Eternal Flame Waterfall- C&C please

[DennyCrane]

Leaves are really starting to turn & drop here.
This was my first outing with an ND filter and circular polarizer.

 

[hchristensen]

Nice shots. The ND can really help in waterfall/river shots. For images 1 and 3, I would correct the angle so that the flat rocks in the waterfall are completely horizontal (more like image 2). Even if the camera is technically level, you can cheat a little by tilting the camera to be parallel to strong parallel lines in the photograph - it is usually more pleasing to the eye.

In image 1, clone out the blue boxes on the trees. The color are great - it looks like the polarizer helped cut down on reflections from vegetation. Nice work.

 

[Stormchase]

nice shots. I agree with hchristensen.
I can hear the trickles now ..

 

[Felix0890]

Awesome shots. However, what are those blue things on the trees in the 1st one? The blue sticks out like a sore thumb against all the green and brown.

 

[Josh220]

In #2 about 1/3 of the way up and in #3 about 1/2 of the way up in the rock crevasse behind the waterfall there are two red dots that look like eyes. What is that, a troll?

 

[nyamy]

just wow
I wish I could take shots like that

 

[jnm]

i never get sick of looking at waterfall shots, nice work, love them, esp #1. (is it me or is a tad crooked?)

 

[DennyCrane]

Good advice on the horizon. I completely missed that.

The blue boxes are trail markers left by some group.

Josh, you're seeing flame. There's a natural gas fissure in the grotto behind the falls, and it's usually lit and stays lit. It did look a little like eyes today.

 

[Josh220]

Good advice on the horizon. I completely missed that.

The blue boxes are trail markers left by some group.

Josh, you're seeing flame. There's a natural gas fissure in the grotto behind the falls, and it's usually lit and stays lit. It did look a little like eyes today.

That's awesome!

 

[DennyCrane]

Another from yesterday. I've had a few people comment that it doesn't even look real. The 2 filters really did their job... It was a 3+ second exposure... think I hung the shutter open a little too long?

 

[SpeedTrap]

I have to ask what is the blue box on the tree in the first one?

 

[DennyCrane]

Those are trail markers to get to the waterfall. It's a little off the beaten path in the park.

 

[Antithesis]

I like the composition of the first 2, but I usually reserve the "tilt" for people photography for the most part. It has it's place in some landscape photography, but it makes the stream look like it's pouring off the side of the image. That box definitely needs to go too.

In terms of extra processing, I feel like the water is blowing out in the "milkier" spots. You might be able to go for a touch more contrast and saturation too, to bring out some more drama. I would also try to go back there at different times during a sunnier day and see if you can capture some different types of light. It will turn a flat image into one with a bit more pop, especially if you can layer it with some light HDR or a graduated ND filter, depending on the light.

Oh, and the flaming fissure thing is awesome. I've never heard of anything like that.

 

[DennyCrane]

I went back and looked at all the shots I took yesterday and other times... I think I had the horizon correct and the shale steps of the falls are at an angle. I guess I need to take the shots with the camera parallel to the shale next time!