"Frozen" Waterfall

[jordanm]

I was standing barefoot in the somewhat cold water with my tripod, and did 10, 15, 25, and 30 second exposures. This was taken with my Nikon D80 in New Hartford, NY.

How would you improve this shot?

[Teewinot]

I love the blue tones and silky smooth water. Very good job capturing the movement with your shutter speeds.

A few suggestions:
-Both shots seem a bit dark. I think brightening them up would not only give the whole photo better light, but would possibly bring out the lost greens in the foliage above the water.
-The waterfall's top edge isn't completely horizontal. A slight rotation counterclockwise would easily fix this.
-Finally, there is a stick(?) just left of the center that I personally would consider cloning out. It doesn't really add anything to the shot and for me it is a slight distraction, however small it may be. The rock is fine IMO, so it must just be the vertical nature of the stick that sort of breaks the 'horizon' of the top of the falls.

Thanks for sharing your shots and nice job!

[pamroth]

Hi, Jordan:

This is a truly impressive shot. I agree with all Teewinot's suggestions, and I made the edits in PS as follows:

1. In the Image/Adjustments/ShadowHighlights window, slide Shadow/Amount to the left to 24%, and slide Shadow/Tonal Width to the left to 28%.
2. Still in the ShadowHighlights window, slide Adjustments/Color Correction to the right to +77, and slide Adjustments/Midtone Contrast to the left to -39. Close the window.
3. Using the Magnetic Lasso Tool, outline the tree area to select it.
4. In the Image/Adjustments/ColorBalance window, slide Cyan to the left to -36, and slide Green to the right to +57. Close the window.
5. With the tree area still selected, in the Image/Adjustments/Exposure window, slide Gamma to the left to 1.30. Close the window.
6. Under Select, click Deselect.
7. In the Image/Adjustments/HueSaturation window, slide Saturation to the right to about +8.

This is the result:

[Teewinot]

pamroth, nice job. Here's my take (hope you don't mind jordanm!):



Using Paint Shop Pro,
-First I rotated the whole image about 1 degree counterclockwise to get the waterfall edge horizontal.
-Then I cropped in a little on the left and right sides.
-Then I lightened the whole image a little.
-Then I selected just the top third (trees) and adjusted the color balance (adding lots of green) and lightened it more.
-Then I cloned out the stick and a couple of miscellaneous dots here and there on the black rocks on the sides.
-Then I sharpened a little.
-Finally I increased the contrast a pinch and lightened the whole image one last time.

It's a great image indeed...while working with it I noticed more strongly how well you have composed using the rule of thirds!

[jordanm]

Thank you for not only making the edits and posting the photo, but listing what you did. It's extremely helpful!

[pamroth]

You're welcome, Jordan. But I like your edited version better! Great job.

[wyndhydra]

jordanm,

First off this is an amazing shot. I hope that I will be able to take a photo this good down the road. I too wanted to try my hand at working with your capture (hope you don't mind...).
I did my editing in PS.

1. I initially rotated the image by 1 degree counter-clockwise.
2. I added a levels adjustment layer and tried to remove the tint. I liked it but wanted to see how it looked without it. This was done by locating a bright spot and trying to get the values of the red and green channel to that of the blue channel. Additionally, I used the dark slider to bring it closer to the dark parts of the image.
3. I then added a saturation adjustment layer and bumped up the greens by +33 and the master by +12. This helped to brighten everything but really made the leaves 'pop' a little more.
4. I added a mask to the saturation layer with a gradient so that only the trees received the saturation.

That was all I did. I thought about cropping, but decided to leave it to your vision. Again, I hope that you don't mind.

Here is my attempt.

[Teewinot]

wyndhydra, I think your shot is the most 'natural' looking of all here. Nice job. Mine is perhaps a little more color-saturated than one would find in the real world.

[rlarsen]

Jordanm, This is a very good photo. I also agree with Tewinot changes. Good job.

[wyndhydra]

Teewinot,
I like yours bunches.. just I never see green tree trunks in the woods Well maybe those lousy tree of heavens... Either way I'd still kill to be the one to have taken the shot! My compliments once more.