This is a sweet collection! I see them all as stand-alones, which makes them hard to rank, unless I rank them as 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d.
Also seeing your waterfalls without a color cast reminds me of your excellent instruction video on color balancing waterfalls. A practice that is now permanently ingrained in my workflow. Thank you!
Steve Perry wrote:
Thanks for the kind words - and the feedback
The first and second are the 14-24, the third is the 24 1.4G, and the last is the 24-70 2.8G.
Yeah, modern Nikons, for all their amazing colors and bokeh and sharpness, have utter crap sunstars. I keep my old Nikon AI-S glass around (and the new 20mm 1.8 G!) for just that purpose- gorgeous sunstars. If only Nikon had decided to forfeit bokeh on such a wide lens like the 14-24, and gone with a classic un-rounded 5-bladed diaphragm, I would have died and gone to heaven a happy man. ;-)
Thanks again everyone for the kind words and comments. I really appreciate them
dbehrens wrote:
Steve,
This is a sweet collection! I see them all as stand-alones, which makes them hard to rank, unless I rank them as 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d.
Also seeing your waterfalls without a color cast reminds me of your excellent instruction video on color balancing waterfalls. A practice that is now permanently ingrained in my workflow. Thank you!
Dave
Hi Dave - Thanks! And I'm glad you like the color balance trick I used it on everyone one of these.
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matthewsaville wrote:
Yeah, modern Nikons, for all their amazing colors and bokeh and sharpness, have utter crap sunstars. I keep my old Nikon AI-S glass around (and the new 20mm 1.8 G!) for just that purpose- gorgeous sunstars. If only Nikon had decided to forfeit bokeh on such a wide lens like the 14-24, and gone with a classic un-rounded 5-bladed diaphragm, I would have died and gone to heaven a happy man. ;-)
See, when you say stuff like that it makes me want to buy some old AI-S glass just for that purpose. I didn't know they made better sunstars. You're costing me money
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Frogfish wrote:
I love them all Steve - however #3 is awesome and my favourite. #2 comes close but looks a tad over-sharpened ?
Looking at #2, I agree. I'll have to redo that one and take the sharpening down a notch. Thanks!!
An excellent take on Spruce Flats Falls! IMO, this is the best waterfall the Smokies has to offer. I've shot it several times, but unfortunately never in peak fall color as I'm usually in Utah around that time. As usual, they are all stunning images, but I believe I like #4 the best. It has a very natural look to it; it feels like I'm standing there looking at the falls. Nice work!
Alan Brock wrote:
An excellent take on Spruce Flats Falls! IMO, this is the best waterfall the Smokies has to offer. I've shot it several times, but unfortunately never in peak fall color as I'm usually in Utah around that time. As usual, they are all stunning images, but I believe I like #4 the best. It has a very natural look to it; it feels like I'm standing there looking at the falls. Nice work!
Thanks Alan - and I agree. I think Spruce Falls is one of the best in the park. There are bigger falls and such, but I think this is the most scenic and has the most "options." I can spend hours there!
Fantastic set Steve! It's hard to pick a winner here so I won't.
I will say however...
If you ever, and I mean EVER get that close to Whitewater falls again without giving me a call to meet you up there I will beat you with a stick!
Ok, maybe not a stick, but I'd be happy to carry your camera bag for ya.
On the way down at least. You'll have to carry it back up.
Seriously though, you were about 45 minutes from my house and if you ever get down this way again, it would be cool to hook up and meet ya.
Steve Perry wrote:
See, when you say stuff like that it makes me want to buy some old AI-S glass just for that purpose. I didn't know they made better sunstars. You're costing me money
Don't worry about $$$ too much at first, even some of the "lesser" AF-D lenses that can be found for dirt-cheap have fantastic sunstars. Pretty much any old 50mm f/1.8 AI-S will have fantastic sunstars; I just tested my grandfather's series-E 50mm, and it is amazingly sharp by f/5.6 even on modern DSLR FX. Also, of all the 35mm primes, for stopped-down f/11-16 shooting my absolute favorite is definitely the 35mm f/2 D; its sunstars are about as good as the old 35 1.4 AIS, and wayyyy better than either of modern G Nikons, or the Sigma. I think I have a sample here:
But, as I mentioned, the new 20 1.8 G is about as good as the older AI-S lenses. So, wider than ~35mm, that's the lens I'd choose. Unless you have a serious hankering for amazing sunstars, in which case the setup to get will be the new Pentax full-frame, since all of their (like Nikon) still-mountable manual focus primes have (UNLIKE Nikon!) 5-blade non-rounded apertures; and their 20mm f/4 is almost as sharp as the classic Nikon 20mm f/4 AIS. But, that's a stretch, to get a whole new camera system just for 10-point sunstars instead of 14-point. :-P
Kee Woo Rhee wrote:
Autumn Colors.. Very cozy and Beautiful.
Your images sparkle! Thanks.
Happy Holiday, Steve!
Thanks - and Happy Holidays to you too
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jbush wrote:
Gorgeous set Steve. And, as has been said by many others, I like them all. Very well seen and post-processing, in my eyes, could not be better.
Jon
Thanks!!
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Bobu wrote:
My favorite image is #3. But they are all very good.
Boris
Thank you
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lighthound wrote:
Fantastic set Steve! It's hard to pick a winner here so I won't.
I will say however...
If you ever, and I mean EVER get that close to Whitewater falls again without giving me a call to meet you up there I will beat you with a stick!
Ok, maybe not a stick, but I'd be happy to carry your camera bag for ya.
On the way down at least. You'll have to carry it back up.
Seriously though, you were about 45 minutes from my house and if you ever get down this way again, it would be cool to hook up and meet ya.
Sounds like fun (the meeting, not the beating ). That image was actually a Hail Mary play on my part. I had stopped by a number of other falls, but none has any color left around them. It was getting late and I almost decided not to go. In the end, I figured why not and I'm glad I gave it a try
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JimFox wrote:
Hey Steve,
Take this as a reminder to post more often here. Only posting every 6 months is not fair to us.
Jim
Thanks Jim - very kind of you to say
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matthewsaville wrote:
Don't worry about $$$ too much at first, even some of the "lesser" AF-D lenses that can be found for dirt-cheap have fantastic sunstars. Pretty much any old 50mm f/1.8 AI-S will have fantastic sunstars; I just tested my grandfather's series-E 50mm, and it is amazingly sharp by f/5.6 even on modern DSLR FX. Also, of all the 35mm primes, for stopped-down f/11-16 shooting my absolute favorite is definitely the 35mm f/2 D; its sunstars are about as good as the old 35 1.4 AIS, and wayyyy better than either of modern G Nikons, or the Sigma. I think I have a sample here:
But, as I mentioned, the new 20 1.8 G is about as good as the older AI-S lenses. So, wider than ~35mm, that's the lens I'd choose. Unless you have a serious hankering for amazing sunstars, in which case the setup to get will be the new Pentax full-frame, since all of their (like Nikon) still-mountable manual focus primes have (UNLIKE Nikon!) 5-blade non-rounded apertures; and their 20mm f/4 is almost as sharp as the classic Nikon 20mm f/4 AIS. But, that's a stretch, to get a whole new camera system just for 10-point sunstars instead of 14-point. :-P...Show more →
Thanks so much for the info, greatly appreciated. I'll be checking it out for sure
). That image was actually a Hail Mary play on my part. I had stopped by a number of other falls, but none has any color left around them. It was getting late and I almost decided not to go. In the end, I figured why not and I'm glad I gave it a try