Springbrook cave

Hi, what do you mean by hand-merged stack? I like the photo but would have liked some detail in the water flowing into the cave, impossible without HDR, I suppose. Cheers, J

I mean that it was a stack of images, an attempt at HDR, but not done via a program, but hand merging of the images. Taking the water down any more really took the image to a tacky looking level of HDR fakery.

 

Had been at the same location a couple years before to get this:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3211238 which was something that completely doesn't do justice to the site.

Correctly balancing the tonal range in HDR images (automated or manual processes) can be very tricky. I think you are probably correct in your decision to keep the water as a bright highlight here. I think this image would have benefitted from fill in flash to bring out the color of the rock, but it would have to be balanced perfectly. Of course its easy for me to say that since I wasn't there. I all too often experience 20/20 hindsight with my own work. :-)

Tricky light and very good result.Try HDR software Photomatix - I like it very much. You can download a fully functional free trial.

not an easy location Norm, I like the bright falling water. Here is my attempt in the same location