Waterfalls/stream ND filter - first attempt. C&C please what would you do.

jimqjr

Hello Everyone.
Thanks for looking. I am not a landscape person I am trying. I look at others pictures and try to do my best. This is my first attempt at water and using an ND filter. I think this one is good though I would love to hear how to make it better.
Thanks so much for taking the time.

hawkeye978

I think you were able to achieve the flowing water look you were looking for. I would suggest two things. First, the picture is somewhat overexposed. If you shot raw, I would go back and back off on the exposure setting. Even if you shot jpeg you can make some exposure adjustments. It looks like the water is close to blown out in the whiter regions. The same thing is happening in the sky. You can probably crop the sky away completely just above the rocks in the background and improve the composition. I think you want your subject to be the stream and that would help bring definition.

You have a nice area to shoot and I think some adjustments in exposure and composition will get you what you want.

grimace

hawkeye978 wrote: »

I think you were able to achieve the flowing water look you were looking for. I would suggest two things. First, the picture is somewhat overexposed. If you shot raw, I would go back and back off on the exposure setting. Even if you shot jpeg you can make some exposure adjustments. It looks like the water is close to blown out in the whiter regions. The same thing is happening in the sky. You can probably crop the sky away completely just above the rocks in the background and improve the composition. I think you want your subject to be the stream and that would help bring definition.

You have a nice area to shoot and I think some adjustments in exposure and composition will get you what you want.

I agree with Tom. It looks like you were able to get the water flow you wanted but the main falls are a little overexposed.

Nice looking area. Try looking for a closer and lower angle to lesser the amount of sky in the shot.

jimqjr

hawkeye978 wrote: »

I think you were able to achieve the flowing water look you were looking for. I would suggest two things. First, the picture is somewhat overexposed. If you shot raw, I would go back and back off on the exposure setting. Even if you shot jpeg you can make some exposure adjustments. It looks like the water is close to blown out in the whiter regions. The same thing is happening in the sky. You can probably crop the sky away completely just above the rocks in the background and improve the composition. I think you want your subject to be the stream and that would help bring definition.

You have a nice area to shoot and I think some adjustments in exposure and composition will get you what you want.

Thank you for taking the time. I do see now what you are saying, all part of the learning process. I wasn't smart not shooting in raw. The purpose of the day was to try to get some great pictures. Was a great day my 17 year step daughter wanted to go, how do you say no? So I rushed some pictures in and we spent some great time together. I will work on this one and see if I can make it better. I do have others I will need to look better at the blown out areas. Composition this is why I submitted the picture. I want to be abe to match someo of the works of art that are submitted to this site. I will work on this picture and see if I can clean up the issues. Cropping I can do fixing the over exposure, will hope for that one. Now I understand what the blinkys are for on my camera. To tell me what is blownout.
This is such a great site. Thanks again..

jimqjr

Hello Tom,

Thanks again for the comments. I have attached another picture if you have the time to look at. I think this one is pretty good as far as the exposure issues. Now maybe there are just some composition issues.

The other one I messed with and have decided that it is just not a good picture. I liked it, I felt good about, I learned from it. When I messed with the composition I no longer cared for it.

Yea, Yosemite it is a beautiful place. I can't believe that it has been at least 37 years since I have been there.

hawkeye978

Really nice shot of Bridalveil (I think that's Bridalveil). You're right the exposure is right on. If it was me I would make some local exposure adjustment to help guide the viewers eye.

The subject is the falls, but the bright sky distracts somewhat. You may want to think about applying an exposure gradient to the top of the picture to darken the sky somewhat and another exposure gradient to the bottom to brighten the foreground. You may also want to dodge the falls to lighten them slightly to draw the viewers eye.

Nice shot!

jimqjr

hawkeye978 wrote: »

Really nice shot of Bridalveil (I think that's Bridalveil). You're right the exposure is right on. If it was me I would make some local exposure adjustment to help guide the viewers eye.

The subject is the falls, but the bright sky distracts somewhat. You may want to think about applying an exposure gradient to the top of the picture to darken the sky somewhat and another exposure gradient to the bottom to brighten the foreground. You may also want to dodge the falls to lighten them slightly to draw the viewers eye.

Nice shot!

Now all I can say is thanks again.
I know that you are now talking photoshop. I have it and that is about where I fall apart. Lightroom I can kinda figure out. Photoshop I usually do more damage than good. I do own a few plug ins maybe one of those will do what you suggested.

Here are two more. If you care....I think more composition stuff. I like both photos I like the landscape photo the best though the cars make me crazy. So I think number 1 is better. Maybe my problem is that the Tree was getting some great light though how do you make a good picture with halfdome looking in the back ground and yet the tree is what caught my eye, well here we go and the reflection in the stream of halfdome.
#1

#2

jimqjr

Okay, so this was about waterfalls and the use of an ND filter. I get off track. Here is another waterfall, there does not appear to be the exposure issues. Composition? I am looking for a better picture of the original post when I came across this one. Thanks for your help and direction.

jimqjr

jimqjr wrote: »

Hello Everyone.
Thanks for looking. I am not a landscape person I am trying. I look at others pictures and try to do my best. This is my first attempt at water and using an ND filter. I think this one is good though I would love to hear how to make it better.
Thanks so much for taking the time.

#1 posted and exposure fixed with a better picture. See #2 below.

#2 fixed exposure issues by using a different picture. Except for the light areas in the trees. How would you crop it it make it to make a better picture. Thanks

JC

I like your 11:17 post shot.

Composition wise, I like the trees at the top cropped out completely, and some of the rocks on the right cropped out to move the main waterfall out of the center of the image. If you'd been able to move more to the left when you originally shot to put the first cascade more to the right you might have had more to work with (but that might not work without getting your feet wet.

(caveat- I'm looking at your images on a notoriously dark desktop LCD, so on your monitor, or others' the levels on this picture may be good- in which case the following may be irrelevant).

If you learn to do one thing in photoshop (or gimp, or whatever program you use), learn to use the curves function.

Pull up this photo in photoshop and go to apply curves. Look at the histogram of the image, all the dark rocks are dominating a large cluster in the left side of the histogram (low pixel values=dark pixels). Try adding a point (or a couple) to that linear line imposed over the histogram, and dragging the line up a little bit over the dark cluster, so you get a slightly steeper line where your dark values are clustered. See what happens when you move those points around. I think the image looks better with more detail brought out in the rocks via adjusting the curves. If you do it subtly, you can bring out more details in the rocks, really accentuate the lichen, and still keep the dramatic contrast between the light water and the dark setting.

I think there are some good tutorials on the use of curves in the post processing forum here.

hawkeye978

Ok, where to begin. First, the adjustments I described on the Bridalveil picture can all be done within Lightroom. You can apply a variety of different gradients and perform local adjustments just the way I described without going into Photoshop.

To get a more detailed discussed of what I'm talking about go to Muench University. Here is a link to the last page that talks about what I described. On that page Marc talks about how to apply an exposure gradient top and bottom to provide depth to the picture. You can do the exact same thing in Lightroom (maybe even a little easier). Read through all 12 pages of the discussions that Marc has with a variety of photographers on their pictures. There is a wealth of information on composition, quick fixes, and general concepts on how to draw a viewer into your pictures.

I would suggest you do some reading on composition to get a better idea of fundamental concepts. Here is an online link to some of the basics. Also, I particularly like a book by Michael Freeman on composition. It has a lot of useful information and you can probably get it from your local library.

As far as the Half Dome shots. I like the reflection of Half Dome in the water but it's kind of lost in the rest of the picture. I think whenever you sit down with a picture in post processing, the first thing you should decide is what is the subject. Once you decide, perform a crop to emphasize your subject. Maybe with the vertical, make a more severe vertical crop so that you just have Half Dome and the reflection. I would suggest reading and playing. #2 has some interesting features but they are somewhat disjointed. You have a nice leading line formed by the stream with the reflection of Half Dome but that line leads you away from looking at Half Dome. The stream gives you a nice foreground element but it leads you away from the rest of the picture. A current compositional style for landscape photography is to have three elements in the picture, a strong foregound object, another subject in the midfield, and finally background interest. There are some great examples here and here along with a great many of the people on this forum.

The third picture of the stream shows some good compositional elements. You have a strong leading line formed by the stream along with interesting foreground elements. You may want to darken the stream a little to bring out some of the details in the water.

As far as the last picture (the cropped version of where we all started) I would try cropping it further from the top to see how that looks. Perhaps crop it to just above where the stream starts.

Good luck....

jimqjr

Thanks Tom,
I purchased the book by Michael Freeman on composition and I have read it well a good percentage of it. Looks like I need a good person to draw on my photos and explain it. I thought I understood something though I guess I am lost in the translations.
I thought I was pretty smart though I feel like I was just reading another language. Oh, well I will need to work on this one later. I am running off to try my best at AMA Pro Motocross at Hangtown this weekend.
Have a great one and thanks again for all the advice.
Sincerely,
Jim Quaschnick Jr

jimqjr

Hello Kolibri,
Thank you for taking the time to look at my pictures and give me an idea on how to fix them. I will work on understanding curves and how to use it in photoshop. I have heard that one, one to many times.
Thanks again for your response.

CanonFan

jimqjr wrote: »

Hello Tom,

Thanks again for the comments. I have attached another picture if you have the time to look at. I think this one is pretty good as far as the exposure issues. Now maybe there are just some composition issues.

I think the right thiird of this pic should be cropped out , myself. Gorgoeous scape; good work!

I think the right third of the pic should be cropped to help the composition, myself. Great scape; good work!

Ladukebob

Just a thought on that first photo, I have found that when trying to get that kind of shot that any sunlight on any part of the shot will really mess with the exposer. Even with the ND filter. Try to pick cloudy days or wait for the sun to set.

jimqjr

So I cropped the right third. Did that help?

CanonFan

jimqjr wrote: »

I think so .......just my opinion.

PrevailingConditions

jimqjr wrote: »

Okay, so this was about waterfalls and the use of an ND filter. I get off track. Here is another waterfall, there does not appear to be the exposure issues. Composition? I am looking for a better picture of the original post when I came across this one. Thanks for your help and direction.

I have tried to capture this particular waterfall as well, but I didn't like the way mine turned out. I really like the contrast between the water and the trees in the background. The water motion is very nice as well.

In my opinion, this is the shot I like the best of the shots you've posted.

Mike