Hi Brian and welcome to the forums! While I like your shutter speed selection for the falls, it lacks anything in the foreground to draw the viewer into the picture. You also might want to try and bring out the shadows more if you ever try thisshot again with a different comp.
Thanks Anthony I think you are correct. I used a strobe and an ebay remote to light the right cliff wall. The only problem is that I was at my max range on the remote. I really need to get a pocket wizard so I can trigger from a longer distance.
Posted by Brian Vance on April 23, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Welcome to the MWNP Brian! I've had Cumberland Falls on my wish list for a couple years, but haven't made a trip there yet. I like the image, but agree with Mike K that it is a bit too tight compositionally. Anthony mentioned he liked the shutter speed, and I'm wondering what it was, and what other settings you used for this shot. I look forward to more posts in the future.
Brian thanks for your interest. I took the shot at 1/13th of a second at f16 using a 28mm Nikkor lens. I also used a Vivitar 285 with a remote to add a little light to the cliff wall. I have additional photos on my smugmug site www.trinityroadimaging.com. There is one shot of the base of the main falls where all the garbage had collected, they are planning a clean up weekend in May.
Posted by Brian Vance on April 24, 2009 at 8:57 AM
Thanks for the additional info. Another way to get more light on the cliff wall would be a bracketed exposure and a HDR merge in Ps. It looks like it was pretty dark in there.
I think I would loose the rock on the lower left and slow the sutter speed down to 1/4 of smooth out the water. This does appear to be a good canidate for HDR to bring out the shadows.
Posted by Bernie Kasper on April 24, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Nice shot Brian, did you get anything else down there I am thinking of making a short trip down there in the next couple of weeks ?
Posted by Chuck Beatty on April 24, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Hi Brian. Welcome to MWNP. As others have mentioned, extending your shutter speed to 1/4 sec or longer would help bring out the details in the shadows and eliminate the need for a flash. It would also give you a smooth, silky waterfall. All of this assumes you are shooting with a tripod.
I spent part of a day photographing in Cumberland Falls S.P. late last week and found the Eagle Falls trail (across the river from the visitor's center in the park) to be the most fruitful. I'll try to post something from the park within the next day or two.
Discussion
13 repliesMike K
brian
I spent part of a day photographing in Cumberland Falls S.P. late last week and found the Eagle Falls trail (across the river from the visitor's center in the park) to be the most fruitful. I'll try to post something from the park within the next day or two.