Storybook Falls

Just got back from a week out of town, on the way back I manged to explore some of the Southern Cascades scenic areas I had never been to before.

Here is a waterfall many of you will recognize however like me, may not have seen a perspective from the base. It was about 20 minutes after sunset here and I set a long 8 seconds exposure to soften the water. I knew I was working with a great scene so I set my camera to the lowest possible sharpening, contrast, and color settings so I could really work it in PS.

Turns out I didn't have to do that much. I applied a 75% opacity "digital velivia" layer from the (free) TLR actions set, punched up the high end just a bit and dodged some highlights on the rocks.

I wonder about more contrast or a crop, how would you make this image better in your eyes? Thank you for your comments and critiques!

Canon Pro1; two horizontal 28mm shots merged; 8 seconds at f/8, ISO 50; Polarizer, ND8 Filter.

I've never seen these falls, which one is it? It's a beautiful falls.

I like the image, Andy. Nice execution. As a matter of personal preference, I do tend to favor shots nearer to the top of these falls though.

I really like this Andy. I wanted to see this on my good monitor at home before commenting. I'm glad I waited. I love the colors and the muted light. However I think that I'll need a really large print to inspect before I make a final judgement

When you say "merged" do you mean stitched, or blended? either way, nice job

Totekee Falls, Zack, what did you think of the image? Thanks Marc and Curtis, it was two pictures stitched together.

Interesting angle, Andy - the columnar basalt gives this away as Toketee Falls right away, but the weird part is that this low view conceals the upper portion of the falls! Here's the "traditional view on Bryan's site.

The water detail in the falls is excellent, especially considering an 8 second exposure! All but the upper right corner could use just a bit more contrast and saturation, if my monitor is to be believed.

Tom

Interesting angle... I miss the upper falls a bit, but this is a unique perspective !

I've never seen these falls... So, I love it, Andy. The colors are soothing and the columns of rock accentuate the "verticalness" of both rocks and water. I'd like to see a crop off the top, as I think it strengthens the falls and rocks in the comp and lets the eye drift down easily into the alluring pool and water flowing toward the viewer's feet.

How the heck do you get to the bottom? I've seen one or two pictures shot from there before, but that canyon is deep and steep, and I could never figure out where to start from. Further downstream? A very nice shot, btw. Gonna definitely need to try that comp out when I'm down there next month.

Bryan, ask him about getting to the bottom of Loowit Falls - he's been there, too... and without ropes!

Tom

Thank you for the feedback, all. I have a cropped version catherine now that you mention it, I go back and forth between the two. Bryan, right as you begin to descend the stairs to the platform, there is a large boulder on the right side of the trail. Use that to steady yourself and hop over the fence here. Then, continue down the left side and scramble to the base. There is a short 15 or so foot section of class 3/4 scramble but it isn't bad at all. Coming up is easier than down!

I like it, Andy. I think I'd stretch out the top a bit with a perspective crop, since it looks sort of pinched by the wide angle looking up.

Sweet, I'll definitely have to do that. Tom - I've heard of people getting to the bottom of Loowit before, so thats no surprise. I was just especially curious here because I've seen shots with probably 600-800 cfs coming over the falls and that would render the up-the-river route absolutely out of the question, so I figured there had to be another way down.

The only way to the bottom of Loowit that I'd heard about was the hard way (and that has happened a number of times over the years, too!). What surprised me about Andy's route was that he followed the west side of the gorge at High Bridge downstream to Loowit. I guess it makes sense, since that's how you'd get to that side of the stream, but it has always looked pretty vertical over there to me. I'll have to take a better look next time.

Andy, since you're out there scaling mossy cliffs, did you happen to see the photo I posted of Twister Falls over on Portland Hikers, taken from high up on the far side of the canyon? Seems like a shot that is just made for you. The only trick is fording Eagle Creek, but if you don't mind getting a little wet...

Tom

no tom, i haven't, I even just went there and sucked up bandwidth searching for it but couldn't find it, do you have a link. Sounds like it would be right up my alley, I love it when you have to cross the streams

Sheesh... I tried to find it, but I think it's in the dreaded "photo of the day" thread from hell... so to make it a bit easier, here's a link to the actual image:

Twister Falls on Eagle Creek

I used to think this was taken from the air with a long lens, but after looking at a photo of the canyon below Twister Falls (that Jeff Black posted) with snow on the ground, it was suddenly apparent that there is a route up the opposite side, and an obvious viewpoint where this was taken from. That said, it would still be a rough trip going over there! The descent from the trail to the creek is straightforward, and the crossing looks pretty reasonable too... just not sure about the ascent of the far slope!

Tom

woah...

Something tells me this just got added to your bushwhack calendar, Andy...

Tom