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Archive 2016 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...

  
 
Dragonfire
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


...just a couple more, since the last set brought such a rousing response



© Dragonfire 2016





© Dragonfire 2016





© Dragonfire 2016





© Dragonfire 2016





© Dragonfire 2016




May 28, 2016 at 08:09 AM
psharvic
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


Hey Dragon, I never want to get between Jim and a good conversation but these work better for me than V1. I'm tossing the last. IMO, SS might be a touch slow in all for perfection. On the 3rd the light is not where you'd like it. The 1st is my fav.


May 28, 2016 at 09:03 PM
ckcarr
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


Dragonfire wrote:
...just a couple more, since the last set brought such a rousing response


Well, I've said it many times here. A lack of response is a response.
This is the board where you try and show your best images.
Redundancy without substantial improvement is simply that. The more the same type pictures are shown, the less any board participants will respond.

If it were me, I would first study other images from this location. Figure out what they did. Then with a mission in mind, go back, figure out the best time of day to shoot these falls (could be anytime, pre dawn, evening, who knows), learn the proper shutter speed, exposure, etc. Then I would pick the ONE best, and come back and show it... After you've put all your sincere best efforts into it. But sets of five, that all pretty much are the same, will not go very far. A rousing landscape image - it needs to have something that makes it stand out from the pack. And you should know it when you see it, among all your shots from that day. There will be one that's different. It will just stand out to you. That's the one you work up and show.

Of course, that's all just my opinion...




May 29, 2016 at 11:24 AM
TimMc
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


ckcarr...figure out the best time of day to shoot these falls (could be anytime, pre dawn, evening, who knows)...

I am fortunate enough to shoot Ricketts Glen a couple times of year for the last 7 or so years. A couple of experiences has this advice running shivers up my spine. A couple years ago I was determined to use the "golden hour" rule and showed up 30 minutes or so before sunrise. A black bear, bigger and faster than me, jumped out of the dumpster and ran off as I pulled into the parking lot. But even then it took 40 minutes to get to the first falls and at best I had 15 minutes of shooting before the light was way too harsh. Be really careful about going in early. Finding a overcast or cloudy day really works better.

I have a friend who was determined to use the last light of the day in Ricketts Glen. Hiking out in the dark he got lost and did not get out that night. He got so lost he didn't find his way out the next day until a park ranger found him and led him out. What is so easy to navigate in daylight in Ricketts Glen can be impossible at night.

Just to be clear, I am not questioning the intent of the advice given, it is typical landscape guideline.

Dragonfire, your pictures are really coming along. Really try for the overcast, grey day. Later in the summer you will find climbing down and around the falls easier and with a little less water flow sometimes the falls have more character.

If you are coming to Ricketts Glen, think about the Ithaca area and Watkins Glen too. They are a couple of hours north. On a sunny day the gorge in Watkins Glen will give you a couple hours more shooting in the shade. That just might save your day when its not right else where.




May 29, 2016 at 02:59 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


Hey Frank,

Craig has some good advice here, learn to pick out your best shot and post that. Just because we allow a maximum of 5, doesn't mean you have to post 5. If you scroll through the threads, typically the best photographers here will only post 1 shot. Posting a bunch of shots, or color and B&W versions of the same shot, usually means the person posting really was not able to get in their mind a good vision of that scene.

For me, #2 is the best one here. Well lit, well composed. The look and feel of this one should be your goal for your other waterfall shots.

In #1, that lone tree, along with a lot of white sky, and the sky reflections at the bottom of the shot, end up distracting the eye in a lot of ways from the waterfall itself. If this was mine, I would go with a square crop. Crop the top right below where the sky pokes in. This also helps diminish the distraction of that tall tree. I would then select the tree itself, and darken it some so that it doesn't compete with the water. And then crop up from the bottom to lose that reflecting sky.

#3 is pretty good, I like the green cast to the light up in the trees. My one nitpick with it would be the bare rock towards the lower left that isn't wet and sticks out. I would have splashed some water on the bare rock to help that blend in.

#4 and 5 both look like your old shots. And you just can't cover up partly lit scenes where the sun is just too bright. These two are the worst of the bunch here. No way to sugarcoat it.

Jim



May 29, 2016 at 05:10 PM
Dragonfire
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


Thank you psharvic I found Jim's words very encouraging and I posted v2 because I liked 1, 2 and 4.

Thank you ckcarr This was my second trip, totally 8 hours and I discover a clean hotel for an extended trip, give me an opportunity to take my time and experiment. I will PM you when I again post from Ricketts Glen.

Thank you TimMc I am discovering Sun is not a Landscapers friend.



May 29, 2016 at 05:19 PM
CreationBear
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


At the risk of hijacking Dragonfire's thread, I'm wondering if any of you has a set strategy for dealing with the "notch" that's invariably overexposed where the streambed meets the sky. Right now I rely on exposure blending, since it seems an ND filter would darken the riparian vegetation on each side too much, but I'm always looking for options.

At any rate, a beautiful part of the world--it's just a few minutes away from my in-laws's in Wilkes-Barre, so I've enjoyed seeing the park become a well-known destination for photographers.



May 29, 2016 at 05:43 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


CreationBear wrote:
At the risk of hijacking Dragonfire's thread, I'm wondering if any of you has a set strategy for dealing with the "notch" that's invariably overexposed where the streambed meets the sky. Right now I rely on exposure blending, since it seems an ND filter would darken the riparian vegetation on each side too much, but I'm always looking for options.

At any rate, a beautiful part of the world--it's just a few minutes away from my in-laws's in Wilkes-Barre, so I've enjoyed seeing the park become a well-known destination for photographers.


Just to clarify, it's not a ND filter you would use to help compensate for a scene where the sky is too bright, it's a Graduated ND filter which I am sure you meant.

But you are correct in listing the issues with a Grad ND. It's a great filter but it does have its limits. Shooting mountains where the mountains would be unnaturally dark as one tried to get the "V" in between of sky to expose correctly. Typically, bracketing and blending is the best solution. Also an overcast day where the light is diffused a little more and more evenly lit can help. Otherwise changing the composition to just not include it is an option though not in that specific location perhaps.

Jim



May 29, 2016 at 07:19 PM
CreationBear
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Ricketts Glen...Again: Again...


Excellent, thanks Jim. I was curious about how grads might integrate into my approach here in the Smokies, but it's often the case that the "notch" we're talking about is all the sky there is to be seen.


May 29, 2016 at 07:56 PM





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