Falls above Egypt Lake

Very nice Greg, I think the central falls comp works with the rock in the foreground. The image also has very good depth, maybe emphasized by the darker edging. Good stuff. 

Gary.

Great DOF and lights, Greg ... an excellent work !! Regards.

The shot is beautiful, the details captured are wonderful - and I agree the bolder in the foreground with the highlight on it really sets the photo off in my view too - I have little exerpience with long exposures - cant wait to try to get something even close to this one :) - take care.

Very nice, but - is this getting on the kitschy side of photography?

It's an beautiful angle on the Falls that allows the eye to travel avidly from foreground to background. The only thing that strikes me as slightly incongruous is the intense white of the waterfall in relation to the darker colours all around.  That doesn't diminish the aesthetic appeal of the photo, however. Quite the contrary. 

Kitsch (English pronunciation: /ˈkɪtʃ/, loanword from German) is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognised value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons[1] while making cheap mass-produced objects that are unoriginal.

Ick - perhaps categorizing this photo as "kitsch" (I had not known this word prior) is a matter of opinion.  Waterfalls are a bit cliche I suppose and "overly photographed" - but to cast all of such photos aside and to deny their obvious aesthetic beauty is perhaps elitist.....just my thoughts :)

Highly sophisticated and aesthetic composing and editing - very well done. BR / Volker 

Exellent, i like very much the exposure and perspective. 7/7

I'll go with Ellery on this one, since he was kind enough to research the definition to Kitschy.  Yes, it's a cliché shot (I have many in my portfolio) but it's beautifully done.  Beautifully.

beautiful shot and processing Greg.......:)

Thank you all for taking the time to provide feedback.

Regarding "Kitsch"...  I suppose this depends on the what the viewer perceives the intention of the work to be.  I do not consider this an original work of fine art.  In fact if I am rating the photograph myself I would give it very low points for originality.  My intention with a photograph like this however is more of a documentary purpose I suppose.  I had the pleasure of visiting such a beautiful place and wanted to create something that would convey that impression over and over each time I view the image.  I wanted to create something that did justice to the place and time.  But I was not attempting to create something completely fresh, unique or original. 

With regards to the comment about the exposure of the water, I agree that the water is perhaps a bit brighter than I would have liked.  I had actually bracketed my exposures with the intention of blending them to create an image with more dynamic range (even though I have no idea how to do that - I planned on learing with this image).  I had originally planned on using the water from the -1 exposure in the final image.  But when I got the image up on my computer monitor I kind of like the brightness of the water and felt that it created the focal point that I wanted so decided to leave it (also sparing myself the tedious process of HDR processing and the learning curve associated with it).

Very beautiful image Greg! I like it a lot!

Michael

Everything in composition is exactly where il must be, notthing more, nothing less, and the light is perfect. Bravo!!

Greg...

This is one of the most beautiful natural images I've seen while lurking about on photo.net for the past couple of years.

The composition need not be rehashed; it is superb.

The decision to let the bright white falls stand out as it does is absolutely right. This may be what leads the viewer who asks if it's not "kitschy" to pose that question.

I think what that viewpoint says is that it's too good to be true. Does he have an enormous set of lights with barndoors and a generator out of sight to the right? Did he layer in that bright white in Photoshop?

No,  I believe it is real. And the rest of us should be so lucky...and so skilled.

I'm intrigued by the extraordinary clarity and resolution seen throughout the picture. And the light falling from the left illuminating the face of the foreground rock and edging the top of it while also evenly lighting the face of the grey rock to the right of the falls. Did that just happen? Or did you decide to wait for it?

Dappled sunlight through a tree canopy is unmitigated hell for me. No matter what I do it never really works. To see this -- plus the open sunlight in the distance with no screaming overexposure -- gives me reason to press on.

Michael.  You're kind and thoughtful words are very much appreciated and encouraging to me.

No photoshop here.  I do love what PS can do but at the same time hate using it as I spend enough time in front of a computer at my day job.  The only PS work I did here was basic RAW tweaks and darkening the edges.  No layers or fancy techniques (I don't know any really).

About the light.  I visited this place twice that day.  Once in the morning, but the sun was too direct and harsh to make a picture worth keeping.  I continued on with the group I was with but on the way back to our camp I had to go back to this place.  I told the rest to go on without me and that I would catch up to them later on.  The sky had clouded over which made the lighting situation much better.  I took 4 or 5 shots from different angles but wasn't getting what I was looking for.  I was ready to pack it in, but decided that since pictures are what I had hiked 40 km for I wasn't going anywhere until I got one.  So I sat down for a few minutes and took in some of the sites (my camera position here is on the edge of a 100 foot drop).  Then I turned around and saw the shot that I had come for.  I composed it, set my camera at the ready and took a few test shots.  Within a few minutes the light "arrived", illuminating the rock in the foreground.  I felt my heart jump up into my throat, realizing that this was it.  I snapped the shot knowing that I had the one that I had come for. 

I've come to realize that in a lot of cases, shots like this only come after a significant investment (4 days and 40 km of hiking for example).  My only lament is that I'm a working stiff who doesn't get lots of opportunity to invest such time.  But days like the one that got this shot will keep me coming back for more.

Almost perfect,

7/7,

favourite.

Sorry to spoil the party, that rock is an eye block for me, my eye keeps returning to it instead of the COI, I also think the foreground is not required up to the lighter water coloured pool. Bottom third could be classed as wasted information. One poster said the composition was perfect, well I couldnt disagree more but thats just my opinion.

Peter.  Thank you for taking the time to take a look and provide your thoughtful comments.  I really do appreciate the feedback even when it is not positive. 

I actually did take one from a similar angle to what you suggested.  I have posted it in my portfolio here:

 http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=11714992

 I like the one with the rock better though.  I think the rock makes the image more dynamic as it allows the eye to move through the picture from foreground, to middle, to distance. 

Maybe if I had composed the one without the rock differently it would have been more effective??  As it is, it feels flat and lacking something.  I think it is lacking a foreground and a background.

This loogs good even on my crappy CRT.