Too Much

[ik631]

I came upon this while hiking and had a hard time composing it. There was so much I wanted to include, the waterfall, train trestle, greenery, old stone wall, puffy clouds (Unfortunately my kids weren't cooperating)... Should some items be cropped out to make it less crowded? Also this is SOOC. Could it benefit from any PP?


Exif:
Canon T1i 18-55 IS kit
1/160
f/16
ISO 200
23mm

Thanks

[phil24]

If you crop it down so it only has the two uprights on the bridge over the water fall, cut a little of the sky down and some off the bottom, it may give it some symmetry and direct your eyes into the water fall. I kind of did a square thing with my hands and it looked like it would work, might have to straighten the bridge a bit. It looks like a beautiful spot to visit and I imagine in fall, depending where it is located in the world, the foliage could be brilliant.

[PrNate]

The flowers in the foreground don't work for me. I think the eye wants to go to the trestle but is distracted by the somewhat indistinct flowers close to me. And there's not enough of the stone wall to be effective. I think your instinct is right, that there's too much here.

[Krusty79]

That's a nice little waterfall there. I'd recommend using that for your primary subject. I personally don't like the trestle in the scene. For me, the rigid, man-made lines don't match the natural beauty of the falls and surrounding plants. The rock wall looks like it has an interesting texture, but it leads the eye out of the frame, so I don't think it's helping.

Therefore, I'd recommend taking a step forward and angling the camera down so the trestle and rock wall are out of the shot. Or even going down to the water level and taking shots with some rocks or branches in the foreground (kids permitting, of course). I think a simpler composition will be more effective, as there are a lot of items competing for attention now.

That's a nice exposure for SOOC.

[ik631]

Thanks for the tips. The bridge is off a bit naturally because the gorge is higher on one side. It threw me off at first when I took it because the I the trail and trestle aren't level. I think I will revisit in the fall since it is only about an hours drive from me and retry again since I now have the ideas for the shots the temperature should be much nicer. If anyone is interested it is Letchworth State Park about an hour from Rochester and Buffalo, New York.

[flytyer57]

My first impression was to get rid of that wall. Use it to get up higher over the vegetation in the foreground. as others have mentioned, the bridge does kind of take away from the natural scene. Photoshop it out or recompose the shot to eliminate it. Also, using a Polarized filter or an ND filter to darken the exposure, you could get a longer exposure time and make that water flowing over the top of the falls a lot smoother.