Watkins Glen Re-Visit

This was taken this past fall on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend

(Columbus day in the US?).

 

All comments welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for your feedback.

Please click on the image to see the larger (950x950) image.

Very nice picture. The composition is great. There is a nice and natural path for the eye to circulate in this calming scene, but nothing that leads eye out of picture. The colors are very pleasing, maybe slightly oversaturated. I like a lot of the emotional contrast in the picture: gentle and life giving water versus ancient rock. P.S. Looking through your other recent photos, I have to say you've taken quite a step forward as a photographer! Good job.

Very beautifully composed and very well exposed. Indeed a very good capture Best Regards.

The water flow beautifully captured, nice color, very well composed.

Very nice shot - I've recently been trying my hand at waterfall shots and know how difficult it is to get them as good as this.

Wow! Just wow! Your details in the shadow regions is simply astounding. Wonderful work, my friend! I'll bet that this looks terrific printed large. Cheers! Chris

Very beautiful composition with amazing colours and light. Magnificent details in the textures on the rocks and also a wonderful dof. Great job. Take care. Best regards Jannica

Thanks everyone for your kind words. This is the one falls from Watkin's Glen that didn't have time to see when I visited here the first time. I was initially quite disappointed with what I brought back from a repeat visit because a lot of shots didn't turn out and I didn't find as many new compositions as I had thought I would. But, working with this image, I am now quite satisfied with the results – even if this is the only keeper from the whole day.

 

Chris, the details do look great shown full-size on my monitor and I am hopeful about a print. But, alas, I haven't got around to one yet!

Ian, this is excellent. In studying it, I start to wonder if that is how the light was, and how it might look just a little darker. You've certainly got all the details in there, and framed it beautifully.

Hi Jeff,

 

Well, this isn't quite how the light really was of course. The dynamic range in the original scene was far, far too wide to capture in an unaltered way. It was fully overcast and late in the day, but, this gorge is just too deep, and the rocks too dark, to include the upper vegetation without it blowing out – unless you take some precautions.

 

So, I used a 3-stop hard-edged grad diagonally across the top right, down the edge of the left-side gorge and across the bridge. Then there is a 2-stop soft grad coming much further into the image to blend the edge of the hard-edged grad. Plus, I used a couple of mild digital gradients to further darken the top of the image. I think I cloned in a few open patches that showed the grey sky in the far background.

 

I also might have done some light dodging in the deep shadows; but, nothing major. I had chosen to over-expose and recover the highlights rather than to try and bring up the shadows (which always risks noise).

 

As for trying this darker, well, I worked on this so long ago and lived with this as a finished product for so long now that I feel comfortable saying "this is it" – at least until I make a good large print. Then, there will probably be a few minor tweaks (there usually are).

 

Thanks for stopping by Jeff.

 

 

 

I think you've captured the rhythm of the falls quite beautifully.

 

Nature, here, seems orchestrated. I wander through the scene, never a dull moment and not a corner of disinterest. The straight falls on the upper left is a particularly nice diversion, counterpointing the main theme. The reds against the greens are sumptuous and there's elegance and harmony in the composition.

Fred,

 

I like your observation that "Nature here seems orchestrated". I was consciously playing with that element in this image because it is the overriding feeling you have when you visit this place (Watkins Glen). The entirely natural gorge was made accessible with stone steps and bridges as a depression era make-work project. The stone has now aged and melded into the gorge wonderfully making the whole seem as one.

 

For me, this leaves a mixed impression of the gorge as being as much a man-made entity as the steps and trail through it – or, conversely, the steps and trail seeming natural. In my experience of the place, they seem so closely linked that they should be of the same origin.

 

Anyways, on my last visit I tried to put the human elements back into the scene and also to emphasize the interconnection between nature and man-made components by choosing a very purposeful – overtly structured – composition.

 

I tried this with several compositions at several places, but, each failed accept this one. Any of the places I had photographed on my first visit, I am unhappy with my images from my second outing. I don't know if it because I am looking at the finished image from the first trip and therefore can't (as easily) see the potential of working with the new image? But, ignoring the presentation, I am less happy with the compositions in each of the re-visit images. Regardless, whatever the problem is, I have moved on from the images. This is the only image from my re-visit that I plan to keep. But, thankfully, I really like the results here. I also am glad that it is from a spot I hadn't reached the first time I went and so adds to the others in that way.

Sounds like you went to extraordinary lengths to create this image. The effort paid off! GJ

Great shot Ian - lots of depth in here. Foreground doesn't look as sharp as it should be though - maybe you focused a bit too far into the scene?

Marsel, it is quite possible that my point of focus was sub-optimal. There is indeed a very slight loss of acuity on that edge. Some of it is likely due to a slight lack of edge sharpness in my wide angle lens too.

 

I hadn't thought that it was a significant problem though (or really all that noticeable). But, I guess it is more obvious than I thought.

Beautiful shot, Ian. I was at this location a couple of years ago and I found that i had extreme exposure challenges to deal with when shooting this in the morning. Good job getting a nice exposure out of this one. Well done.

Daniel

very interesting place, almost unbelievable. stunning composition. i would retain some more details in the shadows in highlights ( maybe less contrast), but its just my personal taste. very good photo.