Coldbrook Falls

[w7xman]

Thanks for all the comments on the overlook photo, here's another one that I think can go either way.

I usually don't shoot long exposures of streams on sunny days, but the strip of light on the falls, and the sun on the hemlocks above drew me in...I wanted alot of those elements. And in doing so I kinda went against the grain of how I shoot waterfalls, (the rule: more water downstream, and more room at the bottom)

I think the water treatment worked well, and the exposure came out, but I'm just not sure of the composition. Do you like the light and detail up top, or is this just top heavy? Thanks as always for your thoughts!

Canon 20D w/Canon 24mm
1/2 Sec at F13
ISO 100
Polarizer
1 Stop GND on the hemlocks..

Here's a link to it a bit bigger with more detail:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/...12032&b=mm&st=0&la=22&ph=14&sid=22151&u=22151

 

[Bobby]

It looks good to me. The top is light, but you do seem to pick up some light at the bottom, so it's almost balanced. Less light in the middle appears to attract the viewers attention. I like the waterflow, and it looks like good depth of field. Nice shot.

 

[Mongoose]

I'd zoom in a little more, or maybe crop around the waterfall tighter. There's too much "stuff" distracting from the waterfall.

 

[NewHampshire]

Overall its very nice. I agree with Mongoose only maybe not quite as extreme. Perhaps only crop out half of the picture from the top of the falls to the top of the picture itself. Make it a little less "busy" and reduce some of the slightly out of balance light.

Brian

P.S. And indeed, the exposure of the waterfall came out very nive....good job!

 

[Brambor]

Looks nice. I would probably burn more of the top. It looks a little overexposed.

 

[darren]

Nice shot of the waterfall. I like the way you handled the water blur.

I would go with a combination of mongoose and brambor. Crop about 1/2 of the top tree portion and then burn the highlights down. As it stands, for me, the photo is of two subjects: the bright trees and the waterfall. I find myself looking at one and then the other but never smoothly at the whole photo. Make sense? I've talked through a lot of C&C before but I am finding that I am having a hard time typing themup. Maybe this forum will help me get better at it.

- darren

 

[Mark Schaefer]

I like the light streak on the waterfall (upper right down to the lower left). It is just diffuse enough so it does not detract (as most strong shafts of light would). It adds a little sparkle to the picture.

I have also often been enticed by light shining on trees near waterfalls. Rarely does it work. Here the light appears too strong, and it burns out large portions of the foliage. The light on the trees needs to be more diffuse to keep the contrast recordable. It is noble attempt and photographers should always experiment. If it works you might have something really special, as you have with the sparkle on the water.

I think the composition is fine, if were not for the washed out highlights and distracting portions of the sky. I usually try to include some greenery above a waterfall. I may include just up to but not including the first brightly sunlit branch, or up to the first area of sky that shows through the foliage, whichever occurs first. Most often I and many photographers take the easier road, and wait for an overcast day, or for a time of day when an entire scene will be in shade. That is why it is extra nice to see that diffuse light you captured on the waterfalls.

There are a couple of distractions on the left: The end of a stick about midway up the lower waterfalls and the sunlit rock midway up the waterfalls. Both are at the edge of the frame and could be cropped without losing much. Often dead branches can be physically removed from the scene. I typically spend a great deal of time cleaning up a waterfall scene before photographing. Obviously one does not want to harm live trees or cause erosion. Sometimes it is necessary to photograph around the distractions which cannot be removed. This image is quite clean already and I suspect you spent some time cleaning it up.