I skipped work in the morning to shoot this. I knew the colors at the Portland Japanese Gardens would be on fire. I love the pool at the base of the falls because of the wirlpool effect it likes to give. Providing the exposure is long enough. I used a Circular Polarizer along with a 3 Stop Neutral Density filter stacked to get the exposure to 30 seconds. A bit risky due to the wind that was blowing that morning. But I caught a window where it died long enough to catch a few shots. I did not do too much in post. I applied a contrast mask to bring out the shadows on top, then did a levels adjustment layer to get my black and white points set. I applied a curves adjustment layer to correct the color cast. Then I applied a Brightness Contrast layer to help the overall contrast and to bring out the color just a little more. I hope you enjoy it..
Thank you all for the support! I cannot believe another ribbon. Here is the unedited file for you to compare.
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 239 Avg (all users): 7.3944 Avg (commenters): 8.4762 Avg (participants): 7.2000 Avg (non-participants): 7.5684 Views since voting: 21266 Views during voting: 481 Votes: 180 Comments: 72 Favorites: 71 (view)
I cropped it because of the distracting reflection of the sky at the very bottom.
Originally posted by talmy:
But aren't those swirling fish? Great idea to feature them by going with a very long exposure, "longer than normal". With a typical 1 second exposure I always found them a distracting blur.
The swirl is not the fish. It is a lot of fallen leaves that got trapped in the current. The exposure was set for 30 seconds. I accomplished the exposure by stacking a circular polarizer with a 3 stop neutral density filter and shooting at f14 at ISO 100. The shot was taken at about 9:30 in the morning.
But aren't those swirling fish? Great idea to feature them by going with a very long exposure, "longer than normal". With a typical 1 second exposure I always found them a distracting blur.
One of the best shots I have seen here on dpc. I absolutely love the colours, the movement, the warmth, the joy and serenity of this shot.
Fantabulous shot, wonderful achievment. Was really happy when I clicked on that 10 :)
I didn't realize there was anything like this at the gardens. I've only been there once, but I was disappointed with the place and haven't been back. It certainly looks a lot different in your photo. It's a very dynamic image. Well done!
Two reds in a row. Not a bad start! Excellent capture. I had seen a similar shot you had in your portfolio, and I think I like this one better. Congratulations on your ribbon.
Um..... never mind... I was mistaken. I thought I had clicked on the "Wind" challenge... (I prolly should not drink before commenting) I apologize for any comment that was inapropriate (and in retrospect... it seems all of them were) as a long exposure it was just fine for the challenge... as wind it was not. But it was not entered in wind....
Well this was the "Long Exposure II" Challenge and not the "Wind" Challenge. Sorry if your upset that the voters voted correctly and you are the one who missunderstood.
As nicely done as this is... it is not wind... it is water. Who the heck votes on these things? Are they friends and such? Are they voting on a purely, "Purdy things" scale?????? It is a whirlpool... W-A-T-E-R...
Sorry if I took a bit of shine off your ribbon... but are the voters actually thinking? The challenge was wind. You submitted a water shot... Maybe I just don't get it.
And yes, wirlpool does have an "h" in it...
I just don't get it....
Wind... water..... maybe ya could have won first place with a fire pic...
Thank you for your votes everyone! I really appreciate it. I cannot believe I made the top 10 after I was done voting on all the strong images in this competition. Now if I could just do something other than a red. LOL!!
Congratulations! Great image. I did two of these last month--I so wanted to do this for this challenge, but I didn't have a location to shoot with leaves (I took the others at the Ithaca GTG where there's no shortage of waterfalls). Nicely done!
This is wonderful...when I first saw it I thought this is really nice and gave you an 8, but the more I have looked at it the more I like it, a real grower! you are now my number 10 for the challenge, my fav in the comp. well done.
I would have liked to see a little more to the left of the shot, the swirl seams to lead the eye out of the shot,I still think it is a very good shot, and should do well, my vote: 8
The Swirling Leaves
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