Waterfall Revisited

[Rick M]

Took a few more shots at this spot with early morning light which illuminated the gorge more. This is a 3 shot HDR, was in the low twenties, lots of frost and ice!

 

[RickSawThat]

Very nice, has a cold winter feel to it.

 

[Ruidoso Bill]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr! made me go get my sweater! I like this one much better, the crop is a whole lot better, less foreground distraction and I can see the tops of the trees. I like the range between the whites and the blacks, got some great range this time. I forget what you said at the top was a distraction, not now. Good job and thanks for sharing, it was worth the 20's to get the capture.

 

[silvertip]

How about some exif data for the photos. BTW great use of HDR. I agree with Yibel there is good range between the whites and blacks. Winter landscapes, to me, look better in BW than color. Maybe because there is not much color in the winter.

 

[Browncoat]

Rick, this is much better! The added bonus of HDR has added some much needed contrast from your first attempt, and I agree with Bill on the crop a lot nicer here as well.

The falls have a silky look to them, they almost look 3D and really jump out at you. Well done, sir!

 

[Sambr]

I too like this better and agree with Bill & Anthony.

 

[Rick M]

Thanks for the feedback guys, now I have gotten the silky waterfall behind me, one of those things I wanted to learn/do. Actually learned quite a lot over the past two weeks doing this.

Exif Data:

All shots at 28mm F29 no filters (need to get some!) 100 ISO

+2EV=1.6 sec
0EV=1/2.5 sec
-2EV=1/10 sec

 

[ThePilot]

The picture lacks contrast and sharpness if i may say so. Lacks DOF.
Nice effort though.

Iain

 

[Rick M]

The picture lacks contrast and sharpness if i may say so. Lacks DOF.
Nice effort though.

Iain

I've found this true with some of my HDR Images. I think it is a result of the layering of the 3 images and the amount of altering in the HDR program. For the most part, I think a single image will always be sharper and retain more DOF.

 

[ThePilot]

I'm not sure that this image needed HDR to make it work. A black and white conversion using channel mixer and adjustment layers of levels etc would probably have worked better.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Iain

 

[Rick M]

I'm not sure that this image needed HDR to make it work. A black and white conversion using channel mixer and adjustment layers of levels etc would probably have worked better.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Iain

The biggest problem I continued to have at this spot was the top being blow out due to the lighting. Even early in the morning I could not catch it behind me. I'm going to go back late winter/ealy spring and see if I can get better lighting. Instead of just the time of day, this spot needs to be visited at the right time of year. Faceing the falls it would appear I am faceing south east. Any other suggestions on how to deal with the tree line blown out? HDR did seem to help control it a bit. Thanks!

 

[Rick M]

Here is the orginal raw

 

[ThePilot]

One shot to expose falls properly and one for the sky.
Combine in photoshop using layers so that the sky looks right. It is sometimes called merging or exposure fusion. Check web for How To tutorial.
My main issue is with the lack of sharpness. F29 will cause diffraction and loss of sharpness. Try no smaller than F16 and use an ND filter, or polariser even, to get your shutter slow enough. There should be plenty DOF then and on a tripod shot should be sharp.
You could try an ND Grad for the sky but trees might be too dark.

HTH
Iain.

 

[Rick M]

Thanks Iain! I will definitely be investing in a good filter before I revisit this spot. Will have to look into stiching also, thanks for the ideas!

 

[rocky]

Great image!