Secret Falls

[RussHeath]

Hello, all. It's been a while since I posted any shots, so here's a little something. C&C welcome as always.

[matthewchj]

Nice shot!! Love the water and the texture of the rocks.

[RussHeath]

Matthewchj -- Thanks!

For Clockdoc -- We've been having a discussion in another thread about two photos (this one and Fall Aspen). He had asked what this picture looked like before the HDR conversion with photomatix. It's a single RAW file that I used to make a pseudo-HDR and then tone mapped. Attached is a simple conversion of the RAW file to a jpeg. The differences I notice are that the overall picture in the jpeg is darker, but the whites in the waterfall are already verging on blown out. I think this photo was a nice one for simple conversion of a single RAW to HDR, because the dynamic range is not so broad that you really need several frames, but the overall composition benefits from a slight increase in the dynamic range. All opinions welcome.

[gina4xoxoxo]

Quick question: What's the EXIF on that waterfall pic, especially the shutter speed? I LOVE the velvety look of the water... just stunning

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by gina4xoxoxo

Quick question: What's the EXIF on that waterfall pic, especially the shutter speed? I LOVE the velvety look of the water... just stunning

Gina -- Thanks so much! EXIF is: 0.4sec, f/8, ISO 100, 18mm. I think it's not available on flickr because after I processed it with photomatix I saved it as a .tiff, and the EXIF seems to have been lost in the process. I actually used serveral different shutter speeds with shutter priority on this shoot, and the shorter ones, like this 0.4 seconds seemed to get the same look for the water without being quite long enough for me to blur everything else. I was shooting with a monopod and most of the 1sec exposures turned out poorly.

[clockdoc]

Many thanks for posting the jpg for comparison. I can see more depth in the shadow detail in the tone mapped version and , as you suggested, the whites are on the edge in the jpg. Looks like you are enjoying Photomatix! 8-)

[RussHeath]

Clockdoc -- You're very welcome. Interesting to note the recent blog entry "100 Things I've Learned About Photography," number 62 is to minimize use of Photomatix. I think this can definitely cross a line between a supportive tool in a bag of tricks and an obsession that causes me to tripod and bracket every shot I take! Hopefully it will find a place in my photos that is not overwhelming, but it's so fun to play. . .