Evaluate My Photo

[lifeincnx]

I took this shot(s) at the Sukantara cascade, about about 1 km. below the Tad Mok waterfall outside Mae Rim. The water's rust color is not the result of an overzealous use of the saturation joy stick. Work on the river above the cascade caused a tremendous amount of clay slit to come rushing downstream.

Canon 50D

Canon EF24-105mm f/4L IS

Five total images; four bracketed (+2,+1, -1,-2) around f/22, 1/6, ISO 100 at 28mm

[Rsvdude]

The orange water looks great against the black and green backdrop. Love it.

[phetaroi]

I think it's an awfully good photo...better than I could do.

As for a critique...I think the part of the waterfall at the far right is too close to the camera and is actually out of focus, so I find it distracting. Was this the f22 shot?

[Spoonman]

It looks more like a painting than a photo.

[The Vulcan]

Nice - like it

[TallForeigner]

Nice find. Which of the bracketed shots did you finally select?

I would have tried to go for a longer exposure to give the orange water an even smoother appearance. A neutral density filter might have come in handy for that.

Somehow I feel you have still overdone the color saturation because especially the strong blue tint in the dark rock formations doesn't look natural to me.

Did you use a tripod? If not I guess the overall slight lack of sharpness might come from camera shake.

[lifeincnx]

Tonal mapped the five images with f22 being dominant, and used a tripod. Also there was no bumping on saturation as I used a rotating polarizer. Thanks for the feedback all.

[TallForeigner]

You mean you produced something like a HDR image by merging the bracketed shots and then you did some tonemapping? What program did you use for HDR merging and tonemapping?

For best results leave your aperture constant at f/22 and only vary times. I feel that your bracketing of 2 stops should have delivered a much better dynamic range and with the right tonemapping you should be able to reveal more interesting details in the overly dark background. Is the strong blue tint in the rocks natural (I would guess it is not) or an artifact from your treatment?

If you have got a chance to get there again try to use a grey natural density filter so you can lengthen your exposure times to about 1s or more and unless you want to increase dynamic range and reveal details in the dark background just work with single RAW files. I believe this scene doesn't need a HDR treatment and your camera should be able to capture a high enough dynamic range to give a great image of this scene without the need to merge and tonemap bracketed shots.

With a grey neutral density filter you can still use your polarizer.

Off course these are all my very personal observations and recommendations; I have my own tastes and someone else might not agree at all with my opinions.

Edited November 26, 2009 by TallForeigner

[lifeincnx]

You mean you produced something like a HDR image by merging the bracketed shots and then you did some tonemapping? What program did you use for HDR merging and tonemapping?

For best results leave your aperture constant at f/22 and only vary times. I feel that your bracketing of 2 stops should have delivered a much better dynamic range and with the right tonemapping you should be able to reveal more interesting details in the overly dark background. Is the strong blue tint in the rocks natural (I would guess it is not) or an artifact from your treatment?

If you have got a chance to get there again try to use a grey natural density filter so you can lengthen your exposure times to about 1s or more and unless you want to increase dynamic range and reveal details in the dark background just work with single RAW files. I believe this scene doesn't need a HDR treatment and your camera should be able to capture a high enough dynamic range to give a great image of this scene without the need to merge and tonemap bracketed shots.

With a grey neutral density filter you can still use your polarizer.

Off course these are all my very personal observations and recommendations; I have my own tastes and someone else might not agree at all with my opinions.

All exposures were bracketed at f22 which is a given that the f/ stop should remain constant for any HDR. Also a tripod was used as it's actually tack sharp except for the areas of water movement and a few minor foliage/wind spots. That is the color of the rocks there in very early morning (lso why the background was so dark even with +2 exposure s no sun was hitting it yet). Agree an 85 neutral density would have helped as one is always in my kit. But in this case I was traveling very light and was more concerned with keeping gear dry. Thanks for the good feedback.

[Kan Win]

Hi 'NomadTad'.

Not bad at all using f22 and ISO 100.

Me I would have tried other settings as well.

What program did you use btw. I use Photomatix Pro 3 and now ACDSee Pro 3 for final touch ups.

Sawadee

[lifeincnx]

Hi 'NomadTad'.

Not bad at all using f22 and ISO 100.

Me I would have tried other settings as well.

What program did you use btw. I use Photomatix Pro 3 and now ACDSee Pro 3 for final touch ups.

Sawadee

Photomatix Pro 3 as well and Photoshop CS3. Can't remember if I used noise reduction (Imagenomic's Noiseware Pro) on this one, but if I did I would have applied it after HDR tonal mapping in CS3.

[Hyman]

It's vivid,so niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice~

[canuck1941]

What this shot and most landscapes need is life--a bird, a fish, a frog, a woman in a bathing suit, any of which would give this image a sense of scale, and perhaps evoke a story in the viewer's mind.