Hidden gem
by Peter Coskun
While hiking in Mount Rainier to check out bench lake and snow lake we were advised by an older gentleman of a waterfall past the end of the trail. He said it wasn't big or anything, but just a nice view. He sold himself short, because I found this to be a beautiful waterfall. There is only a portion of the waterfall that is visible here, but I found these wildflowers that were just starting to bloom that added a nice contrast of color. Not sure what species they are (bleeding hearts?). Once past the end of the trail, we saw only three other people. On our way back we stopped for a brief snowball fight as there was a large patch of soft powder. A gift for a summer day. Although this was midday light, there was a generous cloud that covered the sun for a few minutes that helped soften the light on the falls and foreground. Comments and critiques appreciated. (also this is suffering from web compression so forgive me).
Canon 7d
Canon 17-40mm
ISO 100
1/2 sec
f22 (Very close to the foreground flowers)
Tripod
CPL
Comments
19 commentsJohn
Ken- I'm not sure if this is quite level as it I can't remember so, but should be somewhere close at least. I wish the branches weren't blocking the top either, but these were the only wildflowers by the falls so the comps were very limited.
Floris- I agree about the fuzziness, but the image here is quite compressed on this site so that adds to the fuzziness. As for the saturation, it looks a bit more saturated here than on my computer, but I can likely tone that down a bit.
The background softness is likely due to inadequate DOF, even at f22 I was still smothering the flowers as they are very small. I considered doing a DOF blend but decided not to in the end. I selectively sharpened the falls to make it more crisp, but the web compression here isn't doing any favors.
This is just lovely. You don't mention anything about processing so I'll assume the light and "glow" is natural? I'm really enjoying the glow, but the eye tells me hints or Orton or fogging of the lens or something? Don't get me wrong, I love the image presented, just a natural curiosity of how this was done.
And those flowers could be a subject all by themselves. Did you get any just filling the frame with those beauties?
Well done all the way around.
Lon
Lon, I usually don't go over my post processing because a lot of times it is just too much to type, but the glow is a combination of an orton like layer and the mist from the falls. Don't let the distance fool you, my lens was still getting water on it at this position. The orton layer probably added too much glow but even more so from web compression here. I'll have to rework this one to see if I can get it to print.
thanks for the response - and the repost is excellent IMHO. I think it's "richer." I like both very much.
Hope you don't think I was trying the squeeze the processing info out of you. Really, I just was asking for my own knowledge and ability in learning to recognize different techniques. In the end, it's the image and what we're trying to portray that matters. Thanks!
Lon
Edit: just saw the repost, much better!