Waterfall

[jorgemonkey]

I like it! I've just found a place that has a really cool waterfall that I had fun with last week. Now for my little critique...

I'd like to see that dark corner in the top left just a little bit lighter to see some more detail. On my monitor at home the green saturation looks about right. It looks like the green plants seem to get when they get lots of water. I get the feeling of relaxation, and wanting to go shoot more waterfalls from looking at this shot. Oh, and it does make me want to go ride Downieville since I've never been there

[Photo-John]

Ok, here's a non-adjusted version. This is as-captured. It was converted using Adobe Camera RAW, in CS2, with no changes made to the file. It's nice. But it doesn't pull me in like the adjusted version does. It's missing the love.

Camera settings were 1/5th second at f/11, using the Canon EOS 10D and 50mm f/1.4, on a tripod (of course).

[Ronnoco]

Super photoshop work, John! Not many photographers can change the day the photo was taken from cloudy and gloomy to late afternoon sunny. Seeing your original, I would be tempted to de-saturate the greens just a tiny little bit in your post-processed version.

Ronnoco.

[Photo-John]

Not many photographers can change the day the photo was taken from cloudy and gloomy to late afternoon sunny.

It wasn't in the sun at all and it wasn't a gloomy day. The waterfall is just in deep shadow from trees and mountains. I think it only has sun on it for a few hours in the morning. I think I am going to take another run at it - mostly because I want the water to be a bit brighter, but without losing detail. I might mellow out the greens a bit. But I like the warmth and saturation. We'll see.

Thanks for the compliment!

[F-15_Flyer]

I like the second one you posted a lot better, it's more natural.

[gahspidy]

John, my first impression when viewing this on my screen is that it is a pleasing image, with nice lighting dynamics , but at the same time i felt that there was something about it that was holding it down from being a better picture, but cannot seem to pinpoint it.Upon further viewing, I think there are a couple of things. The darker area in the upper left corner as well as the amount of bright green foliage on the upper right is not feeling quite right there. I tried cropping the picture from the top just above the start of the waterfall, and then off the right side keeping the aspect ratio and liked what it became. Hard to say why, but it feels like I'm not seeing any depth in the waterfall, as it seems to be just floating on the surface of the print, but after the crop, the waterfall dominates the scene and the depth seems to come in.
This is a tough one to critique as it appears to be composed correctly, but these are the things I saw and felt from this and the adjustments that I experimented with in cropping helped resolve some of my initial concerns.
btw, I just saw the second post of this, the original image. I like it better, although it does not have that ethereal look to it that I'm sure you were pleased with. I still like the tighter crop I experimented with and perhaps a slightly compromised post process to bring back the ethereal feel of it, but not stray too far from the original.