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Marysville Waterfalls

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:36 pm
by NikonUser
Hi there,

Got up nice and early today for a trip to Marysville. We were hoping that ole' Mike Larkin (weather guy) was going to be correct in saying that it was going to be overcast all day so I could get some nice long exposures.... He was wrong of course but I still did ok.

These are a couple of quick ones I processed once I got home

All taken with D70, Kit lens, Circular Polarizer, Tripod

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I don't shoot waterfalls very often so would love any comments and tips for next time

Thanks for looking
Paul

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:33 pm
by marcotrov
I really like the vibrant colour and composition of #1 and #4, and that's not saying the others haven't got merit.
The only comment (nit picky) is the distraction/incongruence afforded by those dead fronds on the right handside. I think cloning/cropping those out would improve the impact of the image :)
The second last one, again IMO, loses out with the dead fronds dominating, or trying to, the foreground and the rather too large an expanse of open water in the left side foreground. Had we not been environmentalists it would have been nice to wade out with a sharp pair of secateurs( I know it sounds evil :twisted: but I can't help it :oops: ) to trim off the dead fronds and the one far lower right on its way to being dead :wink:
The last one is lovely, nay beautiful :)
cheers
marco

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:43 pm
by NikonUser
Thanks for the comments marco.

I was aware of the dead palm fronds when I was taking the shots... but alas there wasn't much I could do about them.

As for wading into the water... I did that in the following shot....It was so cold it hurt!!! but only for the first 5 mins or so... after that I could no longer feel my legs.

Image


Paul

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:00 pm
by mudder
G'day,

Marysville/cambarville is a great spot, It's worth checking out Cora Lyn falls which is in a similar area to Stevenson's falls...

#1, lovely image, good interest in the foreground fern and the opposing fern across the water, wondering whether framing lower to exclude the brighter greenery from the top and getting more water and mossy rocks in the bottom of the frame might have offered softer light and included more water/mossy rock features...

#2, Really like the foreground interest, might be worth doing a little tidying of the dead fronds where you can, the water seems to take me out of the frame...

#3, Ah, like this, would love to see it taken from a step or so to the left so the fern stem is beside the falls...

#4, It's hard to get a good ange on these falls so you've done well to get a nicely balanced image on these ones...

Ooooh, like that last one... Nice angle, tempted to crop a smidge off the top to lessen the bright light filtering through, the dead wood's a bugger on teh right hand side... Getting in the water's where the good angles are, get a set of waders, they're terrific for stuff like this, or just some gumbies... Just try to clean them beforoe you go there so you don't transfer fungus's's's from area to area etc...

Some dodgin' and burnin' could also bring these to life and get some nice moody lighting...

Make sure you check out Cora Lyn falls though, they're really picturesque (sp?) and you can get some great angles there with great mossy rocks in the foreground... I've got a couple from Cora Lyn in my gallery so you can see what they're like if you wish... http://mudder.smugmug.com/photos/53267084-L.jpg

Waterfalls can be a bugger for exposure but you've done really well with these, nice and bright, I usually bracket waterfalls and merge but you can always expose two version of the image and use the toned-down highlights for the water's highlights...

Nice frames too :)

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:07 pm
by NikonUser
Thanks for the tips mudder.

Love that Cora Lyn shot of yours!! I will be sure to get there next time. (Was planning it this time but for some reason managed to forget about it :( )

I think I have another version of the second shot taken from more to the left. Just have to find it and process it.

As for the exposure..... ARGH.

I have a lot of shots where I have bracketed... haven't gotten around to merging them yet.

With the other shots I've underexposed a lot of them so I didn't blow out the water.... I'm using both D-Lighting and Shadow/Highlights and really REALLY pushing these files to their max to get them properly exposed.

Paul

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:13 pm
by mudder
With that Cora Lyn shot, I was standing in about 2' of water (I hate metric sometimes :lol: it brings out the old fart in me) and the water filled the gumbies, bugger! The camera was only about 6" from the water... Using the 12-24... Great spot, check it out if you can...

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:56 pm
by PiroStitch
Great pics and much better than my attempt last year :) I like the border you've given the pics as well...makes everything look so simple and clean.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:01 am
by Slider
Some beautiful shots there Paul.

My fav is the shot in your second post :D Serene.