Waterfall and stream - comments on pp please

[curiousgeorge]

I used the sky from another shot then adjusted curves, levels and saturation on selected colour channels.

Comments on the my adjustment on the contrast and colour would be much appreciated (particularly negative ones!).

I've been bolder than I normally am with the pp.

http://www.georgeandreou.net/storage/IMG_5735b.jpg

[lungdoc]

I don't see any picture or link to a picture....

[bostlaw]

Exceptional....I might back off on the red a bit, but great photo...

[chestercopperpot]

i didnt see at first either, had to refresh the page. looks very good. agree with bostlaw that the upper right of the cliff looks a little too red, but other than that, nice shot.

[lungdoc]

I see it now. Overall, I like it. Looks a little bit artificial, but sometimes slow SS water will do that. I'd be interested in seeing a before and after look to see how much of the look was pp and how much was technique and lighting.

[jdizzle]

I like it. It looks a bit blown on the top right of the rock formation but, it looks darn good everywhere else.

[Hikin Mike]

Overall, I like the composition. It does look a bit "artificial" and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the sky/lighting?

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks very much for the comments all.

Here's the original, hopefully this will show what about it looks artificial. I take the point about the upper right corner, I knew that shadow would cause problems. I can't retrieve much detail even from the RAW. I'll try fixing that later.

http://www.georgeandreou.net/storage/IMG_5735.jpg

[curiousgeorge]

I've reduced the saturation on the reds and burned on the highlight area.

http://www.georgeandreou.net/storage/IMG_5735f.jpg

[lungdoc]

I like the above version. Just for fun I tried TLR Digital Velvia Level 4 Action on the original image...
http://lungdoc.smugmug.com/photos/200775673-L.jpg

[Hikin Mike]

I thought the sky did look right. If you could shoot again, I'd take a few different exposures for the sky and shadows and blend them together. IMO, I wouldn't bother trying to "fix" this. Just learn from this experience and move one. :D

[curiousgeorge]

Lungdoc - that Velvia action doesn't look too different to my curves/levels/saturation adjustment.

I thought the sky did look right. If you could shoot again, I'd take a few different exposures for the sky and shadows and blend them together. IMO, I wouldn't bother trying to "fix" this. Just learn from this experience and move one.
Mike, I'm not sure what you mean.

When you say the sky did look right, what sky are you referring to? Surely not the white one.

YOu say you'd have taken a few exposures for sky and shadows and blended them - that's what I did.

You also say you wouldn't try to fix it but blending different exposures IS fixing it.

[Hikin Mike]

I didn't know you took two different exposures, one for the sky and on for the foreground. It looked to me that you "made" a sky from Photoshop, that's what I thought and meant by "fixing" it.

My mistake...sorry. :oops:

[unlimited6986]

Thats nice what kinda setting did you use for this? Was this in Manual? Im trying to get shots like this but when i go for a shutter speed like this in the daylight my pics just come out a white image.

[curiousgeorge]

Yes this was manual.

You need to reduce the amount of light hitting your sensor as much as possible.

I wanted a shutter speed of at least 2 seconds but didn't want to narrow the aperture too much because of difraction, so I went as far as f18. Used a polariser and the lowest ISO setting to allow a longer shutter speed. I also had to overexpose slightly to get to 2.5s. Hence the sky was completely blown in the original.

[unlimited6986]

Thank you for the help now i just gotta find some waterfalls lol

[sparcd]

I like it but it does seems a little too dreamy.