Thanks to the high cloud cover and the tiny bit of rain, I was able to test out a long exposure (8 secs) of the falls early in the morning, with hardly any people in the shot.
There was a lot of haze and mist that kind of went away when I "clarified" the image in lightroom, however, there is still plenty of noise in the image.
Any critiques welcome on the composition and post-processing.
Many Thanks!
Thanks Mon. Having never been there this is a different view to most I have see. Its a bit like the pyramids of Egypt which are almost in the suburbs but never shown from that angle.The picture seems a bit too blue to my liking.Because the lights are still on in the city you maybe were trying to bump up the brightness which is virtually in a blue hour.It's a nice image nonetheless. Might be good in a dentist waiting room to calm patients.
this was a great first attempt and something to learn from. was your camera steady? how did you trigger the shot? there seems to be either camera shake or your focus is not accurately placed. did you shot in RAW? it seems to be very contrasty for an early morning with cloud cover it seems a bit bright. what filter setup did you have? at this angle you get a nice cascade of the water but this doesn't really show how grand they actually are i haven't been there in 25 yrs but i do remember how much force they produced you should try and set it up to convey that either shooting from below or above with a strong horizontal crop. get back out there and give it another go its well worth it .
Camera was on a tripod (cheapest one from walmart). I setup a 2 second timer on the shutter release and clicked the photo by pushing the button on the camera (no remote shutter release).
I did shoot in RAW. No filters used.
I recall that I had set my focus on the first protrusion in the falls... perhaps a better focus point would have been the rocky outcrop near the middle of the frame.
But I agree, the force of the falls is missing here. To be honest, at this time of day, the mood was more serene than energetic.
Here's a JPEG from the unedited RAW
(note I cropped the image slightly to get rid of the bright red light from the building on the other side)
i actually don't mind that light on the right in large scenes don't try and grab 1 thing in focus i am a victim of this as well take several 3 to 4 shots with different focus points so everything is readable in a more intimate setting then you can focus on a single target.
Mon, good advice in this thread! As to steading the camera, I keep a sling on the tripod, not for carrying but I use it to steady the tripod. By detaching the end that wraps around the legs and dropping it to the ground you can put your foot on it and apply weight to the part that attaches to the head. It makes the tripod rock steady even with a decent wind blowing. Also, if your camera does not have live view but has a mirror lock up feature always use it when doing timed exposures to prevent vibration from the mirror slap in a DSLR. You will have to use manual exposure and focusing but it will make a difference.
I think if you opened up the shadows some it might help soften the photo somewhat. To me it seems somewhat harsh and the scene appears to want a softer look.
Thanks Red!
Appreciate the comment about the mirror lock. I always wondered if the mirror action when releasing the shutter causes camera shake... even after timed shutter releases. I do have live view, and realize now why that is useful!!
I don't know if you did this on purpose, but it's a great image to show how the Niagara Falls have been ruined by man. Your composition show a clear vertical half and half distinction between nature and urban sprawl. For this reason, it's a very interesting photo, the mist helps seperating the two halves. Enhancing the buildings would help convey that message if it was the intent. It can be a very powerful shot.
Interesting take, that was definitely not my intention. Although I did want to shoot at smallest focal length, part of my experimentation with photography. I'll keep this in mind.
Nick has a point, but, judging from the title I'm going out on a limb here and presume it wasn't actually your intention to create that contrast.
I think this angle lends itself to a shot in portrait orientation, but the sky has to be more interesting for that. The main problem here stems from the fact that the shrubs in the foreground take just as much space as the actual falls, a lower viewpoint might fix that. Also, 8 seconds exposure for the water is way too much in my opinion and eats up all the detail, try 1 second, or even half of a second. If you'd like a longer exposure of the sky in order to create leading lines, make 2 pictures and merge them in post. Lastly, forget about the clarity slider in LR, it just messes with your image and renders it useless more often than not.
Yep, was not going for the nature/urban contrast. Other points noted. Thanks!
Composition-wise, the image is great, maybe edit out the two protruding bushes on the lower end of the image. What´s irritating me a bit is the color of the water, it looks a bit too unnatural for my taste, maybe dial it back a bit.
Agreed on the color of the water. If I'm seeing this behavior right, it's the "Clarify" bar in LR that's responsible for it. But that's what is clearing the "mist" in the air, allowing me to see the clear column of mist from the falls in the back of the image.
you can selectively use clarity, too and then brush it in where you want it to be and leave it out where its too much
That's what LR's "Dehaze" is for, but use with caution. There are better, but more complicated ways.
Love the composition (even with the red light still in frame), and even the super long shutter. If you're going to shoot this long of an exposure you should be able to stop.down far enough that this entire scene is in focus (read about hyperfocal distance if you don't get what I mean). Personally, I would mute the colors a lot (maybe even monochrome) and be very happy with this shot.