
by Vance Gese
Thank you for all the great comments on the last image.
This small waterfall is just below the larger Liberty Falls which is near Chitina, Alaska. The small falls, the crystal clear water and the beautiful colors in the rocks drew me to this scene. The old spruce snag laying across the falls has been pointed out to be a major distraction but I thought it added a nice line to the image. Would appreciate your thoughts and comments.
4x5, 120mm, Ektachrome 64 (pre Velvia days), polarizer. Flat bed (M1) scan, Tony Kuyper's masks and such.
Large image attached.
Thanks.
Comments
12 commentsI really like those rocks in the foreground and how they merge into the water. The foreground trunks do a good job of drawing my eye there, as does the fan of the white water. I don't find the trunk distracting; I think it adds something. It helps that it's very slender and works well with the line of the foreground trunks; there's a nice circulation between those two lines. The only thing I do find a bit distracting is the darkness of the rocks in the upper left. I love how that little sheen in the rocks on the right side rescue it from being too dark and I wish there was a little texture on the left as well.
PS. I misunderstood which snag was offensive. The snag crossing the falls is fine. The one hanging below it could be argued as being intrusive but that's really being picky and I'm not sure that it doesn't add an element of interest. Maybe darken it's highlights?
The Ektachrome 64 with added 2 stop loss Polarizer did an amazing job in this dark low light area. To be honest it is astounding it came out this well and no visual noise too. Well done on the technical scale with the 4x5......
As far as the debate on the snag, I do not see any issue with the one being mentioned at the waterfall area at all. However, the tiny snag poking in on the middle RHS is an item I would remove with a cloning or more simply with a Content Aware. To me that would be an item on a large print I'd eliminate for sure....
Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.
Ed
A dark, yet it's got a light, almost mystical mood to it. One can't help but be drawn in to this. I like this a lot. Of course, it tugs at me emotionally since the large format is just a memory now.. ;-)
I would have first guessed Velvia given the shadows. but the clean whites and the aquas in the water make for a beautiful color image.
The fallen spruce doesn't bother me at all, in fact adds to the scene, just as you are thinking. I also think it logs on the right work together with the spruce adding those diagonal lines. Paul had a good idea of cloning out the smaller branch intruding on the right.
Great stuff Vance!
Lon
Albert Darmo
This has a wonderful tranquil feel to me. I like how the tree is propped up against the rock. Gives a bit of interesting detail to look over.