A shot from atop the falls at hug point looking west. It was a beautiful mild evening on the coast last night and I was looking to convey that warm feeling with this image. My first serious attempt at a blended / bracketed exposure. The majority of the image was shot at 17mm F22 1.3sec with a 3 stop GND handheld to control the direct sun and get as much movement from the falls as possible. A second exposure without the GND in place was manually combined at 50% to retrieve detail in the sandstone cliff at right. Im still on the fence over this one as far as processing goes. Not a whole lot was done to the color, saturation, shadows or highlights but im wondering if its still too much. The web conversion seems to have darkened it up a bit more than intended as well. What do you all think?
-Bryan
Posted by Jack Garrett on April 5, 2009 at 3:20 PM
I like this image overall...a little bright where the water comes in from the RH side. Have you tried a crop of just the top half of the image? It looks awesome if you crop just below where the two rocks are on the shoreline. If you crop there, the sun and clouds really make a nice peaceful image..just a thought.
I think there is too much "dark" in the upper right quadrant; can that cliffside be opened up a little more? Also feels a little tight on the bottom, I would like to see a little more of the water flowing into the scene. The color, saturation, and blend look good.
I think the processing is right on. Colors look great. I was on the beach just south of Yachats last night and caught the same sunset. I thought the wispy little "eyelash" clouds were cool.
My main gripe with this shot is that you may have tried to cram two elements into the same scene that just don't lend themselves to a natural composition. The sun and the falls are both compromised in a way. Each one deserves a lot more real estate inside the frame than they were given - if not an entire image to themselves. Nothing technically wrong here, but the comp doesn't sit real well with me.
Posted by John Williams on April 5, 2009 at 11:50 PM
I'll echo both of Mark's comments.
Posted by Bryan Spahr on April 6, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Thanks all for the feedback.
Mark - you're right, it's defninitely looking darker on my work monitor ( I might have to look into whats going on at home.) But either way I should be able to grab alot more detail out of that right side.
Aaron - yea there is a lot going on in this image. I think what caught my eye was the leading line from front to back. As well as the mix of elements. I am definitely pushing the 2/3rd's rule to get all of that cloud in as well.
Jesse - For some reason, those clouds never really got too colorful. I was a little bummed about that. With the right light they could have really popped but no dice .
Discussion
5 replies-Bryan
Jack
My main gripe with this shot is that you may have tried to cram two elements into the same scene that just don't lend themselves to a natural composition. The sun and the falls are both compromised in a way. Each one deserves a lot more real estate inside the frame than they were given - if not an entire image to themselves. Nothing technically wrong here, but the comp doesn't sit real well with me.
Mark - you're right, it's defninitely looking darker on my work monitor ( I might have to look into whats going on at home.) But either way I should be able to grab alot more detail out of that right side.
Aaron - yea there is a lot going on in this image. I think what caught my eye was the leading line from front to back. As well as the mix of elements. I am definitely pushing the 2/3rd's rule to get all of that cloud in as well.
Jesse - For some reason, those clouds never really got too colorful. I was a little bummed about that. With the right light they could have really popped but no dice .