This is a cut of the waterfall Andersjöåfallet in Härjedalen, Sweden.
I wanted the water the be somewhat energetic, so not that long shutter speed.
Specific Feedback Requested:
All comments are welcome!
Is the water well treated?
I kept the orange leaf in the LRC. Does it add or is it just disturbing?
The green color?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
No
f/22, 1/15 sec., ISO 200, Olympus lens 300 mm (600 mm equiv.), Olympus camera OM-D E-M1X
First of, I think this is a gorgeous composition. I think the criss crossing of all the water flow is just perfect for this cut. It is complex but not busy. If it were mine, I would prefer a tiny bit longer shutter speed. The thought that first came was “there might not be enough water flow” rather than energy. Re: the leaves, I don’t mind it in the small scale but when looking at it large, it’s somewhat fuzzy from the water, I think I prefer it cloned out.
Too funny, for me the shutter speed is just right for conveying energy. I do agree with Adhika that the leaf is a bit of a distraction from the waterfall. I really like the comp you chose here. It captures the essence of the fall in a very intimate way.
Really enjoying this composition Ola. The balance of inflows on the right and left nicely frame the main fall. There is a good deal of texture in the rocks themselves, so the added texture of the water at a quicker SS competes for attention to my eye. This of course is a personal preference, but as you can tell, I would prefer a slower SS to help create textural contrast with the jagged rocks and moss. Oh, and another vote for cloning the leaf.
I like the criss-crossing composition, it creates a lot of nice diagonal lines. I also think you have good spacing around the four edges as well.
I’ll add my vote to that of @Jim_McGovern I would prefer to see less texture in the water (via a slower shutter speed). My personal preference would be for a strong visual contrast of silky smooth water against the sharper textures of the rocks. As Jim said, its a matter of personal preference.
I would clone away the orange leaf in the LRC, it has high visual weight and pulls my eye away from the center. To me this image is about mossy rocks and water, the leaf does not add anything for me.
Some mixed opinions on the water texture. I only used one shutter speed, so I do not have any other images to compare with. Based on the comments, I got interested in to see what a more softer water would do to the image. Since no other shutter speeds, I started to think how softer water instead could be achieved in post-processing This is what I come up with:
Create a copy of the original image. Soften everything in that image untill the water got silky enough.
Open the original image, and add the softened image as a texture
Blend the softened water into the original image using the paint brush
The rework is posted at the top. It is not perfect, but gets an idea of how a longer shutter speed may have looked like.
I love the ingenuity of your repost work, Ola. Well done. I would never have thought of that technique. I like the repost very much. Like I said earlier the original works well for me too. But the repost is an awesome way to envision a different shutter speed.
