Horseshoe falls

This vertical version seems to be preferred by 90% people I show it to above my preference

for the horizontal shot. Certainly it has some advantages : more even lighting, less movement

of the foliage. Specifications : Gitzo tripod, polaizing filter, ISO 100, f22, shutter 20 seconds.

Excellent! A great waterfall. Excellent colours, composition, exposure, and lightning. Great work! Best regards, Torfinn.

Beautiful! The detail in those rocks in the foreground is fine. Love the composition, the colors and the sweet light. Best regards.

Fantastic image top marks, well done. Rich.

Beautiful image. The slightly vertical composition is very dynamic and it gives the eye a longer opportunity to travel through and explore the image. Technically there isn't much to add. It's perfect. I like the feeling of freshness and serenity that emanates from the photo, no doubt helped by the combination of rich dark greens in the foreground and the cool colors of the blured water. Well done. Regards - michel

I agree with others that this is indeed very beautiful. I also admire the sharpness of the details of the rocks and the greens, but I'm never impressed by the burred water, which so many seem to appreciate. I would have found this photo a miracle of beauty if I had seen every drop of water too. I know it is question of taste.

Anders, interestingly the blurred water was a consequence of the necessary depth of field required to render those rocks in the foreground 2 feet away as well as the background in focus, in this case f22. The fuzzy water look, which I am partial too was a secondary effect rather than an artistic decision.

Beautifully composed. Very dynamic composition that really takes you through the frame very efficiently. Great work. I alsolike the square crop in here.

beautiful picture. 7/7

Kah, wow... excellent job on this. I love the DOF, and the great detail you have captured here. Composition is perfect. My only nitpick would be to lighten up a bit the upper left corner as it seems a bit dark. Still an amazing photo and location. 7/7

Yes Kah I know that the blurred is the result of the optimalised DOF but other solutions are possible (double exposure) to solve that problem or less DOF. The whole question is whether the blurred water is an effect we look for, an effect that we have to live with because of the DOF optimisation, or an effect we with all means want to prevent. I'm of the last opinion. I'm even more convince of my point of view when I see the beauty of this scene and imagine it without blurred water movements.

Let me just get into this debate. For me this photo would lose most of it's character if it had a shallower DOF. The beauty is in the fact that both the foreground stones and the background are in sharp focus. The only way to preserve DOF and increase shutter speed would be to increase ISO but i suspect that the level of ISO required would introduce unwanted noise in this shot and would spoil it. Personally i like the water blur (so i'm a bit biassed) it gives a sense of movement to the scene. It is also the way our naked eyes usually see water falls and rivers, as a blur (unless you train your eye to follow a specific section of the water) so i find it very natural, organic in fact, to see a water blur in a photo. So in this case, between a reduced DOF and water blur i would definitely opt for the blur and a wider DOF . Just my two cents.

 

 

 

 

First of all thank you for your efforts to discuss this photo everyone. The blurred water debate is not something I wish to get into as it is a matter of personal preference. Personally I do not wish to be bound by any particular look so I shoot several shutter speeds and select the one that seems to work best. I would like to point out however that in this case the blurred water was unavoidable. Shooting at even f18 I was unable to achieve an acceptable DOF, let alone f5.6 at ISO 400 which still resulted in blurring of the water. I don't think a double exposure could work either as the different shutter speeds would make the water look different & difficult to merge.

I would agree with your arguments that technically it would be difficult to get the best (in my eyes) of both worlds: large DOF and shutter speed. This debate should however hide that the photo is very good and very beautiful. I fear you will scream, but I would then crop the lowest part of the frame (untill the bottom of the two rocks in front) which is almost totally occupied by blurred water so that we could concentrateon the eye on the upper parts where the blur is less visible.

 

By the way the blur I see on this photo, I have never seen in nature, which is not necessarily a criteria for whether it is photographically interesting and attractive, or not, to the eye.

Actually I agree there is a square crop there. In fact I will be collecting a square print cropped to your suggestion from the lab later today. This discussion may be of interest to you. http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=15679&b=se&st=0&la=10&ph=7&sid=19279&u=19279

:) Very beautiful!

Superior, gran composicion, belleza de luz y color, gran encuadre, perfecta textura. Saludos cordiales Kah.

Beautiful picture. I've always wanted the opportunity to shoot one like it, not that I would be able to pull it off so well. I also think this one is better than the horizontal version. Out of all the effort that you put into this shot, I don't understand why you didn't spend the literally 15 seconds to remove the chromatic aberrations, most notably in the sky and top of the falls. I was also quite surprised to see that a $1500 lens would ever produce such aberrations in the first place. Just a minor nit on an already great photo.

Love this shot. The blurred water IMO is a desired result, as long as the water does not blow out in the highlights. Your exposure is right on. My only distraction is the dark vignette in the upper left. The sharpness of the mossy boulders is visually arresting.

just perect - great detail and nice use of long exposure

Thanks Kah for the link to the discussion which shows the very different appreciations of blurred water falls.Of course here it is a desired results, like in most cases, but the whole question is whether this representation of reality adds to the beauty of nature or deforms it. I believe the latter. I think it is afterall all a question of balance.

Breathtaking shot, Kit Yoong. So clean, sharp & with a 3D feel.

Just brillant! ! Robert

Beautiful image! great colors and composition! jc

wonderfull water fall....good job