Panther Creek Falls

firstdraft33

Hey All,
Recently my daughter and I went hiking and saw Panther Creek Falls in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Below is one of the pictures that I took. While I like the picture, it seems like something could be done to make it better (just not sure what). Any thoughts? CC greatly appreciated.


http://firstdraft33.smugmug.com/gallery/2118952/1/191759266/Medium


Thanks,
Randal

kriyababaji

Hi Randal

I think this shot has enormous potential! Here is how I would have capture this.




Here is why. The psychology of color is such that our eye is attracted to and often times fixated on the brightest element is a scene, in this case the white water to the left in your photo. But the beauty of this photo is the soft water and the rich tones of the moss covered rocks. The white water is not necessary, is over bearing and visually squashes the truly beautifl elements in the image.

Just my opinon, great subject matter. If you can go back maybe try a vertical composition similar to this crop.

Shane

firstdraft33

Thanks for the advice. I understand what you are saying and I agree.
What do you think of this version? Would it be better to crop all the water on the left?

tobers

Second attempt is much better. There's too much white on the left of the first one - a closer crop as in the second, or a wider angle would make the difference.

#2 is cool though

kriyababaji

firstdraft33 wrote:

Thanks for the advice. I understand what you are saying and I agree.
What do you think of this version? Would it be better to crop all the water on the left?

That's much better.

But my eyes would like to see more water. A vertical composition would allow my eyes to follow it's cascading flow over the rocks and moss. The square crop compresses the natural flow of the scene, leaves me wanting to see more of the natural drop the water would travel. I am just not sure if the scene would lend it self to what I am suggesting.

Shane