A Couple of Cascades

No, not the Cascade Mountains but waterfalls under a couple of Colorado 14ers. I shot these at the end of last month. The first is of Crestone Needle below lower South Colony Lake. Shot on Velvia 100. The contrasty Velvia (and a grad ND) made the trees in the upper right very dark, but I still really like the view from this spot.

EDIT: I see that there is a little bit of a halo around the trees, it is probably because of .jpg compression since it does not appear on the hi-res version.

Here's one of Quandary Falls on the McCullough Gulch Trail near Breckenridge with Quandary Peak in the background. Shot on Velvia 50.

Joshua, #1 is stunning. Beautiful comp. The pink sky is wonderful. On the second one the sky doesn't seem to interesting to me. I think I would like to see more of the wonderful waterfall.

That first one is outstanding, Joshua. The second one is nice but lacks the immediate impact of the first. A little less sky works better for me. Nice work!

Love #1.

On #2, An interesting comp comes out if you crop away the mountain and sky.

Are you shooting these on 35mm?

Mel-

I agree that #1 is fantastic. On #2 I think it loses punch with the bluebells in the foreground when the waterfall is the star here. I've done this myself a lot, trying to come up with a diff water/stream comp, but sometimes a certain element just needs to be front and center...


I do like Mel's crop suggestion...

I like these both a lot, but I agree the second has too much sky, and the mountain is pretty foreshortened, loses some impact. It's a beautiful cascade, though, and I'd love to see some other comps and perspective from this location.

Wow, Joshua, that 1st one rocks! I was just there Sunday and the amount of water in the creek was quite a bit less to the degree I never thought about taking it. Now I wish I had!
One other comment: I thought this was Crestone Peak and the Needle is just to the left out of this photo. But I didn't have a map with me to confirm that.

Joshua, the first one is amazing. The composition is right on with the placement of the stream. Really Beautiful.

My vote is for #1, it's stunning!

I find both shots to be very nice, #1 has more to offer than #2, but I still find both enjoyable.

Joshua, # 1 is a stunner -- definitely worthy of a place on the wall. I agree with the rest on #2, the waterfall and flowers are more compelling than the peak itself, but its still a nice shot -- just not as nice as #1.

Great shot with #1, well worth the trip!

Yeah, #1 is a perfect morning shot. Well done! (And I wholeheartedly agree with crop suggestions on #2.)

Thanks for the comments everyone! These were shot on 35mm Mel. I did shoot some tighter shots of Quandary Falls, so I'll have to take a second look at those. Don, the Needle is the prominent mountain from this view, although Crestone Peak is visible too, just to the left of the trees. The two look very similar at upper South Colony Lake and it is hard to tell them apart.

The first one is a beauty! A tighter crop of the peak and falls would work well too, but I like it how it is also.

#1 -

Gorgeous color and light, great comp, beautiful cascades and healthy flowers... can't ask for more and you pulled them together wonderfully. Great work.