Your Best Photograph from the Previous Month - Critique and Discussion Encouraged

[Dugan]

The lighting in the horizontal shot makes the shot...
The vertical is a more "expected" composition for a waterfall...but the lighting is not as dramatic.
Both stand on their own merits...but I'd put the horizontal shot on my wall before the vertical.

[Corran]

100% agree. I think it's a good illustrative example of what "waiting for the light" means in practice. Sometimes I am not so lucky though .

[Vaughn]

100% agree. I think it's a good illustrative example of what "waiting for the light" means in practice. Sometimes I am not so lucky though .

We have few examples with "there it went" light...though the situation seems to come up. Thanks for the comparison!

[Jimi]

I am going to put my head in here, Corran - I think the horizontal version is really nice, but I am somewhat bothered by the small "hole" on top (the sky). In the vertical version the sky, although blank, still works better to me - there is a bit of space to breathe, so to speak. I think the vertical is perhaps a good start for a few "interpretations" (in musical terms)?

[Corran]

I struggle with dealing with a blank sky area like that. The bright white sky draws the eye out of the photo in some ways I think. On the horizontal one, you can see the sky is a bit darker in tone, as the clouds were clearing (and I used a polarizer). It's actually cropped a little so there's some room there for a bit more sky, but I tend to push for the least amount of dead space when dealing with a featureless sky. But, some breathing space might be appropriate, I'd have to play with it a bit.

[Ben Calwell]

Yep, for reference here is the vertical:

I like the strong mid tones in this photo. Very nice.

[C. D. Keth]

...I am somewhat bothered by the small "hole" on top (the sky)...

I'm struggling with the same thing. I prefer the horizontal composition and certainly the light in that exposure. That tidbit of sky, however, feels "off" but I can't come up with precisely why or a suggested solution.

[Vaughn]

I'm struggling with the same thing. I prefer the horizontal composition and certainly the light in that exposure. That tidbit of sky, however, feels "off" but I can't come up with precisely why or a suggested solution.

I think it is a matter of showing more sky (such in the vertical) -- or better -- cropping the scene to include just the top of the waterfall with just the tiniest sliver of sky.

[Corran]

An image to contemplate for this discussion - Ansel Adams' "Nevada Fall:"




Perhaps its the commonality of having the entire sky visible at the top. Another Adams (sorry for poor quality, all I could find):



Our eastern waterfalls are of course much smaller and less grand than these out west, and so compositions tend to be a bit tighter. While I do like getting an expanse of sky (if the clouds are good especially) it's not often that one can. It's definitely a challenge compositionally when there is nothing up there in that small area, and then trees bracketing the opening that push high up into the sky. I have this problem often! Here's a similar shot from a couple years ago, same problem:

[Vaughn]

Unless one is just taking a snapshot to say "I was here", one needs to work all the elements into one's visual image. When students would come to me with an image with a very distracting element (such as an upper corner of the print being blank sky), their usual defense was that "It was there." I usually would then talk with them about other options to work (re-photographing or reprinting) with the distracting element -- eliminating it, weaving it into the image, highlighting it...whatever it takes.

Not totally happy with the falls over the glacier image. It made it into the original portfolio (1987) of 20 prints from NZ, but would not make the cut if the portfolio was reduced to a more solid 12 images today...partly due to the sky. A couple of Yosemite Falls handled very differently from each other, and then one where I mimic the sky with the light pouring into the top of the image.