I got to a chance to do some local hiking recently & spent a day following a creekbed where I found this composition.
How does the light look? is there anything I can do to add contrast & depth
does the composition work?
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
Single shot f8.0, 1/10th sec ISO 640
Oh my. This is really really good, Dale. It’s dark but I think that’s a big part of what makes it good. You might try to raise the blacks a bit but be very careful to what it does to the atmosphere. I do think the stream is a bit too bright for all that darkness. I think I would burn in that stream. Yes, I would burn in the stream and dodge that lower left area to be more like the rocks on the right side. But the light penetration and those sweeping trunks are just wonderful. Lots of emotion in this image.
Great scene and atmosphere and the dimness is the reason and for that reason I think evening out some of the luminosity will enhance it. The water is eye catching, and too much so. A lot gets lost in the shadows and so looks a little strange with that bright water. And also it’s too blue for the temperature in the rest of the image. A little tweaking in those areas would do wonders. Such a great location and composition. I also love bendy trees and the arrangement here is strong. You could do some brush work there and make them a little more prominent to balance the water, but that’s subjective. Depends on your intent. Bravo!
Nice image Dale. I really like the light in the top half but agree the bottom need opening up of the rocks. Do love the mood and mystery of the scene
@dalegphoto … this is a great scene and you’ve optimized the light well. The effect here is pretty successful. I agree with @Igor_Doncov that the stream may have been dodged too far as it exceeds the brightness of the sky. Also, the white balance of the water is pretty blue and the remainder of your shadows are warmer…so that is a bit inconsistent to my eye.
As for the overall comp, it is largely unbalanced to the L for my eye. I would either enhance the subtle highlights on the R. 1/3 of the frame, or better - crop out 20-30% of the right side of the frame as it doesn’t offer much to the balance/tension of your bright sky/bright stream elements. I’m afraid if you brightened the highlights on the R. side too much, you’d create confusion and decrease the “power” of your primary and secondary elements (sky/fog and stream).
You have received already excellent comments for the beautiful photo. You have felt and communicated the great emotion for the corner of the nature that you have discovered and this is a very important thing for me.
My tiny contribution: cutting a vertical finger in the left of the composition you may eliminate some disturbing elements and simplify the composition (I have big fingers Dale).
Wow! What a wonderful image this is. I love this composition and other than darkening the stream just a bit it works beautifully for me as it is. Such a wonderful feel / mood this has.
This is an image with a lot of impact, due to its strong lighting. I agree with some of the others comments about the foreground. You need to keep it dark overall, but I think the stream is too bright relative to the surrounding rocks. I think you could balance the luminosity of the foreground better by slightly pulling back the highlights in the stream, and by slightly dodging some of the mossy parts of the rocks which are receiving a bit of light already. The moss on those rocks is great, and I would like to see a bit more detail in them.
WOW!! I don’t know how I missed this one but I’m glad I found it – this is magic light! I think there are some very good ideas above but I wouldn’t lose too much of the magic. The lovely warm glow of the sky is wonderful, as is the cool of the steam.
