Mini Falls

[Sam W]

Hi - I'm new to CIC. I know very little about photography except I enjoy trying to take good pictures. Now that I have more time to enjoy the hobby I want to apply myself a little more toward taking better pictures. I recently upgraded my 10 year-old point and shoot to a better camera.

In the shot below I was trying to make the water fall look softer so I used a lower speed. I realize the composition is a bit of a mix without a good focal point. I used Lightroom to address several issues. Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! - Sam

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...8&d=1443748035

[Manfred M]

Hi Sam - welcome to CiC.

You've picked a difficult topic to work on; capturing a three-dimensional moving subject and displaying it as a static, two-dimensional image. There are a lot of people that like the silky look in water and a large group that detests it. Your shot is somewhat in the middle; the water shows a lot of silkiness, but it is definitely not "over the top".

The post-processing is well executed and you have a nice balance of the waterfall on one side of the image and the rocks on the other. A very nice image.

[GBO25]

I'm with Manfred, I think you've done very well. You've picked the right day for the light so the water is not over exposed which is something that's very easy to do when shooting waterfalls.
Also the composition is very good. Just enough horizontal lines in the rocks and taken from a good angle to balance the rocks and the waterfall. Well done.

[KeithH]

I have to agree with the guys and if this is a beginners shot then you've nothing to worry about, with help from members and the tutorials section you will soon be up there with the best of them.

[IzzieK]

I agree with everyone's assessment so far of your image...I like it. The composition is great. You've certainly practice a lot from your point and shoot. And welcome to CiC -- I hope you enjoy our company and join in our conversations too.

[Sam W]

Thanks Manfred for your detailed thoughts. It never occurred to me that some people like silky look in water falls while other detest it. So that is the first thing I've learn here at CIC. I think either extreme could work given the right situation. I have faster & slower exposures of this scene. The faster ones look less natural while the slower ones places too much emphasis on the waterfall at the expense of the whole picture. So I agree with you that I seem to have luckily picked a happy median for the shutter speed.

I spent a lot of time on the post processing mostly because I've only used LR for a few days. I was trying not to go overboard and make the scene look too manipulated. Thanks for your complements and time.

[ST1]

As this is your first attempt at making an image of this type I think you have managed extremely well Sam. To help you with Lightroom here are a couple of useful links to tutorials. These videos by Julieanne Kost are easy viewing and cover most of what you need to know.

LR Training Videos Plus these LR Tutorials

And one from Tim Grey on the B&H site on the web LINK

[Sam W]

I'm with Manfred, I think you've done very well. You've picked the right day for the light so the water is not over exposed which is something that's very easy to do when shooting waterfalls.
Also the composition is very good. Just enough horizontal lines in the rocks and taken from a good angle to balance the rocks and the waterfall. Well done.

Thanks Graham. I did notice in my other shots that the water wanted to overexpose at the expense of the lower lighted elements. I'll need to learn how better to deal with this situation. Fortunately, the camera took in enough light in the under exposed areas to allow LR to deal with that without overexposing the water. But I assume that is not the optimum situation? I was thinking of exploring HDR techniques in the future. Thanks for the complements it is also great to have discussion with other who already understand the challenge of a particular setting.

[Sam W]

I have to agree with the guys and if this is a beginners shot then you've nothing to worry about, with help from members and the tutorials section you will soon be up there with the best of them.

Thanks Keith for the encouraging words. I've enjoyed the tutorials so far. I can't believe that one day I'll "up there with the best of them" what a dream!

[Sam W]

I agree with everyone's assessment so far of your image...I like it. The composition is great. You've certainly practice a lot from your point and shoot. And welcome to CiC -- I hope you enjoy our company and join in our conversations too.

Thanks Izzie for your kind words. I already enjoy the company, I hope to join in other conversations at some point when/if I know what I am talking about. That will take a while.

[Sam W]

As this is your first attempt at making an image of this type I think you have managed extremely well Sam. To help you with Lightroom here are a couple of useful links to tutorials. These videos by Julieanne Kost are easy viewing and cover most of what you need to know.

LR Training Videos Plus these LR Tutorials

And one from Tim Grey on the B&H site on the web LINK

Thanks for the complement Peter. Just finished viewing a couple of the videos. The one on LR multiple vs single catalogs cleared up one of my questions. Also the one on improving PC performance confirmed my thoughts about keeping LR on the ultra M.2 SSD. Very informative references; thanks for sharing.