Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

FM Forum Rules
Landscape Posting Guidelines
  

FM Forums | Landscape Photographer | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2015 · Rainbow Falls

  
 
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Rainbow Falls


This past summer, my wife and I visited Glacier National Park during the big wildfire. The campground we had reservations at was evacuated, so we showed up very early and found a site at a first come first serve campground elsewhere in the park. We spent about 5 days in Glacier, and it was a wonderful experience.

Photography wasn't my goal for this trip, but I did bring my 8x10 and film with me just in case we found something interesting. We were quite impressed with the amount of color on this waterfall. It had a wonderful mix of red, orange, yellow and green. Upon seeing it, I noted when the light would be best to photograph it, and we returned a couple days later with the camera. This was also a bit of an exposure nightmare for Velvia 50, so I shot it on both Velvia and Ektar 100. I went with Ektar for this image because it does a great job holding detail in both the shadows and the highlights.

Please let me know your honest thoughts on this photo. What works? What doesn't? How does it make you feel?

Kodak Ektar 100 8x10 | Many seconds @ f/45 | Circular Polarizer







Oct 25, 2015 at 10:29 PM
Rajan Parrikar
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Rainbow Falls


It is a strikingly beautiful image. The bottom fourth or perhaps fifth (the flowing water), in my view, is superfluous. I wouldn't have remarked on this if you hadn't asked since that is a compositional decision you no doubt consciously made.



Oct 25, 2015 at 11:08 PM
Camperjim
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Rainbow Falls


Very nice. I totally disagree with the previous comment. The foreground helps bring me into the scene. Otherwise it is just a boring waterfall image. Nicely done. That green rock is cool.


Oct 26, 2015 at 12:43 AM
plsand
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Rainbow Falls


Hi -
Generally I don't like milk for water - However, I want to say that your many second exposure, of the water, is great to my eye -
Enjoyed-
Paul



Oct 26, 2015 at 05:41 AM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Rainbow Falls


I like the composition and color and great processing. I also like the foreground as a lead in.

As one who prefers water flow in the 1/10 second range, I find the water flow in the main waterfall ok, the outlet a bit too milky. This is of course a purely subjective choice. I guess what I want is some detail in the water. The ribbons of water separate in the main falls, not so much in the stream.

I like the inclusion of flowers on the left side.



Oct 26, 2015 at 08:53 AM
Alan Brock
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Rainbow Falls


I hate not to offer much in the way of a critique, but this is really a striking image. There honestly isn't much I would change about it; maybe wait for a moose to walk into the composition? The only question I have is would it have been possible to not cut off any of the waterfall? As far as how it makes me feel, I think this is a pretty lively image. It just works the way the water flows from the lower left ending up at the waterfall. The color is amazing as well. It reminds me of what sandstone in Tennessee can look like.

I don't know if it's the New Year's resolution or what, but your work has been particularly good this year. Not to degrade your past work, but I feel there's definitely been an upgrade. Curious to know if you feel the same about what you've been producing.



Oct 26, 2015 at 10:22 AM
IsaacTheGray
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Rainbow Falls


This is really great Ben! So many things to like about this, thanks for sharing. I got a kick out of your shutter speed of 'many seconds'. A weird thing to comment on I know, but to me it was a reminder to have fun and not take yourself too seriously (I often overthink my process and need this reminder).

The only nit pick I could find is that the top 1/5 of the image seems a bit dark to me. That's reaching though, this is a really great image.



Oct 26, 2015 at 10:40 AM
lionking
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Rainbow Falls


Hey Ben!

I am with Isaac on this one, the top looks little too dark, regarding the water i prefer more detail, love the composition, good work.

Andrey



Oct 26, 2015 at 11:11 AM
mstrickland
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Rainbow Falls


If this were my image, I'd spend hours viewing it at 100% finding looking at every intense detail of it. What a fantastic scene. There's a stick in the foreground to the left of the stream that kind of bugs me, but what can you do...

I agree with Alan. Keep up the resolutions.



Oct 26, 2015 at 11:25 AM
kylebarendrick
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Rainbow Falls


Looks beautiful to me - caught my eye on the front page. The flowers on the left are a really nice touch and I like seeing the water zigzag across the frame. My only nit would be greenish tinge on the water at the bottom. I'd probably prefer it a little whiter to better match the rest of the fall.


Oct 26, 2015 at 11:41 AM
Jeffrey
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Rainbow Falls


Wonderful image, Ben. Could be a little less foreground, but it is fine as is. I am impressed that you go to such a place with the wife and put image making on the back burner. Equally impressive that she did not mind your lack of attention to her while you made this image and went back there with you. These are advanced husband skills!


Oct 26, 2015 at 03:35 PM
sachman
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Rainbow Falls


Beautiful shot! Love the silkiness of the falling waters from the waterfall! Great work nailing the exposure.


Oct 26, 2015 at 04:31 PM
harshaj1
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Rainbow Falls


Love the image. The water flow in the top fall is perfect but the lower portion could use a faster shutter speed. I understand that this may not possible with a single exposure. Great work Ben.
Harsha



Oct 26, 2015 at 04:36 PM
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Rainbow Falls


Thank you for the feedback everyone! I read it all and very much appreciate it!

A few notes with regard to the technical side of shooting color LF. It's pretty much impossible to get a faster shutter speed on the foreground water. Depth of field is my primary concern, and I need to shoot at f/45 to get a reasonable amount of the subject in focus. I shot this with a ISO 100 film at f/45, and that puts my exposure around maybe 10 seconds. The other thing about shooting film is that if your meter says 10 seconds, you really need to use a longer exposure to compensate for reciprocity failure, so that 10 seconds becomes 20 seconds. I've learned to live with the ultra long exposure times, and in some ways that makes the process a bit easier.

I also have a horizontal composition of just the top part of the waterfall from a bit closer to the waterfall, but there is a really weird optical illusion that makes it feel VERY uneven even though the camera was level.

Truth be told, when I got my film back from the lab and saw the velvia image (which looked horrible), I put away the film for a few months and only decided to scan the color neg version a few days ago. That's why it's important to use the appropriate film in the field, and if I'm in doubt, I'll shoot both color neg and slide film.



Oct 26, 2015 at 08:34 PM
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Rainbow Falls


Jeffrey wrote:
Wonderful image, Ben. Could be a little less foreground, but it is fine as is. I am impressed that you go to such a place with the wife and put image making on the back burner. Equally impressive that she did not mind your lack of attention to her while you made this image and went back there with you. These are advanced husband skills!


When we planned the trip, I wasn't going to bring my camera along, but she insisted that if we drive all the way there, I might as well bring the photo gear. Often times, I enjoy not having a camera because it allows me to simply enjoy the scenery for what it is, and I don't have to be in "photographer mode" -- which more often than not makes me miss out on what is really happening in the moment.

She had injured her foot a couple days prior so she enjoyed hanging out by the waterfall and taking in the scenery while I was working. It was also very convenient because she was able to watch over me and make sure there weren't any bears roaming around while I was busy under the dark cloth. We had a very close encounter with a large bear earlier in the day, so we were a bit on edge. :-)






Oct 26, 2015 at 09:19 PM
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Rainbow Falls


IsaacTheGray wrote:
This is really great Ben! So many things to like about this, thanks for sharing. I got a kick out of your shutter speed of 'many seconds'. A weird thing to comment on I know, but to me it was a reminder to have fun and not take yourself too seriously (I often overthink my process and need this reminder).

The only nit pick I could find is that the top 1/5 of the image seems a bit dark to me. That's reaching though, this is a really great image.


Thank for the feedback Isaac. I agree that the top is a bit dark. I lightened it a bit for this image, and debated if I should do a bit more. It's good to hear that I didn't go too far, and it could use a bit more light up there. The beauty of Ektar is that I have a LOT of latitude to work with so all the information is there. With regard to the shutter speed, I know that some people will write down their settings on each photo, but I've never really done that. I shoot almost every photo at f/45 so that part is easy to remember, but if this was 5 seconds, or 45 seconds, I have no clue. I was also going to post the lens I used for this photo, but honestly I don't remember if it was my wide angle or my normal lens. :-)

When I first started shooting film, I would question my judgement of the exposure immediately after taking a photo. That has faded with time since my judgement has been quite good most of the time. Now I just go with my gut, and figure that if my metering technique has worked for all these years, I really shouldn't second guess my judgement on a particular photo.




Oct 26, 2015 at 09:26 PM
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Rainbow Falls


kylebarendrick wrote:
Looks beautiful to me - caught my eye on the front page. The flowers on the left are a really nice touch and I like seeing the water zigzag across the frame. My only nit would be greenish tinge on the water at the bottom. I'd probably prefer it a little whiter to better match the rest of the fall.




Thanks for the feedback Kyle. I'll look into the foreground water when I eventually print this. Maybe a bit of magenta in the brightest areas will balance that out a bit.



Oct 26, 2015 at 09:28 PM
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Rainbow Falls


mstrickland wrote:
If this were my image, I'd spend hours viewing it at 100% finding looking at every intense detail of it. What a fantastic scene. There's a stick in the foreground to the left of the stream that kind of bugs me, but what can you do...

I agree with Alan. Keep up the resolutions.


It's funny you mention that stick. When I was composing the shot, I thought about going over there and tossing it aside, but I decided to leave it there. There's a photo I shot in Zion many years ago where there was some flood debris (sticks, bark, etc) in the immediate foreground along the river. I debated if I should move it or not, but decided to leave it there -- mostly because I thought I would do a bad job at it and the river bank would show signs that the debris was removed. As it turns out, those sticks and bark made the image feel a bit more real, a bit less retouched, and a bit more more genuine. That bit of debris adds to the story of the scene.

I'm not saying that's true for this photo -- heck maybe that stick is there because some unruly kid threw it at a bird and that's where it ended up -- but I've learned that if I'm in doubt about if something should be moved, I should just leave it in place.




Oct 26, 2015 at 09:34 PM
Ben Horne
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Rainbow Falls


Alan Brock wrote:
I hate not to offer much in the way of a critique, but this is really a striking image. There honestly isn't much I would change about it; maybe wait for a moose to walk into the composition? The only question I have is would it have been possible to not cut off any of the waterfall? As far as how it makes me feel, I think this is a pretty lively image. It just works the way the water flows from the lower left ending up at the waterfall. The color is amazing as well. It reminds me
...Show more

Thanks Alan. This was pretty much the most interesting part of the waterfall. Just above this is an upper section that is much more of a direct drop. I debated including a bit more, but it felt like more of a distraction than an asset.

The new years resolution has certainly been a contributing factor this year. Shooting more, and leaving the decision making process for when I get home has been helpful -- Though the biggest reason for this shot in particular was my wife. She insisted I bring the camera, and she said we should head back to this waterfall so I could take a photo. I've also been more willing to expose film this year because so much of my Velvia is long since expired, and I want to order some new stuff while it's still available. :-)




Oct 26, 2015 at 09:47 PM
Slabshaft
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Rainbow Falls


My initial thoughts are that the exposure and composition are really nice. The foreground does a good job of leading the eye to the waterfall and the shape of the canyon walls keeps the eye gravitating to the fall.

It's hard to really critique without a properly lit print to look at. The top of the image appears darker than it should, almost like an ND filter was used or you're at the edge of the lens image circle.

As for the scene itself, the only thing I would have done is walked around splashing water on all the rocks. There's something about dry riverbed rocks that I feel detract from the mood. I probably would have left the stick there. I'm definitely one to do housekeeping around a scene. Nobody knows what you don't photograph. I've removed sticks and washed out the evidence with a few handfuls of water. In this case, the stick doesn't look bad.

With 8x10, you have awesome crop options. I think this could have been very interesting as a pano crop closer to the fall to express the color in the pool and vegetation along the waterline. My eye really like the middle of the photo where the rock is most colorful and there is interesting stuff happening with the water and overhead light.



Oct 26, 2015 at 10:35 PM





FM Forums | Landscape Photographer | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.