Backyard Falls

[kdoc856]

I'm lucky enough to live over the hill from this- I want to do a multi-season series as I have easy access. Any thoughts for improvements on this one. Would appreciate any feedback

[MrB]

You are very lucky to live near this scene, Kevin. Perhaps the photo needs a little clockwise rotation - I would expect the water to fall more vertically.

Philip

[kdoc856]

Philip
Thank you. I think I corrected the horizon, probably for an inaccurate tripod setup, forgetting the water (according to all the physics I know) would fall absolutely vertically. Thanks for pointing this out!

[ScoutR]

Very lucky indeed. I love this shot as is, but if I lived near this location I would be back at every time of day in every kind of weather and in every season taking some shots. It is quite beautiful and I think there are many moods that could be achieved depending on conditions. Sorry I can't offer any constructive criticism of this particular shot because it looks really really good to me.

Wendy

[kdoc856]

thank you, Wendy

[dje]

Nice image Kevin, well captured. You might consider tweeking the white level to bring up the brightness a bit, also a duplicate layer set to colour dodge with about 20-30% might give it a bit more vibrancy to the colours. And perhaps a little more sharpening ?

Or you might prefer the natural look as it is !!

Cheers Dave

[kdoc856]

Thanks, Dave

I have a tendency to be a bit heavy-handed in PP- I typically fix it to where I think it looks ideal, wait a half hour, then cut it all by half. Then I debate it with myself ad nauseum. I use PSE9 to edit- do you know if (how) I can get a colour dodge layer with it?

[CNelson]

Very nice...beautiful.

Chuck

[dje]

Thanks, Dave

I have a tendency to be a bit heavy-handed in PP- I typically fix it to where I think it looks ideal, wait a half hour, then cut it all by half. Then I debate it with myself ad nauseum. I use PSE9 to edit- do you know if (how) I can get a colour dodge layer with it?

Kevin yes you can do it in PSE9 (that's what I use).

Select Layer/Duplicate Layer

On the layer palette and with the duplicate layer selected, change the Blending mode from Normal to Color Dodge (drop down box at top left of palette).

Select Opacity between 0 and 100%.

Colour Burn can be used to give a flat and pasty image a bit of a lift and Color Dodge can give a darkish image a bit more life. This technique I think is more subtle than say adjusting colour saturation. Typically I use somewhere between 5% and 30% depending on the image. But it is not for all images.

You can turn the layer on and off to judge the difference at a glance.

By way of illlustration here is your image with 30% Color Dodge applied.

Cheers Dave

[epmi314]

Kevin,

I spent about 8 years in Columbus. Where is this fall? I would love to know what I missed. With such close proximity you have dozens of potential keepers with the seasons, various lighting conditions, weather and technique. I would love to see the progression of various images on this one. Keep them coming!

[rob marshall]

Thank you. I think I corrected the horizon, probably for an inaccurate tripod setup, forgetting the water (according to all the physics I know) would fall absolutely vertically. Thanks for pointing this out!

Not so. If you lived in West Wales, as I do, you would be quite familiar with horizontal rain!

Good location, and it would pay off to keep visiting the spot. I find the dark triangle area at the bottom a little 'empty' of detail. But these areas are very difficult to shoot in. I do a lot of these and I always find the main problem is the steep narrow sides, with a lot of light at the top, and not much at the bottom - even on a sunny day. I often find an ND grad works well.

[MrB]

I find the dark triangle area at the bottom a little 'empty' of detail.

There could be some details recorded in the dark triangle.



Those of you who are Photoshop experts might be able to recover this much more effectively - I am not yet beyond the "trial and error" stage of PP.

Philip

[kdoc856]

Thanks, all.
Dave, I have rarely used color dodge blending (generally scrolling right past it) but see how it may sometimes be effective.
Rob, CiC is very much helping me to return to the photography and eschew so much of the pp
Scott, I have a weekend home in the Hocking Hlls, where this was taken. About 70 min from Columbus
Phiip, I think I needed to grab those details with the exposure. To do it in pp introduces a ton of noise