colerun6.26

Hello. This is Cole Run in the Laurel Highlands area of Western

Pennsylvania. I just found out about this little waterfall being

pretty close to where I live. How could I make this image better, or

better yet, different from all the other waterfall photos out there?

Regards,

Renee

I like the composition of this image and the slight blur to the water, the color is very good and natural.  The vignette is a little heavy for my taste, but that's a personal choice.  All in all, very good... Mike

Renee, You have done an excellent job.  The composition has interest, the falls are displayed so you include their environment, adding lots of interest, the the smoothness of the water is beautiful. Like Mike, I'm not a fan of the black vignetting. Excellent image, Renee.  Larry

    I love your question, Renee! I’ve been dealing with the same issue—in fact I went back to rephotograph a waterfall this morning for the second day in a row to try to figure that out. My approach was to sit and watch the  fall for awhile to figure out what made this particular waterfall intriguing, and then to identify which part of the fall really drew my attention, and then to try to figure out why. In my case, I realized that it was the way the threads of water interacted with some bright green moss, and that helped me define a goal for my photos—something I’d missed from the day before, when I was simply trying to capture the whole fall. 

     So one of the things I like about your photo is that it is definitely NOT the typical waterfall photo—in a sense, it seems to be more about the bush in the center of the frame, with the waterfalls acting in a very enchanting supporting role. I’m particularly intrigued by how the lower fall seems to be emanating from the bush, and by how the bush itself obscures the dramatic fall behind it, and by how we don’t even see the bottom of the lower fall—it’s an in-your-face rebuttal of “what a waterfall photo should be.” 

     On this image, I don’t think you need the vignetting—it actually distracts a bit from the image, particularly in the foreground. My guess is that you added it to give a sense of unity to the image by framing it? Something that might be interesting to try instead would be to use the white water itself as the frame by cropping in to near the edge of the falls on the left and right, and maybe even up from the bottom a little—possibly even into the water? I think your exposure is beautiful on this—it really turns the water into that satiny glow. Nice.

Thank you for your comments and feedback!  I'm surprised by the unanimous vote to nix the vignetting.  I feel the need to do that to a lot of my images, as though without it the image would be somehow unfinished or not as pleasing - I'll work on that, as clearly the opposite is the case!

I will take a second trip back to this scene, at a different time of day, especially since it is close to home.  This is such a unique area.  It's not easily seen in this image, but the two levels of falls actually face different directions and there's a lot of loose rock in the foreground where I was standing.  I wonder if I can get above this and shoot into it to capture the gorge that has been cut, to give a depth to the scene.

Thanks again for taking the time to look and comment.  I do so appreciate all the feedback!