Vermillion River

First time trying landscape photos. The Vermillion River in Hastings, Minnesota. There were a lot of really dark shadows that i had to fix in post. The lighting in this deep valley was really bad some of the time.
All photos taken with the Canon 7d and 18-55 kit lens and a B@W 10 stop nd fliter.
Any comments or suggestions are Helpfully.
Troy


1.f14- iso 100- 30 sec at 18mm

I would personally slow that shutter speed to like 1/4 of a second for the blur in the river. 30 seconds makes it look very unnatural, and while it may work for oceans and larger bodies of water, I'm not sure it works here. another thing that might help is shooting the whole scene in the sun or the whole scene in the shade instead of having parts in both.

I really love the 2nd one even thou the water looks really unnatural

need to level your shots...and I agree 30sec is a little too long

Yeah, too much water blur. Also, time of day is not helping you with the lighting as it looks a bit harsh. Some halos around branches suggests you may have pushed shadows too far.

gen2roller wrote in post #14944080
I would personally slow that shutter speed to like 1/4 of a second for the blur in the river. 30 seconds makes it look very unnatural, and while it may work for oceans and larger bodies of water, I'm not sure it works here. another thing that might help is shooting the whole scene in the sun or the whole scene in the shade instead of having parts in both.

Is that because of the shutter speed, or because of the PP?

Because, like...I see what you're saying about the water. But IMO, sort of EVERYTHING is looking a little bit unnatural here. The water, the rocks, the trees, it's all looking just a tad bit "crunchy" to me.

Is it possible that the images are just overproccessed?

this is a combination... first the way it was shot then over processed.....end result he not happy.. if he has the original shot start their....unedited...th​at will determine how far he pushed the processing

post an unedited version........

Thanks everyone for the tips on what to do next time. I've never did landscape before and need all the help I can get. When I get back home later on this week I'll post the unedited pics.

Troy

#2 works best for me because it doesn't contain the sky. I like the soft textures in the water from the long exposure.

Too much blur in the water...

Looks to me like the biggest issues is there were shot in the middle of the day. Very harsh light. Head back to that same place just after sunrise or an hour or so before sunset, less blur in the water and you will have yourself some great shots.

I like #2 the best out of all of them but agree that the water definitely looks unnatural and takes away IMO from what would be some really great shots...