Phil and Kyle, I have decided I like the original blue tones as well. I did decide that my final version will have a slight crop off of the left hand side though. Not quite as much as I reposted, but enough to remove some of the dark rocks.

Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate everyone's opinions.

The textures here are perfect and I really like the cool light. Could maybe see trying to pull a bit more textures out of the dark rocks along the left edge.