It might just be me but I found Palouse Falls difficult to shoot. It is like shooting into a drum of water with a faucet running. If you monitor off the base the sky is blown out. If you monitor off the sky the "Bottom" of the fall is black.. Couple this with limited compositions due to fences, cliffs, and other natural features and I left there not knowing if I got one usable image. This is the best I came up with today. As always your comments and suggestions are welcome... Thank you, Jim
it is a tough spot....I camped there once and got the sunset which was ok and the sunrise with a nd filter. During the day would be tough for the light.
I got these which I consider pretty avg. There are much better shots out there.
Its a great area...wish it wasn't four hours from Seattle.
MDoc9523 wrote:
Maybe try a different time of day?
Thank you for the suggestion.. Should we return to this location (doubtful, but possible) I will take your advice.. Unfortunately, on this trip we were constrained by previous commitments. Jim
mike reid wrote:
it is a tough spot....I camped there once and got the sunset which was ok and the sunrise with a nd filter. During the day would be tough for the light.
I got these which I consider pretty avg. There are much better shots out there.
Its a great area...wish it wasn't four hours from Seattle.
Thank you. I love the composition of your second image, but could never reach this view-point. I suffer from severe vertigo.. I would like to shoot it from the bottom but have no idea how to get there without the involvement of a steep decent on narrow trails... The "Chicken" in me comes out easily... ...
I always tried for afternoon when the sun would cast some light into the canyon and be at your back but not so late as to have shadows. Big fluffy clouds help and its easier when you live 2 hours away.
You did pretty well for the conditions that you had to work with. Mike has already given you great suggestions if you are able to get back there, or if you are presented with a similar situation in another location in the future.
My suggestion for shots like these that you have no alternative as to the time of the shot, blending then becomes your friend. You take the two shots you mentioned as to one being too bright and one being too dark, and just blend them. One other thing, if you are using ACR to process your raw shots, it's getting very good at getting detail out of darker shadows with still good detail. So if you had to try just one shot to work from, I would go with one where the highlights were just slightly blown, pull the Highlight and White sliders all the way to -100 to recover the highlights, and then pull the shadow detail to 100. See what you get.
Your best other than blending and HDR is to shoot the scene when it is overcast. This may be impractical if your not from the area.
Looks like a great place with lots of potential.
The shot you posted is not bad at all. Contast adjustments may help.
Harsha
ben egbert wrote:
I always tried for afternoon when the sun would cast some light into the canyon and be at your back but not so late as to have shadows. Big fluffy clouds help and its easier when you live 2 hours away.
Thanks Ben. This was a difficult location that we might stop by again.. Hate to let a shot "Beat me".. Jim
You did pretty well for the conditions that you had to work with. Mike has already given you great suggestions if you are able to get back there, or if you are presented with a similar situation in another location in the future.
My suggestion for shots like these that you have no alternative as to the time of the shot, blending then becomes your friend. You take the two shots you mentioned as to one being too bright and one being too dark, and just blend them. One other thing, if you are using ACR to process your raw shots, it's getting very good at getting detail out of darker shadows with still good detail. So if you had to try just one shot to work from, I would go with one where the highlights were just slightly blown, pull the Highlight and White sliders all the way to -100 to recover the highlights, and then pull the shadow detail to 100. See what you get.
harshaj1 wrote:
Your best other than blending and HDR is to shoot the scene when it is overcast. This may be impractical if your not from the area.
Looks like a great place with lots of potential.
The shot you posted is not bad at all. Contast adjustments may help.
Harsha
Harsha; You are very kind.. I most likely will go back and shoot it again, if I can get the chance... Jim
zeelichsheng wrote:
I was there last Saturday and like you said, it is difficult to find a different angle of the falls.
As bad as it might sound I am glad is was not just me.. I thought I had lost it when I saw the situation, lighting, composition, etc.. Guess this just shows we have more to learn. Thank you for the input. Jim
I think that I would have tried a graduated neutral density filter in this situation.
The top of the falls look fairly flat so you could block the sky and open the falls.
Regards
Paul
May 24, 2013 at 05:01 PM
Charlie Shugart Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
I like the image.
Most of the discussion seems to be about how to approach the problems in better ways.
I just fiddled with brightness/contrast, and sharpening and got this:
Maybe not better- but it is different .
Charlie
Paul Gardner wrote:
I think that I would have tried a graduated neutral density filter in this situation.
The top of the falls look fairly flat so you could block the sky and open the falls.
Regards
Paul
Thanks Paul... Since leaving this location, & posting this, I have received numerous great suggestions... ND filters could have help, I think... ... It never crossed my mind. Jim
... 
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... It never crossed my mind. Jim