Enlightenment

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 10, 2010558 views20 comments

Normally this little river is slower flowing, but the high water levels this year produced a lot more airborne mist near the waterfalls (one of which is behind me in this photo), without the mist there wouldn't be sunbeams. This image was made along Minnesota's shore of Lake Superior a week ago.

I did some hand blending for minor highlight control, other than that minor adjustments in contrast and saturation, along with mild application of TK's Luminosity masks.

Comments and critiques are appreciated.

The full-res file does retain all shadow/highlight detail, so if they seem a little off please let me know! Compression may also be apparent.

Thanks,

Ben

5D II - 16-35mm f/2.8 II - CPL
ISO 100 - f/16 - 20 and 5 seconds

Comments

20 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on August 10, 2010 at 6:57 PM

Benjamin,

This is one of the most beautiful intimate scenes I have seen on NPN in a long while. The fact that this is Minnesota is that much more impressive (I grew up in Minneapolis). The mist, light on the water, streaks of movement, greens etc. are all fantastic. You should be extremely proud of this.

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Hackett on August 10, 2010 at 7:03 PM

Benjamin, I like the left hand side of the image. The beams of light and the sun lighting the golden bottom of the stream is, to me, very nice. The right half of the image seem somehow out of sinc with the left hand side. The area just to the right of the green rock in the center of the frame seems kind of blocky for lack of a better term. Or, it might just be me.

Registered on January 12, 2008, 71 Posts, 192 Comments

Comment posted by Taylor Reed on August 10, 2010 at 7:23 PM

Fantastic shot! The beams, the wavy lines in the water, the contrasting colors.. it all comes together nicely. I know how difficult it is to pull off a shot like this in the midwest, bravo

Registered on February 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 556 Comments

Comment posted by Roman Kurywczak on August 10, 2010 at 8:07 PM

Hey Benjamin,
I don't care what part of the world you are in.....pulling off a dramtic shot in mixed light is impressive!!! This may require a bit more tweaking to contrast in the middle of the frame and pulling down the sat in the reds in the FG.......but these are all easy tweaks to taste and doesn't detract that you took an extremely difficult lighting situation......and made it shine!!!

Registered on November 20, 2009, 56 Posts, 748 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on August 10, 2010 at 9:54 PM

Holy hell that's good. And this is in MN!!?? Woah. Looks more like OR. Way to be there. Awesome work

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on August 10, 2010 at 10:07 PM

What a great capture!! There are so many things going on here that keep me interested in looking. Nicely seen and captured.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on August 10, 2010 at 10:25 PM

Very nicely done!...One of those photographs that the eye wanders and wanders.
A big thumbs up!

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on August 10, 2010 at 11:23 PM

A magical shot. Great mix of light, color, textures, and atmosphere.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Mathieu Hoareau on August 11, 2010 at 2:31 AM

Hello Benjamin,

wow spectacular sunbeams

This area is mystical, it seems me really fantastic and the composition is very pleasant

Registered on July 9, 2010, 4 Posts, 120 Comments

Comment posted by Stuart Williams on August 11, 2010 at 4:06 AM

great atmospherics and beams. i like everything about this but the end result, for some reason, looks a little flat but I cannot pinpoint why? maybe a little more contrast in the further away parts of the scene?

Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments

Comment posted by Arnab Banerjee on August 11, 2010 at 10:24 AM

Benjamin: I am not going to comment on technical side of this image (which you have done very well) because it is not necessary in my opinion - this image is more or artistic expression. It invokes surreal emotion in the viewer's mind - I wish more photographs like these are posted here

Registered on January 3, 2007, 313 Posts, 2270 Comments

Comment posted by Joel Hazelton on August 11, 2010 at 11:30 AM

Wow, there are so many beautiful aspects to this image. The combination of curves, lines, light and colors keep me looking at it for a long time. I especially love the "s" curve on the right side of the frame. This is simply stunning

Registered on August 6, 2008, 194 Posts, 1315 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Capurso on August 11, 2010 at 11:54 AM

Wow! That's incredible! The beams of light, the detail in the mossy walls, the illuminated water--all perfect. Outstanding work!

Mark Capurso
Phoenix, AZ

Registered on January 4, 2008, 47 Posts, 321 Comments

Comment posted by Derek Yow on August 11, 2010 at 1:14 PM

Whoaa.. What an amazing scene! I would have never guessed this was taken in MN.
Well done!

Registered on May 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 655 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on August 11, 2010 at 5:23 PM

Wow! I love everything going on here, the light, the composition, the colors.. it's all fantastic. No nits here.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by David W. Kelly on August 11, 2010 at 7:36 PM

Beautiful in everyway. Love the lightrays.

Registered on October 7, 2005, 883 Posts, 6590 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on August 11, 2010 at 10:12 PM

Oh Yeah, love it, no nits, well done!

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on August 12, 2010 at 4:45 AM

This is real nice, Ben--very exotic looking!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Joe Sulik on August 16, 2010 at 11:23 PM

Incredible shot Ben, the North Shore is by far my favorite place on Earth, and this is one of the best North Shore images I've ever seen. I think it really shows the hidden beauty of the North Shore that many don't even realize exist. I'm sure this would make an awesome print. Looking forward to hearing about your trip. Joe

Registered on January 7, 2009, 51 Posts, 165 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on March 11, 2011 at 2:12 PM

Ben,

I'm just looking at this image again after going through your gallery and I can see a very obvious strip which wasn't blended properly (on the right hand side of the middle - next to the mossy covered rock). I'm surprised I never saw this and that others didn't either... re-blend this and then sell it for a lot of $$$$

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments