Fallen Leaves By Waterfall

[rogerb]

I shot this at Stoney Brook Park in Upstate New York last Fall.

I cropped some of the top to tighten the composition and desaturated the waterfall and background somewhat.
I would appreciate any Comments and Critiques.

Roger


Canon 5Dmk2, 1s f/18.0 at 25.0mm iso100

[bleys]

This is beautiful man, really. I can't think of any critiques to give you. Seems like you've done an awesome job with this one.

[Cadebou]

I agree. I think this is quite exceptional.

Britt

[Yan Zhang]

I also think this is a very nice shot. If there is any opinion on this shot, I would also consider to take a shot on a slower shutter speed to get a bit different effect of waterfall, and compared which is would be better.

[bleys]

I also think this is a very nice shot. If there is any opinion on this shot, I would also consider to take a shot on a slower shutter speed to get a bit different effect of waterfall, and compared which is would be better.

Yes! I was actually wondering how a 2s exposure would have affected the water, for better or worse. Maybe getting a comparable exposure isn't possible now, though.

[rogerb]

Thanks to all for the comments.
I usually like to stay at one second or below on waterfall shots in order to retain some of the patterns in the water but I'm actually a little surprised that the patterns are as clear as they are on this shot, even with a full second exposure.
Unfortunately, a re-shoot is unlikely any time soon
Thanks again.
Roger

[PopsPhotos]

I have a feeling that a longer exposure would make the waterfall too "solid" to get the impact of flowing water.

GREAT shot!

Pops

[Alis]

FWIW, I think it is a nice shot. However, the desaturated waterfall doesn't work for me. I can't think of a meaning for it, I mean a visual meaning.

Also, there is something about the lines and the perspective that bothers me. The angle between the wall layers and the top level of the waterfall. May be the crop is too tight? Not sure, may be it is lens distortion, something that can be fixed in PS? I would try to level the waterfall by bringing down the left upper part of it.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Roger,

Sorry to be a "wet blanket", but the desaturated water just doesn't look natural to me in a highly saturated surrounding Sometimes a trick I use is to add an HSB layer (set to colourise) - set the Hue to 38 - colour to about 10 - and mask it off so that it only applies to the water. It gives it a bit of a sepia look which almost looks like grayscale until you switch the layer off and on to see the difference.

[rogerb]

FWIW, I think it is a nice shot. However, the desaturated waterfall doesn't work for me. I can't think of a meaning for it, I mean a visual meaning.

It was an experiment to try to give more emphasis to the subject but now I realize I went a little overboard with it Either I restore saturation in that area or colourise it as Colin suggested.

As far as the perspective, it may be due to use of wide angle lens (28mm on f-f camera) relatively close to the left side of the waterfall causing a perceived exaggerated height of the left side. I had a spirit level on the camera so I know it was level. I did crop off the top part of the image which may be contributing to the visual effect. I could try the left-right perspective correction function in Photoshop to see the effect.

"wet blanket"...."water".... really, Colin!

Thanks for the feedback
Roger

[Keith]

I really like this.

One point for me personally, I think I may have taken some of the leaves out, just a couple too many in my view, but still a cracking image.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Roger,

I think the main problem is that the eyes are drawn to the color of the leaves at the outside of the frame - not drawn into the frame. How about leaving the colour of the water (albeit altered if necessary), and desaturate the leaves by around 50%? I'd be happy to have a crack at it for you if you wanted to send me the original.

[rogerb]

Thanks Keith & Colin. Good suggestions.
I'll have a go at it and re-post when I get a chance.

Roger