Waterfall

[fannyanna]

Hello All,

Firstly - this is the first time I'm trying to link to a picture on Flickr so apologies if this does not work.



I spent today trying to capture a shot to use for an assignment that I have - need to take 10 pictures based on the theme of water.

We have a small waterfall near to where I live and I went along today to try and get some shots for my assignment.

This is my favourite picture but I would appreciate any feedback you guys can offer. I'm particularly interested to hear what you think about the composition, exposure and the way the flow of the water has been captured.

In a lot of the pictures I used a shutter speed that was too long so I lost a lot of detail in the water and there was quite a bit of over-exposure.

Whilst I was trying to get that misty water effect I still wanted an element of texture.

I used my canon EOS 400d and the picture was taken using the following settings:
Aperture: f 32
Shutter speed: 0.6 seconds
ISO: 100

Many thanks in advance for any comments

P.S. I'm sure you'll gather from my picture but I'm an amateur trying to learn the ropes

[4ndrew]

Beautiful shot. I especially love the bottom right where the rocks create this little window that contains more falls.

Although no loss of sharpness is apparent in this shot, with such a small aperture sharpness can suffer due to diffraction. You can bump up your ISO a bit which will then allow you to open up your aperture to overcome this.



andrew

[2catsandapug]

Really and truly breathtaking!! I would love to hang it in my house!! I am just a beginner but this literally made me stop and take a deep breath when I saw it! I think you should get an A+ on that assignment!

[fannyanna]

Thanks for your comments and 4ndrew thanks for the tip about ISO.

[tlpphoto]

Well done image of the waterfall. As 4andrew mentioned, that bottom right corner is wonderful. Have you thought about an image of just that area/ The rocks would provide a wonderful frame for this hidden waterfall.

I also agree with the comment on the aperture. Most lenses will not be at the sharpest at F/22. General rule of thumb is 2 stops down from wide open -- so if you maximum aperture is F/4, then somewhere around F/8 is where you will capture your sharpest image. I'm a little confused by 4andrew's suggestion on the ISO though. You would need to reduce your ISO to keep the same shutter speed, but you are already at ISO 100. So, that means either using ND filters or perhaps a polarizer would help. Craig Tanner at The Mindful Eye provides a good video on the relationship between aperture and sharpness.

Beautiful image.
Tim

[EOBeav]

You got the exposure just right. Very well done. For places like this, you can look for individual areas and get several different comps, including that area in the lower corner. Nice job.

[4ndrew]

Originally Posted by tlpphoto

You would need to reduce your ISO to keep the same shutter speed

Yep...Tim is totally right. Not sure where my brain was that day.





andrew

[dakwegmo]

I love the choice of subject (waterfalls are one of my favorite things to shoot) and the composition is very nice, as mentioned the window in the lower right corner is very cool. However, I disagree with the exposure being just right. To me, it looks a little too dark. It's nothing that a levels adjustment in Photoshop couldn't fix, but still a little too dark for my tastes. The other thing that stood out to me is that the image looks black and white except for a hint of pink or orange in that window area. I realize this is a color scene, but that splash of color is distracting, so I would probably go ahead and covert it to black and white to eliminate that distraction.Otherwise I think it's a great shot. I'm especially impressed at how sharp it is given both the tiny aperture and the long shutter speed. Very well done.

Edit: One other note that has nothing to do with the image itself but your Flickr account. I'd change your Flickr account settings so only you have access to the original size. Currently, anyone can download the full resolution image.

[chrisj1968]

this shot is like drugs for the eyes. you are truly talented anna. I like the shot as is. I agree that window of rocks is alluring but it seems to be the central theme to this shot.

IMHO, to crop or recompose that shot for the rock window would ruin or take away from this original shot. just my opinion.

[SwissJon]

Very nice..

From one amateur to another, just a couple of comments..

I think you could probably bump up the fill light slightly in post processing to put just a little more detail in the rocks. Somehow, for me, it's just a little too dark.

Also, is this the entire waterfall or was there more too it.. Your cropping seems just s smidge too close.. I'd like to have seen a little more of the cascade to the left and some more of the rocks on the right, but if there was anything distracting there, you were right with this crop.

But I mean, jeez.. I'm picking holes in silk.. Lovely photo, just the right length of exposure, any shorter and you'd start getting static drops, any longer and you'd get mist, at this speed you've got movement.. Brilliant. ND filters would have helped you open the lens without making the exposure longer, but hey, if you don't have any, what can you do? Working with what you did have I think you've done damned well. Now where's that clapping smilie?