Punchbowl

Took a hike to Punchbowl Falls about a week ago. I hadn't been there in about 8 years or so. Despite the high dynamic range offered by a sunny day, I got a few good ones.

Here is a longer focal length, taken a half hour or so later when the sun was filtered by trees. It's a two shot hdr processed in Photomatix to look as natural as possible ;-).

Looks great Marylynne, I prefer the 2nd.... nice light love the greens and water.

Thanks, Craig. Here is one taken a half earlier (when contrast was higher) but under exposed and lightened and brightened with LR gradient filters. It has more color and detail in the water (1/15s):

I like them both. Maybe crop out the sky in the first one would be my only suggestion to keep the eye from wandering up there. :)

Same.. love #2

Thanks, Craig, Cliff, and Jack. I was torn between #2 and #3. I like the detail in the water in #3, and the structure in the waterfall as well, but perhaps the foreground detail is a distraction?

Love the second one. I might even go a bit warmer and softer.

Thanks, Erik. by softer, do you mean less sharpness and clarity?

Yes, maybe blowing a little steam on the lens may give it a more dreamy effect or some filter effect. I saw one shot like that a while ago and it came out really nice. don't get me wrong, I like your shot a lot but this might put it over the top.

Mark me down as a #2 fan as well. I think Erik's idea would be a good one to play with. Waterfalls and "mist" seem to go together well, especially in these more intimate shots. You could take a second shot with a misted lens, and paste it in Photoshop as a layer above the original. Playing with the opacity of the misted shot should allow you to dial in the effect to your taste.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to the fog idea. This day job stuff is killing me ;-).

Here are three different treatments designed to give that dreamy feel. Each was done using Nik's ColorEfex filters, and I played around with many of them, choosing these three as the ones I liked best, with moderate levels of intensity or opacity. If you like one better than another, let me know. If I went the wrong way entirely, let me know that too.

The first is the Classical Soft Focus filter

Second one is Graduated Fog filter (tilted to create fog on right upper 1/3rd.

And finally, the Glamor Glow filter, which seems to increase contrast and add dreaminess, very different from what I think y'all were suggesting, but I kinda liked the effect.

I like the third from the last shot best. The falls in the last one looks some what blown out. Now if you could work it so the falls isn't blown out, that would be the ticket!

Thanks, Erik. I'll play with the water.

Very nice collection of Punchbowl images Marylynne. I like the 3rd from the last version the best, since it has the perfect amount of glow for my taste. Good job with this one.