Into The Falls

By trying to dodge a huge traffic jam on I-5 yesterday, I ended up on HWY 214 and in the neighborhood of Silver Falls State Park. I hadn't been there in a few years so I thought I'd stop in and check it out. Due to the fact that there were tons of people there, photos were hard to come by. The light was harsh, and most of the area was in shadow, except for a small section of light created by the shadow of the overhanging cliff walls and the low angled sun filtering through the trees. I just waited for a suitable person to walk through the "spotlight" and intentionally underexposed for increased mystery. I try not to get skunked when out with my camera. I think there is always a photo to be made no - matter what the conditions are, and feel this came out pretty well given the circumstances. Hopefully this works for you all.

C&C appreciated

I like the ingenuity you showed in making this shot.....not taking no for an answer so to speak and using your creative abilities to come up with something. This has a film like feel to me. The "spotlight," combined with its proximity to the falls and the sense of scale ( i.e. the man ) make for a really interesting picture, imho. This one is just fun to look at, in spite of the large amounts of darkness. Noise does appear to be fairly prevalent in the falls. Hopefully that can be cleaned up with software.

Aaron,
The traffic in that area was a mess and from a friend told me it was largely due to the tulip festival. I hear it was backed up for miles on the road leading to the fesiva in the woodburn areal.
Kind of a crafty shot with the sliver of light on the falls and the person. The right side does look noisy in spots or is it really?

Thanks, Jay. I think the noise is just an effect of my web sharpening. Either that, or the B&W adjustment layer in PS. I don't normally use that method. Sometimes it causes a film-like noise under certain situations. My RAW file is pretty clean, but I'll go back and investigate.

Wow, Aaron, the sense of scale in this image is magnificent! I really like this and think the b/w conversion adds to the drama in a significant way. The falls looks postively thunderous, the person like a mere speck. That seems to put proportions in just the right measure, one that defies all human ego. Perfect.

The noise is really noticeable to me. I say so only because if I can see it that well in an image this size, it's practically like salt and pepper. I hope your RAW image is not so troubled...

Ouch! 3 strikes in the noise department!

If you guys and gals would be kind enough to elaborate on exactly what you are seeing, I would be grateful. Just to clarify a little bit, some of the "grittyness" around the person is the moss on the canyon walls. it isn't translating real well at this size. Some of it is actually showing through the falls in the right third, and might be what you are seeing. It's also highly possible that I am losing my marbles as well. I dunno. Here is a quick do-over, run through noise ninja plus slightly less web sharpening.

I copied the photo and opened it in Irfan Viewer and zoomed in to 100% or so. I see areas on the right where what I thought was noise actually is the moss as you mentioned. It's on the left too where the flow is a bit thinner, but also is in a couple of places where the flow is greater and I wouldn't expect it. The character doesn't look 100% natural everywhere-- in a couple of spots it almost appears to be in line with the falls, rather than behind it. Perhaps web compression is causing that look.

I'm not supremely confident that my perception is right on with this one, so it'll be interesting to here what others say.

Fantastic, Aaron. I absolutely love your vision and execution here.

You should put this over in Man and Nature also. Well done.

Very cool shot ---- nicely done!

I like how the water shoots out of the blackness and into the soft light then returns to the darkness...
Nice capture.