A little waterfall

LiquidAir · April 23, 2007

I am trying to capture the little waterfall up the road from my house before it goes dry for the season. Here is my first attempt. Any thoughts for where I should take it from here?

philiphutson · April 23, 2007

Try the shot early morning or later afternoon or overcast so there is even lighting or better yet when light is hitting the waterfall only its self. Since its just down the street from your house try different times of days. Right now with the light hitting the rocks my eyes move to the rocks that are just rocks. The other thing try filling the frame with the rock in front or the grass. Of course filling the frame with the waterfall its self would work also.
The biggest thing is to just move around. I think there is potential there with all the green around there.
-Philip

LiquidAir · April 23, 2007

Thanks for your suggestions. The waterfall is actually in a pretty tight box canyon. I shot near the end of the light in the afternoon; another hour and there is no sun at all. However, there might be suin the morning. I'll have to go poke around there to see when the light first makes its way in. As for moving around, the tripod location is pretty precarious--there is a small chasam between it and the pond. That said, you are right; when I got to processing the shot I found some nice possibilies in the foreground. I will go back and see if I can find another stance for the tripod.

philiphutson · April 24, 2007

Even if you can't move the tripod it looks like you could zoom in and get just that rock in the foreground and the waterfall behind. Not sure what lens you are using but the shot you posted there looks like there is a lot of space above. I'm just guessing but it looks like you could zoom in and angle the lens down a bit to get the rock and the falls. Of course I wasn't there and my suggestions are probably completely useless.
-Philip

Marc Muench · April 24, 2007

Of course I wasn't there and my suggestions are probably completely useless.
-Philip[/quote]

I think you are right on Phil, here is the falls and the rocks only, which I think make for a nice composition

LiquidAir.jpg

LiquidAir · April 24, 2007

I like that crop. Looking at it I am thinking maybe I should burn the rocks on the left down a bit. In my first pass on the shot I progressively burned the highlights toward the left side of the frame with the idea that the gradient would lead the eye to the waterfall. However, when I see the cropped shot, I can see how distracting the rocks just to the left of the waterfall are. I'll give that a go. Thanks for your help.

gchappel · April 25, 2007

An old teacher of mine- back when we still used film- always said to never shoot a waterfall on a sunny day. A dull day does let us shoot and not blowout the highlights. It also allows a longer shutter speed for a smoother look- if that is what you are after. So, just a thought- don't forget about going there on a rainy dull day- it might surprise you.
Gary
gchappel

philiphutson · April 26, 2007

Marc Muench wrote:

Of course I wasn't there and my suggestions are probably completely useless.
-Philip

I think you are right on Phil, here is the falls and the rocks only, which I think make for a nice composition

LiquidAir.jpg[/quote]

That's exactly what I was thinking.
-Philip

A little waterfall

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