The true difficulty in obtaining this picture was not processing or exposure, but just getting there. To get to the fall you must ford up the river 1/3rd of a mile. When I say, ford up the river, I mean IN the river. The walls are so steep there is no dry land on either side of the river. I borrowed a friend's drysuit and put the camera and bag in lots of layers of plastic. At its deepest it was almost up to my chest. On my way back some woman got a picture of me up to my chest with my camera bag/tripod on my head like a native girl carrying water back from the river. I wish I could have seen it. My feet, which were just in a pair of sneakers, were absolutely numb by the end.
Taking the shot wasn't too difficult, except the fall was putting off a fair amount of spray and the only piece of cloth I had was my shirt which was inside by dry suit. I had lamely taken out my little lens wipe when preparing the bag for its river adventure.
The shot is processed from 3 exposures via Photomatix. After that there is very little done. I had to burn some bokeh'd mist spots. The image has your basic adjustment layers.
POST: I believe this either ties me or sets the record for most 4ths all time!
BTW, although I do not disagree with the people who said the greens were too intense, I only boosted overall saturation by +10 and did not shift any hues. The wet moss was practically glowing on the canyon walls.
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The green pops and helps this image be even stronger. If you had used velvia film the greens would pop and people would say it is ok then. So the green saturation works well here. Also in the overcast Pacific NW the greens do pop on over cast days. great job
The greens look great on my monitor, well done with the water, the motion on the river stage left, really adds to this image, if only a fish was jumping, BG.
You may have fallen short of a ribbon, but I'm glad to see your efforts paid off with a great photo and a great score. I wouldn't have done this without a pelican case... in fact, I just bought one for exactly this reason. I spend alot of time in creeks and rivers at work in the summer, and while my camera is weather sealed, it certainly doesn't float! At $100 or less, IMO its a worthwhile insurance policy on a kit worth thousands...
Dr. you wuz robbed! Underrated photgraph. The colors are awesome & the moss contrasts very well with the falls. You did some serious work to get this shot, sounds like! A truly dedicated man! worth it? YES!!
This shot is sooooooooooooo amazing, and your as to how your captured it deserved a medal! The greens are pure perfection, I feel as if I can walk into the photo and it's because of the realistic capture of the greens. Great job!!
Pretty good shot, something sticking out of the water would have made it even stronger though, was there no way to get closer and use those stones that are visible to the left in the stream as foreground?
Back to comment: You found an excellent subject for a landscape challenge; however, I find the composition just a bit awkward. First, the crop at the top looks a bit tight. From the sliver of sky that is showing I can tell you didn't have a wow sky to work with but that tight of a crop doesn't do the rock formation or the waterfalls any justice. This area needs a bit more breathing space to balance the image. Second, the still water at the bottom doesn't add much to the composition and diminishes the leading lines effect of the rock formations. If you had cropped closer to the rock formation on the right side of the image, then the leading lines effect would have been stronger towards the waterfalls. Although you indicate in your title that the green is part of your main subject, in actuality it is but a frame for the waterfalls. So anything you can do compositionally to strengthen your main subject will help this image. 7
One of the best picture in the challenge. I like the composition and how you captured the water - I can feel the flow. Slightly oversaturated green color for my taste and I don’t like the frame - white would be enough for me. (9)
Wonderful waterflow image... looks to have just the right amount of flow pattern to fit the scene but not to much to wash out the flow detail. Pleasant subtle off-centering of the falls and the greens of the moss and browns of the foreground creek bank makes for a nice visual color contrast. Looks like Oneonta Gorge in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon. Been close but never photographed there. Looks like I need to. :) If I don't miss my guess, you were probably standing in some VERY cold water to capture this image. Beautiful capture!
To dream of home...is to dream of green,
To dream of home...and for ghosts unseen
Where the last veil of water dropped and fell
Into silent depths, where only the timeless dwell.
The green's a bit too intense, IMHO, but overall a really nice image. What I really like is the feeling of movement in the water in the foreground. A good choice of shutter speed!
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