A Quiet Gem

Just wanted to throw this up before the weekend. I took this at the beginning of last week. I'll have to hit it up under more optimal lighting conditions later on.

I cropped the right side (which was more vine maple) to weight the photo properly.

As I sat there, I got to watch a hummingbird hover around through the gorge. It was one of those transcendent moments...

5D
17mm
F8
25 sec
Polarizer
Climbing Rope and Harness (Just a backup for safety's sake. I didn't have another change of clothes if I got wet...)

Stunning image, Mike. Perhaps one of your best IMO. Dramatic, beautiful and unique perspective on this fantastical place. If I had any critique, it would be the effects of an angled 17mm distorting the ULC falls. You noted that you cropped from the right? Reshooting the scene with a crop off the left side might help diminish this distortion effect. It still flows very nicely though. Great work.

I agree with Marc, this is one of your best! Beautiful image, quite a gem indeed.

Man, I wish the light was better when I was down there last Monday. I've been wanting to shoot this scene for years. Couldn't have been a worse time of day for me to hit it. Very well done.

I love this spot, and you've captured it well. More photogenic than Toketee Falls IMHO. I'm planning on hitting this again along with Whitehorse Falls on the weekend after the Fourth of July to get a vertical of those split streams.

I don't recognize this spot, is it in the Columbia River Gorge?

I also think this is excellent. If I had a nit, it would be the blue cast in the main pool of water. It also has a bit of a noisy or rough look to it.

Beautiful falls, I also don't know where these are...... but you captured them really nicely.

This is just beautiful to look at. And, for me, I like the distortion that 17 mm brings. Isn't that one reason we have a full-frame camera???

If you're really worried about the distortion, remember, you can remove it by hand in PS or with PTLens.

The hummingbird story is just icing on the cake, like for me last summer when one hung out while I took pictures of Mt. Jefferson. It really puts things into perspective, don't you think?

Kevin

Wow, I think this scene is pretty dreamy; a place to sit for hours... just 'cuz... Love the story about the hummingbird.

Zack, this is about 200 feet upstream of Toketee Falls. Theres a herd path that leads down to a perch above the gorge directly across from where the little twin stream spills into the river. You can't see it at all from the trail, but you can listen for it.