My Frozen Waterfall

[Hui Song]

After read another "Frozen Waterfall" thread a few days ago, I went to the Paterson Great Waterfall three times in Mornining, afternoon and night. Just finish PP. C & C welcome.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

[Mike Buckley]

The last one is my favorite but I wonder if the second one would be my favorite if I could see more above the top of the frame. Naturally, I don't know if the information in that area is helpful but it seems as if it might be.

[jamn4ex]

2,3,and boom! 6. Fantastic work Hui. (is that your name?)

[Hui Song]

The last one is my favorite but I wonder if the second one would be my favorite if I could see more above the top of the frame. Naturally, I don't know if the information in that area is helpful but it seems as if it might be.

Hi Mike.
Thanks for your quick post. I was still adding more pictures when you posted your comment. The #6 shows the information of the area above of #2. The #5 shows where is the light on the waterfall at night comes from.

For other viewer: the "last one" in Mike's previous comment is #3.

[mknittle]

I like them all with a slight lean towards #6 I'm with Mike on #2.

[Mike Buckley]

Ironically, now that you have added more photos, the new last one is my favorite. So, my initial post still remains correct. Try cropping the last one at the bottom to eliminate the unhelpful portion of the foreground.

[Kris V]

1, 4, & 6 are my favorites. Great shots!

[ShaneS]

I like #6 and really wish that #5 was a landscape orientation as there is a simple beauty to the image but I feel like the lines of the water and the rock in the foreground would be greatly enhanced if the image were wider - contrast that against the vertical water in the background and you would have some really nice tension in the image.

[Shadowman]

Nice, did the frozen drips (#1) really look that sickly yellow?

[Wavelength]

#4 is winner... others are also very good; really liked them

[Hui Song]

2,3,and boom! 6. Fantastic work Hui. (is that your name?)

Hi James,

Thanks your for checking my post. I am glade that you like them. Hui is my name.

[bnnrcn]

I most like #4 and #6,I agree with Shane about #5...Congratulations:-)

[Hui Song]

I like them all with a slight lean towards #6 I'm with Mike on #2.

Hi Mark, Thanks for viewing "my frozen waterfall".

Most time, there is always one big part of waterfall in the shadow. Actually, I fell it is more challenge to handle the shadow. That is what I try to do in #1.

It seams #6 is the winner here. This picture taken in afternoon soft light condition. It shows the whole waterfall evenly.

#2 and #6 were taken almost the same time. #2 is the horizontal composition. I corp out the upper part to emphasize more of those rocks in the front.

[Hui Song]

Try cropping the last one at the bottom to eliminate the unhelpful portion of the foreground.

Mike,
You are right for the portion of the foreground in #6. I didn't pay enough attention there until your point out. Here is the new #6

[Hui Song]

Kris, Thank your for your warm words.

[Hui Song]

I like #6 and really wish that #5 was a landscape orientation as there is a simple beauty to the image but I feel like the lines of the water and the rock in the foreground would be greatly enhanced if the image were wider - contrast that against the vertical water in the background and you would have some really nice tension in the image.

Hi Shane, Thanks you for your analysis for #5. I do have another horizontal one. I will post here. Right now, I think I should use slower speed to flat the water even more.

#7



#8: one more similar image for those interesting ice on the river near waterfall.

[Mike Buckley]

Hui,

I like your #6 image so much that I decided to make some basic adjustments just so you can see the possibilities or toss all of them in the trash can. I did the following:

1) There are some red tones in the snow on the upper left and in a reflection in the water on the lower left. I think those red tones are probably the results of artificial lights in the area. I selected those areas and added large and equal amounts of blue and green to change the color cast to a neutral white. I didn't eliminate all of that red color cast because I was working with such a small file, but I dramatically minimized it.

2) I selected the white area, opened the Levels tool and moved the black point strongly higher. I also opened the Curves tool and made a strong S-curve to increase the contrast in the mid-tones. (I have come to believe that the way to post-process large, important areas of white tones is to concentrate on bringing out the grey tones.)

3) I globally added a touch of Local Contrast Enhancement and sharpened much as I would have sharpened for downsizing. (I have the impression that you didn't sharpen after you downsized the image for display on the Internet.)

4) I selected the dark rock on the right side, opened the Curve tool, and lifted the center of the curve upward to bring out more detail in that area.

5) I cloned to remove what appears to be the underside supports of a bridge.

6) I cropped to an 8 x 9 aspect ratio. If you require a standard size, I would have cropped to 8 x 10 to eliminate more of the foreground than in your 5 x 7 ratio.

By the way, your image would be very nice in black-and-white for the same reasons my frozen waterfall works that way.

Mike's Version of #6

[IzzieK]

I do not know what I like and prefer in all of your shots. They are all spectacular to me and I am not looking to critique them either.

[jamn4ex]

I agree with the crop, I believe it gives my eye an easier path to follow as I take in all the great detail you have managed to capture here. Very nice.

[Hui Song]

Hui,

I like your #6 image so much that I decided to make some basic adjustments just so you can see the possibilities or toss all of them in the trash can. I did the following:

1) There are some red tones in the snow on the upper left and in a reflection in the water on the lower left. I think those red tones are probably the results of artificial lights in the area. I selected those areas and added large and equal amounts of blue and green to change the color cast to a neutral white. I didn't eliminate all of that red color cast because I was working with such a small file, but I dramatically minimized it.

2) I selected the white area, opened the Levels tool and moved the black point strongly higher. I also opened the Curves tool and made a strong S-curve to increase the contrast in the mid-tones. (I have come to believe that the way to post-process large, important areas of white tones is to concentrate on bringing out the grey tones.)

3) I globally added a touch of Local Contrast Enhancement and sharpened much as I would have sharpened for downsizing. (I have the impression that you didn't sharpen after you downsized the image for display on the Internet.)

4) I selected the dark rock on the right side, opened the Curve tool, and lifted the center of the curve upward to bring out more detail in that area.

5) I cloned to remove what appears to be the underside supports of a bridge.

6) I cropped to an 8 x 9 aspect ratio. If you require a standard size, I would have cropped to 8 x 10 to eliminate more of the foreground than in your 5 x 7 ratio.

By the way, your image would be very nice in black-and-white for the same reasons my frozen waterfall works that way.

Mike's Version of #6

Mike, Thank your for taking time working on my image and told us all the PP process. They are all great advice. I retouched the image again in LR. There is no selective adjustment in LR, used a lot of adjust brush to paint on the image to achieve almost all of those you did in PS. I keep more space in foreground, but changed the outline of the floating ice using the "spot remove". One more thing I did is using a reversed graduate filter for the river part at the bottom to help leading viewer's eyes to the center.

Last few month, I learned a lot of LR, but only touched photoshop a little bit. Right now, I only use PS for combined images together. It is time to Learn PS now!


Revised #6



With all the detail in snow, ice, rock and water, I will definitely covert it to B/W. Here is the B/W frozen waterfall image conversion of another composition.

#9